Snowblower questions

[oldafretired]

Are there dealers of snowblowers like BerVac/Blizzard and Pronovost that will ship them to an address in the US?

The snowblowers with the rotating drums look like they would work well for wet heavy snow. Will they work with on a tractor with only one free remote if the chute is not used?

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Those blowers have options on the chute. One set of remotes for rotating, and get a manually adjusted deflector. Electric chutes are also available.

Alternatively, look for a used blower. That's what I did and I saved about $4K in the process.

 

[Piston]

Yes, you can get them shipped to the US, you may need to go through a local dealer though but a quick call or website check would confirm.

Like Eric mentioned, you can also get electric shute rotation. But to answer your question, yes you only need one set of remotes to operate the rotating drum. If your using the rotating drum, there is no need/reason to have control of the shute anyways, unless you want to go back and forth between the two.

Those TRC model blowers from Pronovost are top notch. I don't think you can find a better blower for a rear push style blower. If I had to go with a rear push, the TRC is certainly the model I would go with.

The Pronovost inverted would be my first choice, but you weren't asking about those

Those blowers have options on the chute. One set of remotes for rotating, and get a manually adjusted deflector. Electric chutes are also available.

Alternatively, look for a used blower. That's what I did and I saved about $4K in the process.

Eric, does your blower have the rotating drum?

I have seen the TRC model's on craigslist once in a while, but are fairly rare, as are the inverted blowers...I think that tells you something about how good they are!

 

[oldafretired]

Those blowers have options on the chute. One set of remotes for rotating, and get a manually adjusted deflector. Electric chutes are also available.

Alternatively, look for a used blower. That's what I did and I saved about $4K in the process.

Which model do you have? BTW, you have a bunch of great videos!

 

[oldafretired]

Yes, you can get them shipped to the US, you may need to go through a local dealer though but a quick call or website check would confirm.

Like Eric mentioned, you can also get electric shute rotation. But to answer your question, yes you only need one set of remotes to operate the rotating drum. If your using the rotating drum, there is no need/reason to have control of the shute anyways, unless you want to go back and forth between the two.

Those TRC model blowers from Pronovost are top notch. I don't think you can find a better blower for a rear push style blower. If I had to go with a rear push, the TRC is certainly the model I would go with.

The Pronovost inverted would be my first choice, but you weren't asking about those


Eric, does your blower have the rotating drum?

I have seen the TRC model's on craigslist once in a while, but are fairly rare, as are the inverted blowers...I think that tells you something about how good they are!

Hey thanks for the good info. I thinking of getting one of those TRC blowers in the spring along with a Hiniker front blade. I found a Hiniker dealer that will ship to my home but still will need to find a Pronovost dealer. Wonder if 50 PTO HP is enough to run a P-720TRC-80?

 

[Piston]

Hey thanks for the good info. I thinking of getting one of those TRC blowers in the spring along with a Hiniker front blade. I found a Hiniker dealer that will ship to my home but still will need to find a Pronovost dealer. Wonder if 50 PTO HP is enough to run a P-720TRC-80?

Of course with snowblowers, the more hp the better, but yes many people are running an blower the same width as the TRC-800 with even less than 50hp. The rotating drum takes less hp and throws snow further than using the shute.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

The drum is what all second stage fans are spinning in. The rotating drum simply rotates the drum off of the chute and to the side.

Unless the equipment is used, or you're a commercial operator, or somebody with a special snow consideration, rotating drums aren't worth the extra expense, in my mind.

Wet snow will stink with just about any snowblower. Consider these two videos. Same equipment, just different conditions: The first video and the snow is flying because the snow is dry. The second video and the snow isn't moving very well because it is wet and heavy. Yet, it is a same equipment and this is a monster of a rotating drum blower.

oldafretired, thank you for the compliment on my videos! My used McKee 720 SnowLand'r is 86" wide, 30" tall, with twin 13" augers, and a 27" fan rotating in an 8" drum. The drum is fixed and sends everything up the chute. My tractor has something around 49 PTO hp. The blower is a good match for my PTO hp Even so my blower is of little use in wet and heavy snow, but is great for blowing back snowbanks, sleet-snow, and dry snows. McKee invented the modern 2 stage blower and sold them as McKee, John Deere, New Ideal, and some other brands. McKees are a good blower and there are a zillion different variations, but you can spot the McKee manufactured blowers by their distinctive auger design.

I thought about an inverted blower but then realized that an inverted blower wouldn't be good at blowing back banks and high snow drifts unless I had a larger-framed utility tractor.

At the end of the day, a plow will out-perform a blower every time until the snow gets so deep that your plow cannot plow it, then it is blower time.

Too bad you're not in Minnesota as we have a pile of 3PT snowblowers for sale on craig's list.

 

[oldafretired]

Yup, your videos are a lot of fun to watch. You sure don't baby your tractor. LOL

Thanks for the links to the Russian snowblower videos. You're right that even the rotating drum blowers don't work as well with wet snow. I rely on a front blade but plan to have a 3 point blower as back up. The snow where I'm at is usually pretty wet and heavy and I'm thinking of using a blower to get rid of most of the snow if it snows a lot then go over it with the front blade to finish. Otherwise just use the blade. Maybe I'll just get a regular snowblower like a Blizzard or even a low cost Woodmaxx. I've been through 3 winters so far in north Idaho and the most snow here in a day so far has been about 6 inches but my neighbor who has lived here for quite awhile said he has seen years with 14 feet of snow so that's why I'm thinking of getting a blower just in case. With that much snow, I would end up with huge piles from plowing and a blower sure would be helpful.

Thanks again for the good advice and fun videos.

 

[leonz]

No, you need a double acting remote system for a Pronovost TRD model.

They work very well with heavy wet snow as they bypass the chute and spout and the useable PTO torque used to spin the impeller is used to quickly remove both types of snow to the left or right with out worrying about having to direct it somewhere.
The standard or front rear mounts do not do well with heavy wet snow unless they are used with high horse power mules.


This time of year you may have trouble buying a Pronovost snow caster but it cannot hurt to call Paul Vanderzon. You can get them shipped to you
but the last time I checked they had very few dealers on your side of the Mississippi.

Check with Paul Vanderzon At Vanderzon.ca and he can ship and sell one to you as we have NAFTA now. Paul is both a Pronovost dealer and snow removal contractor.

 

[fishhead]

Hey old AF
i live in Nw montana and did what you are talking about- would probably be better to discuss this via PM -essentially i imported it myself which because it is made in canada and and Nafta exists you just say its for your use show them the purchase papers and manufacturers plate at the border and off you go.


i don't believe there are any pronovost dealers in Creston or anywhere near there but the selling dealer will probably have the blower shipped to an ag location there and you just go and pick it up

Be

Are there dealers of snowblowers like BerVac/Blizzard and Pronovost that will ship them to an address in the US?

The snowblowers with the rotating drums look like they would work well for wet heavy snow. Will they work with on a tractor with only one free remote if the chute is not used?