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I moved recently from a Southern state and bought a house in western side suburb in Cleveland area last year.
Handling snow last Winter especially with shovel was very difficult. Hence, I am planning to prepare well for this Winter season.
Could you recommend a good, efficient and effective snow blower suitable to clear snow in the driveway.
What is your age/physical condition? Do you need your driveway cleared every day for work or some other reason? Do you have a double or a single driveway?
E.g., I have a double driveway and I use a good, aluminum (not plastic), lightweight (don't buy a steel shovel) plow shovel. This one is ideal (and a bargain, depending upon shipping charges).
Using a plow shovel is much easier IMO than using standard snow shovels.
I live in the snowbelt, and last winter, I was able to push the snow to one side of the driveway almost all of the time, but I also find it much easier to lift and throw snow with a push shovel (the snow comes off the shovel much more easily). I used my snow blower only a handful of times, and likely could have avoided several of those but I foolishly had filled the gas tank and the beginning of the snow season and wanted to empty the tank. In recent years, I can go through winter and not use a full tank of gas in my snow blower.
Almost all of the time, it was much easier and faster (considering clean up) to use my plow shovel than my snow blower. We just don't get major snow storms too often any more.
Most of the time, I could have just driven through the snow, but since I was a kid, I've been obsessed with keeping the driveway clear of snow, now largely to avoid black ice. I like having a thaw clear the driveway of all snow and ice.
Anyway, when I really need a snow blower is when we have 5-10 inches of snow and the street plows dump the snow on my driveway apron. I have a very large snow blower that easily can handle 10 inches or more of compact snow, but it is quite old and from what I see in Home Depot, etc., larger snow blowers are much more expensive. They also are more physically demanding.
Actually, I hate using snow blowers because of the required clean-up after every use.
If you don't need to get out of your driveway immediately and don't care about a clean driveway, check with local snow plowing services and ask how much they would charge for a per push service AFTER they've completed all of their contractual work. Tell them that you want to be able to call when you want your driveway cleared. In many neighborhoods, there is some individual with a plow on a pick-up or even teenagers with shovels who will provide this service happily for cash. As I said, most of the time, you just could drive through the snow.
A concern about a snow blower is how you will get it serviced. Pick-up and delivery can be expensive and sometimes is necessary. I've discovered that many persons/businesses offering repair services are not very good. I change my own oil annually. You might want to look for a local lawn equipment dealer and ask them about their snow blowers and how they handle service and what they charge.
On the west side, I would expect that a small snow blower would get the job done almost all of the time. One disadvantage of a small snow blower is that you will have to make more passes, a pain if you have a large driveway.
Also, consider what size of snow blower you're personally physically capable of handling. I'm not a fan of self starters, but some persons like them.
An important concern is how easy it is to change the direction of the chute, and the angle of the discharge (an adjustable guide at the end of the chute). In windy conditions, you'll be covered with snow if you don't make adjustments, often with each pass.
Perhaps the most important consideration with personal snow removal is buying footwear that will minimize the chance of a fall. Ask your postal carrier for a recommendation. I've never tried them, but putting cleats on a pair of high traction work shoes may work well.
I didn't even know that this product existed, but will consider it if I ever decide to buy another snow blower. Reading the reviews, I'm surprised that it's not self-propelled. I wonder how difficult it is to use as a result. Yet it might be the perfect product for disappearing Cleveland winters especially if a person knows how to get a per push service for the occasional heavy snowfall and if not commuting to work and unable to work remotely.
Personally, I like the ease of start and quality of Honda engines and equipment. It appears that Home Depot sells Honda snow blowers; perhaps ask if they have service plans or recommended service providers.
Good luck! Let us know what you finally decide to do.
If you buy a smaller snow blower, you likely still can remove snow piled up on an apron. It will just take more work. You definitely won't be able to push straight through after a heavy snowfall. You won't want to wait to clear the apron until even more snow falls and there is another pass of the street plows (I never use my snow blower until after the storm stops and my street has been cleaned by a plow, but I know my snow blower can handle almost any type of snow or likely depth on the apron, as long as I don't leave it so long that it freezes).
If the snow is so deep that a snow blower is marginal, you must angle the snow blower up and take short, repeated passes, much like shoveling.
Wet, compact snow can jam up the chute, so you might have to stop and clean it several times.
After a heavy snow, the first pass can be the most difficult because you have to cut through a full swath of new snow. After the first pass, you can do have half passes to assure the easy operation of the snow blower and and its ability to remove the snow rather than compact it into the ground.
I always scrape my driveway with a shovel after snow blowing, because I want to lower the risk of black ice after a thaw melts snow on a driveway and it subsequently refreezes. It's perilous to use a snow blower or shovel when there is ice/black ice on the driveway.
After a couple inches of light snow, it's much easier to just use my plow shovel (I have a couple of them because they aren't easy to buy in stores, especially after the first snowfall). Anymore, it seems to me that most snowfalls only are a couple of inches. I probably would use the snow blower if the snowfall is more than 4-5 inches, most certainly if it's wet snow.
One last observation. Due to legal reasons, snow blowers no longer list their horsepower. So you only can hope that a reputable manufacturer right sizes the engine for a given size of snow blower.
Of course, whatever option you take is dependent on your physical ability and available time to play in the snow. I do consider snow removal somewhat a hobby, a form of exercise, and a reason to get out of the house and breath a lot of fresh air. Regarding the latter, I typically use a ski mask and hoodie. Breathing cold air can be dangerous while exercising.
You might get a bargain on a used snow blower, but consider that you must get it and home, and to a dealer and back. Perhaps arrange for the dealer to pick up from the seller's home. It will probably cost you $150 to $250 for the transportation and service charges, and you still will have a used machine.
It's very important regularly to adjust the glides and to buy spares. Use a yardstick under the blade and then lower the glides to the ground in order to protect the blade.
If you don't use up all of the gasoline in the tank, it's essential to use gas stabilizer over the summer or to drain the tank. With old gasoline, the snow blower will not start.
I use a single stage MTD blower I got on craigslist for $60. I spent ~$40 on new rubber paddles and a scraper blade (no real skill needed to install these)
80% of the time it works just fine.
10% of the time it takes multiple passes (I will clear the driveway 2 or 3 times during an extended heavy snowfall)
10% of the time it snowed heavily overnight and I have to shovel down to a blow-able level, drive over it, or just wait for it to melt.
If you get a single stage, you will definitely want to mount a broom handle or some kind of poking mechanism so you can clear up jams, which are especially a problem with heavy wet snow. And keep a spare drive belt on hand.
A 2-stage is probably best if you can afford it.
I would not bother with an electric one unless you have a tiny lot or want a small lightweight machine specifically for clearing off stairs or a deck.
Even if you have a powerful snow blower, you'll need to shovel an opening sufficiently large to allow room to start the snow blower. In my case, it's exacerbated because it seems as if the snow always is deepest next to my garage doors, certainly due to winds piling up the snow, but also because of snow blowing off the garage roof.
I always use my plow shovel to clear the opening. It's a relatively easy task for me, especially in comparison to shoveling an entire driveway with 4-10 inches of snow, most especially if it's wet snow (three inches or more of wet snow, and I'll always use my blower). I often clear the opening, then take a break to warm up, hydrate and dress with more layers, ski mask, etc., before beginning the task of snow blowing the driveway, and, typically the driveways of one or two neighbors. Once I begin snow blowing with my large blower, it only takes 10-15 minutes at most to clear any driveway in my neighborhood. If it's still snowing and I want a break (typically when it's cold and windy), I'm able to make sufficient room in my garage to fit in the snow blower behind a car, before resuming snow blowing.
Once done snow blowing, I take a break, warm up, before going back out to clean the snow blower. Over the years, I've found the best tools to use to clean the blower include an old straw broom, worn down and more sturdy. I use the handle of the broom to break up snow compacted inside the bucket and chute. Then I get down on the ground and use a cheap, handheld ice scrape and a well-gloved (Thinsulate leather glove) to finish the job. It takes 10-15 minutes. The broom handle is great for clearing a chute jammed with compacted wet snow, not uncommon when clearing the apron with its heavy mixture of salty snow dumped on the apron by street plows.
I should mention that even my powerful snow blower struggles with apron slush. I often use my hand to scoop the slush from the chute mouth and throw it away so it doesn't fall on the machine or back on the ground. Usually, there isn't much of this.
I should have thought of recommending Consumer Reports. Perhaps you can find back issues at the library, but a subscription IMO is worth the investment when attempting to find the right snow blower.
CR's "best buy" two-stage snow blowers were a Toro Power Max and Cub Cadet model, each costing over $1,000. CR testing included two-stage battery blowers. They seemingly tested as good performers, except for speed, but cost $1,300.
I suspect you'll need a two-stage blower (what I own) if you want the ability personally to remove heavy, wet snow, however infrequent these days in northeast Ohio.
We no longer get big enough snows to warrant using a snow blower...I live on the east side in the snow belt and last season we had 2 big snows...I was able to clear driveway and sidewalks w/ a good snow shovel like WR's link shows...its a good work out...The west side didnt' get nearly as much in those 2 big events as I work over here.
From an N=1, Cleveland winter is less cold than other parts of the midwest, we don't seem to get the barbaric arctic cold that comes from Canada. We are just far enough east to avoid that for the most part. Snow is overhyped, although everywhere I have lived people think they have a bad winter. Give me 10 years with an N=10 to have a better idea of how it really is.
I have a single stage Toro 731R. No problems last year other than the first heavy, wet snow on Dec 1st was challenging but that would be the case for any equipoment. The key is to get out and clear during the storm instead of letting it all pile up if there is a big one, and especially a heavy wet snow. If you do that, single stage is fine.
Farm it out and throw some as-needed money at the problem esp. if on the west side. Lots of companies reasonable and competing for your winter business.
Yesterday, Jan. 17, 2022, was the first time in this snow season that I actually needed to use my snow blower. We had a couple previous storms that left 2-3 inches at most of fluffy snow, that were much easier to just shovel using my aluminum push shovel than to bother with the snow blower. I wouldn't have had to even shovel these earlier storms, as they would have been easy to drive through and an almost immediate thaw melted the snow anyway.
We had a reported 16 inches of snow yesterday in Lake County, around what I measured, but deeper in drift areas. It was a wet, packable snow, but not so wet that I ever had to unclog the chute, a common problem with wet snows.
In some respects, this was an ideal storm as it was a single event storm from the south and there was very little subsequent lake effect snow. When the Lake Erie snow machine is working, lake effect snow bands can prolong the snow storm and perhaps even require a couple snow removal efforts unless you want to keep your driveway uncleaned for over 24 hours. Lake effect snow is the wettest, most difficult to remove snow. This snow event lasted about 17 hours at my location. I waited to clean the driveway until the city plowed the street as I had no need to go anywhere. I always create a path for the mailman across my front yard. Mailmen have told me they appreciate this more than a Christmas tip. I can see how this particular storm will be exhausting for mail deliverers.
I drained the small amount of old gas in the engine (I hadn't used a stabilizer), and added fresh gas. For the time ever, I also added a small amount of Sea Foam, available in 16 oz. cans (more than enough for an entire season) for under $8 at both Menards and Wal-Mart. The engine started very easily and seemed to run better than ever. I use the pull rope instead of the cumbersome electric starter; one easy pull started the engine.
I had to push to open up the initial lane, and afterwards only attacked about six inches at a time. My large snow blower had no problems and even easily cut through the piled up snow on the apron resulting from street plowing.
This was ideal snow for a snow blower. I did adjust the chute when blowing against a mild wind to keep from having snow blown back on me. When blowing with the wind, tilting the chute up a little definitely prevented the build-up of large snow piles.
I hate cleaning snow blowers after use, but this particular snow required very little effort. There was absolutely no snow/ice build-up around the impeller, extremely unusual (was the snow blower impeller running better due to the use of Sea Foam?). This video mentions Snow Jet to prevent clogging; new to me and I've never used.
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Heavy snowfall
