Snowblower Snowblowers - Long chute or Short chute ?

[Dmace]

Hello fellow members,

While Cag was posting pictures of his new snowblower attachment, I noticed that his chute was considerably shorter than the chute on my snowblower.

My question is, are there any advantages and/or disadvantages to these two setups ?

I can see the shorter chute being less prone to clogging up, but I would think the longer chute gives the snow a straighter shot to pick up velocity before getting angled into the woods.

Here are a couple of pics of the two setups.

Thanks,

Short Chute

Long Chute

 

[Bob_Skurka]

My preference is the short chute versions. I've seen several reports here with the long chute blowers that clog up too fast.

It also seems like the long chute versions have a 'square' shaped back to the chute while the majority of the short chute versions have multiple folds in the metal such that the shape of the chute is closer to a round shape. I don't know if that makes a difference, but most of the complaints I read by the long chute owners say the chute clogs up at the lower portion of the chute so I'd have to guess that the shape of the chute is the bigger problem than the length of it?

Here is a shot of the interior of my Buhler Farm King chute. It has never clogged up for me yet. The shape is typical of other short chute designs from Meteor, Puma, etc.

 

[MadReferee]

I agree with Bob. The short chute models tend to be much more efficient at discharging snow, probably due to the internal design of the chute and the fact that the snow has less restricted distance to travel. My Puma (similar to yours) has never had a chute clogging in the past 3 years and will throw snow quite a distance depending on the snow conditions.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">(
I would think the longer chute gives the snow a straighter shot to pick up velocity before getting angled into the woods.
)</font>

I was just looking over MadRef's hydraulic chute rotator and after drooling over the prospect of having one of those, I re-read your post. The logic you provide is acually false. There is no way that the snow will 'pick up velocity' in a chute. Rifle bullets pick up velocity as they travel down the barrel because there is propellant burning behind them, but the moment the expansion of propellent's gas is exhausted the bullet begins to slow. The maximum speed of the snow going up your chute is a function of your second stage fan speed. The moment the snow leaves the face of the fan it starts to slow. The more time it is spent in the confines of a chute, the more friction it incurs and the slower it will travel.

Perhaps that is why there are so few issues of short chute clogs.

 

[cag]

Bob I read in the past what you mention about the chutes, but there as to be some sort of advantage with the long neck chute, that ether I missed or was not mention..cag

 

[Bob_Skurka]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Bob I read in the past what you mention about the chutes, but there as to be some sort of advantage with the long neck chute, that ether I missed or was not mention..cag )</font>

Heck I am no expert on blowers but I've never seen anyone say what the advantage of a long chute is. The only thing I ever see is complaints about long chutes clogging. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

 

[cag]

Same here, I never heard any advantage of the long chute, I just thought I might have missed something mention here on TBN in the past...cag

 

[JoeL4330]

Could be yes and no ...as you say, the moment the snow departs from the fan, it has only its own momentum and has to overcome the friction of the chute ...or, the friction/drag in free air ...so, the question is whether the snow encounters more friction as a stream going up the chute, or as a dispersing stream in the air.

Consider, too, that if both streams leave the blower at the same speed, then they maintain that speed until they exit the blower ...otherwise, the snow would back up in the chute (a clog) ...so, clog free, they would exit more or less at the fan propelled speed.

Note, too, if snow were to depart each chute at roughly the same speed, the higher it emerges the further it will go until gravity brings it down to earth.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

JoeL, not sure that I understand why you are comparing the velocity of the snow in the short chute versus the velocity of the snow in the long chute. There was never a comparison of velocities between short and long chutes.

The position proposed in the original post was that the snow in the long chute would actually pick up velocity as it travelled up the chute. That is simply not possible. It would encounter both air friction and friction from the sides of the chute and both would act to slow it down. Further the top deflector will slow it down even more, regardless of short of long chute. But I was addressing the position that it could accelerate inside the chute. I see no way that the chute length is going to increase the velocity of the snow, but I see plenty of ways to decrease the velocity (based on the chutes pictured in this thread). Please re-read the original post.

 

[Dmace]

I guess I could have worded it better, but what I meant was that the snow will be traveling a longer distance at whatever speed before hitting the top of the chute and being deflected.

It seems like it would work smoother as opposed to hitting the deflector a foot or less away from the propeller.
I would think that the snow would have a better chance of getting caught up and backed up in a shorter chute where the snow hit's a deflector so close to the propeller.

There has to be an advantage to a taller chute. There is just no reason to make them unless there is some gain in the design.