Does anyone have an easy way to remove snow from equipment after use

[OzarkChris]

I use some pretreatment for both mud & snow on plows, blowers, etc. I have a plethora of "sliding" compounds I use for woodworking such as Johnsons paste wax, glide cote, Teflon spray,etc, etc. For my area glide cote & Teflon seem to work best - and last the longest between coats. I have friends that have less clay that swear by Johnsons. I'm guessing mileage varies by area.

I really like @Hay Dude version of hot water outside, but I already have several floor drains in my garage/shop that's heated/cooled so snow from cars, trucks, tractors, etc just drain away.

We don't have to use inspectors for codes here (which there really aren't many anyway), so all of my drains go out to one of two cement lined troughs (for lack of a better term) that go down the long sides of the house/garage/shop building ending 10-15' past the back of the house. The gutters also go into these troughs. Works well and wife likes the "creek" aspect of the "drains".

 

[Rustyiron]

Sunshine for a few hours (or all day) will allow a lot to drop off and making the rest easy to scrape off. Hot water is fast also if you don't have sun.
Some jobs just take patience and elbow grease, it just depends on how much the stuck snow brothers you.
A warm machine in a warm garage will ice up immediately when contacting snow. Keep that in mind.

 

[GeorgeA]

Just wondering if anyone has an inexpensive easy way to remove accumulated snow after using the tractor blower etc. my uit is in a heated garage and when it snows enough every day to use the unit(s) it melts amd makes a small lake LOL.
I've tried a windshield scraper which is somewhat OK but is time consuming and leaves a lot behind.
Also tried compressed air which works somewhat well but again is a bit time consuming.
They flat air nozzles but I'm not sure if they would work that well LINKY Another version of a nozzle LINKY 2 .

So i thought I'd ask here TIA and

Try coating the blower with silicone spray once clean and dry. Make sure you coat the chute and impeller/fan. Makes a huge difference, especially with heavy wet snow. Hope this helps!

 

[Page2]

Whatever a good stiff broom doesn't get off, stays on. :- )

 

[Oaktree]

Whatever a good stiff broom doesn't get off, stays on. :- )

Yeah, same here. I use the FEL bucket to plow my driveway, I'll scrape out most of the snow in the bucket with a shovel before I put it back inside, but that's it. Unheated garage so it doesn't melt much.
Different story with a snowblower...you don't want any of that leftover snow to turn into ice.

 

[bdhsfz6]

I use a combination of methods, most of which have already been suggested.

I keep a can of cooking spray near the tractor and spray the FEL plow and snowblower before going out. It works fairly well on most parts but quickly wears off the auger and blade face.

I have a pressure washer mounted to the wall just inside the overhead door of the heated barn. It makes quick work of any snow, ice or mud encrusted on the equipment.

If I'm in a hurry and don't have time to clean the equipment, I'll store it in an unheated barn and do the chore later.

 

[JRTJH]

I have an old 26" push broom that broke in half. I cut a 24" piece of 1x2 and screwed half of that broken broom head to the 1x2. It makes a great snow brush and has much heavier bristles (and more of them) than a "car snow brush" that's designed not to scratch the clear coat on mom's new car.... I use that brush and a cheap metal blade 6" paint scraper to break away the hard impacted snow. My pole barn is not heated, but when the sun shines on it, the barn warms up just enough to melt the snow. There's places on my Bercomac front snow blower that collect water and don't drain easily when the blower is parked. So, if I leave packed snow on the blower, when it melts, it usually collects in the bottom of the impellor area and if that freezes, the impeller ain't turning until I break the ice away. That brush and the paint scraper get enough of the packed snow off the blower. I also use the brush on my back blade just to keep the melted snow off the pole barn floor.

If you've got an old broom laying around, "improvise".... It's worked for me for the past 10 years or so.

 

[can do]

I have heard that Pam helps the snow fall off the blade, so a consideration might be applying that to the worst surfaces for snow buildup. This may make cleaning surfaces easy with a broom.

Chris

Any good non stick cooking spray such as Pam will do the trick, & is considered environmentally friendly also you will need to reapply after each use I use it on my Cub Kadet walk behind snow blower.

 

[RayIN]

That's a really good idea. I'd bet just smearing Turtle Wax onto the plow blade would help a lot, even if you don't bother buffing it off. Application is even less work than the buffing.


This is a new problem for me. I bought a nice sparkling new Deere in 2019, and because it's only for personal use, I always figured the thing might still look damn near new when I sell it in 25 years with 2500 hours.

However, a friend had a single daughter move into a house just a half mile up the road from me, and he lives something like 40 minutes' drive away in good weather, probably an hour's drive on a snow day. So, to keep him from having to drive up here to shovel her out, I told him I'd plow her driveway whenever it snows. It really only takes me 10-15 minutes to drive the tractor up there at 10-20 mph, plow it, and drive back home.

But what I found on the first attempt last week, is that the mess of black salty slush on the road sprays all over the tractor, and in fact all over me! Now, this tractor which I never had to hose down or wash in winter, must be either washed after each snow storm, or left to rust a bit. Also, I come home with the sleeves and shoulders of my Carhartt inuslated coveralls all covered in black road water.

I'll try just driving much slower next time, but if I find I need to keep speed down at 3 mph (i.e. "trail speed"), it'll turn that 1 mile round trip into 20 minutes drive time... plus the few minutes it takes to do the actual plowing. I'm always in a rush to get to work on snow days, after having spent time to plow my own (much larger) driveway, and clear the walks by hand.

No good deed goes unpunished.

 

[BHW961]

Just wondering if anyone has an inexpensive easy way to remove accumulated snow after using the tractor blower etc. my uit is in a heated garage and when it snows enough every day to use the unit(s) it melts amd makes a small lake LOL.
I've tried a windshield scraper which is somewhat OK but is time consuming and leaves a lot behind.
Also tried compressed air which works somewhat well but again is a bit time consuming.
They flat air nozzles but I'm not sure if they would work that well LINKY Another version of a nozzle LINKY 2 .

So i thought I'd ask here TIA and

As others have mentioned, Google "snow plow wax" and take a look at the options that come up. 50 years ago I remember a chemical salesman coming by with aerosol cans of "snow plow wax" (among many other things) which we bought to prep the town's snowplows, and a bunch of other stuff.

 

[Mike0616]

Spray equipment with silicone spray before you use it. If snow won't stick the issue is moot. Been doing this for years and I could fill in floor drains as there is so little snow to melt.

 

[Bobrown14]

Just wondering if anyone has an inexpensive easy way to remove accumulated snow after using the tractor blower etc. my uit is in a heated garage and when it snows enough every day to use the unit(s) it melts amd makes a small lake LOL.
I've tried a windshield scraper which is somewhat OK but is time consuming and leaves a lot behind.
Also tried compressed air which works somewhat well but again is a bit time consuming.
They flat air nozzles but I'm not sure if they would work that well LINKY Another version of a nozzle LINKY 2 .

So i thought I'd ask here TIA and

+2 on a battery powered leaf blower.... we get snow every day all winter long. Works for cars and trucks too!

 

[terramiteman]

what about using a "weed burner tourch" before putting it in the garage??melt most of it off before hand, then maybe only a "small puddle"??

 

[RayIN]

Is there a RIGHT direction? In my experience, no matter which direction I aim the blowing snow, it comes right back into my face - especially on windy days.

Start at the top then work down. Starting at the bottom results in a snowman. Just like peeing, never into the wind.
A leaf-blower works great for blowing rinse water off vehicles to prevent spotting.

 

[CAPT Seabee]

A small hot water pressure washer that presumably you use for other things. Important to do the work off to the side as you don't want to create a skating rink where you don't want one.

 

[joeyd]

I clean off my tractor with a front plow and rear blower before I put it in the heated shop. That minimizes the water that collects. Then I squeegee that out the front door. I use a short scrub brush with stiff plastic bristles and a 8" drywall knife. The knife makes quick work of the plow face and is thin enough to get between the moving pieces of the plow and the rear blower. I also keep a 18" wood stake to help get at the tight spots.

 

[TJP440]

No good deed goes unpunished.

I too in the past cleaned many a neighbor's driveways (mostly elderly like Iam becoming) but as time went on they passed away and there was little to no reciprocation or appreciation shown. So that slowly stopped. I'll still do it when asked if the husband is out of town.
I'm going to try the leaf blower first as it's the cheapest and I'm a tighta-- Thanks again for all the replies

 

[WinterDeere]

When I bought my first house, I was 23 and my neighbor was a very out-of-shape 50-something. I would hand-shovel or do our entire shared driveway with my little Ariens 824 walk-behind 24” snowblower. Had 13 years of that.

Now I’m the 50-something, but still in good shape, and I’m plowing a 25 year old’s driveway.

 

[Retired LE]

Just wondering if anyone has an inexpensive easy way to remove accumulated snow after using the tractor blower etc. my uit is in a heated garage and when it snows enough every day to use the unit(s) it melts amd makes a small lake LOL.
I've tried a windshield scraper which is somewhat OK but is time consuming and leaves a lot behind.
Also tried compressed air which works somewhat well but again is a bit time consuming.
They flat air nozzles but I'm not sure if they would work that well LINKY Another version of a nozzle LINKY 2 .

So i thought I'd ask here TIA and

Some of the issue depends on what kind of snow you are dealing with. Is it dry or is it water logged and sloppy? If dry, a leaf blower works great. You can also pre treat the blower by using some silicone spray or non stick type spray throughout the interior so that the snow won't stick as badly. If storing it in a heated garage, perhaps leaving it outside would be best.

 

[1Mech]

You might try one of these. I have one with a 48" wand, the thing blows very hard out the series of small ports at regular air compressor pressures.

McMaster-Carr

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It blows much harder than a regular air gun and with a wider pattern. Also easy to reach up into chutes.