So I started my snow blower...
This is just a simple connextras video ostensibly on whether fuel stabilizers do anything.
Comments (19)
The endless debate!
Interesting video. My snow blower runs on batteries. I just need to remember to charge them before I'm going to need to use it. Same batteries could also fuel the lawn mower, but I don't have one of those yet. https://egopowerplus.com/power-snow-blowers/
TBH, last year is the last year we even did anything with our lawn mower (the only small engine we have). Before, tank was full, fuel unstabilized, and it was E-10. Was just a bit slow to start (likely because the fuel was a bit wet)
Used sta-bil on my old 2000 Honda TRX300EX ATV up in northern Wisconsin every winter. It'd sit for 4-6 months at a time and I'd bring it out to do snow-donuts (snownuts) in the dead of winter (around 12F -10C). Only did one dose but it would start with its electric starter after 3 tries every time. If I ever were to leave it for 6+ months I would cut the fuel via the petcock and let the carb run dry. Worked like a charm. My brother-in-law owns the ATV now and gives the kids rides around the neighborhood regularly. Only had to clean the carbs once in the last 10 years. Great stuff.
The 'modern' trend of thought is pushing everything to electric. I just saw an article in the local paper... by next year it will be illegal here to have a non-electric leaf blower?? I'm getting sick and tired of people trying to "change the world!" I'm sorry, but things have worked well for decades the way they have been. I swear I'm going to bi**h slap the next gen person that comes talking to me about 'global warming!' The amount of energy I'm spending every year goes up just trying to stay warm.
In Scotland I've often thought about getting one, although they are not commonly sold so I guess there's not much demand. I think I'll wait until there's a decent battery operated one available, ideally with Matika or similar, multi battery slots. Global warming has reduced the average snow considerably over the last 30 years so a high-speed water pump might be a better bet. Having the flat garage door behind you boosted the sound quite well.
Fuel stabilizer doing it's job! I'm shocked! SHOCKED I SAY!
Do you have ethanol-free recreation gas where you're at? I've switched to using it in my equipment. It's more expensive but the amortized cost for a few gallons over a few months isn't bad. I still put stabilizer in the generator because of how infrequently it's used, though. Personally, I drain the fuel out of the snowblowers in the summer but keep it in the lawnmower/tractor over the winter and so far it's done me well.
Yay, minimal effort (NEN)!
As a Canadian with both a lawnmower and snow thrower, I’ve found no real difference between running empty and using stabilizer. The only thing I’d suggest is the first time you start up a small engine for the season is adding as much premium gasoline as you can to give it the best chance of igniting.
Huh, you americans do use gasoline for pretty much everything. Our driveway is around 15 meters too, but we use either a proper snow shovel (ie. Fiskars) or a larger two hand device we call "lumikola" in Finnish. I think is called "sleigh shovel" in English. It's very good for moving lots of snow without petrol or electricity. They are also made by Fiskars (Fiskars SnowXpert Sledge), but are probably not exported.
Not that we don't get out the power tools more often than perhaps we should, but my driveways is 50 meters, not 15.
Slightly related: On advice of the owner's manual or on-line forums, I forget which, I put Sta-Bil in the last gas fill-up on my Rav4 Prime. It's been nearly 6000 miles since that fill-up, and I've still got half a tank. It recently went for its 10K mile service, and the dealer seemed to think that was fine. I would prefer to use ethanol-free gasoline, but that's not available in California.
I don't do anything. I just leave the old gas in the lawn mower gas tank when I use it for the last time in fall and it fires up just fine when I need it again in spring. To be fair it has electric start and the storage period is shorter than that of a snowblower, usually from November to May.
Point: combustion engines suck and are noisy :-P
As gung-ho as you are about BEVs, I'm surprised you're still on a gasoline blower!
When I bought this, I wasn't that confident that the battery-powered options could handle the driveway on a single charge. Plus, they cost well over triple what this machine did. Given that I need maybe a gallon of gas per year, I didn't seem rational to go with an electric blower yet. But when this one dies, I imagine I'll be ready to make that leap!
Would you say that you saved big money when you bought your snowblower?
Absolutely