Snowblower Improving Snowblower performance

[MarcusCarr]

I spend the day reading through a variety of threads concerning the improvement of snowblower performance, especially in wet snow. This is a synopsis of what I learned and the processes and observations as I attempt to improve the performance of my snowblower...complete with pictures of course.

Key points of snowblower performance...

The equipment was designed to run at 540 PTO speed and should be.
The diameter size of the impeller will be critical to the throw distance.
The space between the end of the impeller blades and the drum should be close...1/16in.
The tractor should be run at a speed that allows the PTO to maintain 540, no bogging.
The chute should be smooth and as slick as possible.

There were a variety of tricks people use to "slick up" the chute. Plastic liners, gloss paint and sprays including WD-40, silicone based sprays and sprays that are designed for plow blades were all mentioned.

My snowblower would probably be fine in normal to dry snow, but we have three feet of slush right now, so that will be what I am trying to throw.

On to the testing!

 

[MarcusCarr]

I tested in 2ft of slush and found that I could only throw about 4' and the chute cylinder would clog within about 10ft. I did this 4 times, then tried the same with 12 inches of slush. I made it 15ft.

Since the hangup appears to be in the impeller/chute tansition...let pull the chute and take a look...pics.

 

[PILOON]

All true (and I possibly posted a few myself)

One I don't agree with---1/16" spacing
For sure you'll chew up the drum really fast with even basic sand, never mind pebbles and stones!

One you missed:
4 blade impeller vs 3 blade (empties faster and blows farther)
and a small 4 blade might be better than a large 3 blade?

Also:
Chain and sprocket drives better than central 'gear box' type (gear box=$$, chain is cheap to buy)
AND:
Be sure that blower is wider than tire width!

 

[MarcusCarr]

What do you think would be the best tolerance between the impeller blades and the drum? Mine currently appear to be 1/2-3/4in.

In the picture above the cylinder portion seem very tall compared to some pictures I have seen on other blowers. There is also surface rust that is catching and holding some snow.

Next test...run the blower in 24in of snow without the chute attached.

 

[MarcusCarr]

We learned a few things...

1. The blower will go through 24 inches of slush without slowing or clogging if there is no chute.

2. Snow, slush and ice will fly about 25ft straight up from a blower without a chute.

3. The same will comes straight down...until you raise the blower which effectively tilts the blower up and back and acts like a mortar.

4. A mortar shooting snow which accumulates at a rate of 12 cubic feet per linear foot travelled is a heck of a lot of snow. See pictures.

5. Snow coming from a blower packs down like ice, when you raise you legs to hit the clutch and brake you will find your boots pinned to the floorboard.

6. Snow and ice thrown from a blower without a chute will find it's way into your underwear even though you are wearing a Carhart suit...mysterious.

 

[MarcusCarr]

Another key point shown in the snowblower opening above is that the plastic sleeve is mostly missing. I may replace this with a section of 5 gallon bucket to get the slick surface area back.

So, do I try to sand, paint and lube the original chute or fabricate a better design.

It seems to me that cutting a trailer fender in half and mounting the cut half down on the chute would make a short and extremely smooth path to redirect the snow. Wonder if it would work.

 

[number two]

24" of slush is very unusual anywhere.Certainly hard to deal with.At this point a plow or end loader is required.Good luck!

 

[PILOON]

I had some commercial plastic (PVC) sheets that I cut and trimmed to make a liner for a shute once. Worked very well.
PVC is easy to fold and with heat of a plumber's torch can be moulded to fit inside the shute. Attachement need only be at the bottom of the shute as the blown snow will keep it erect.
One observation I made is that while considered cheap, the walk behind blowers with plastic shutes clog much less in wet snow than metal ones thus confirming the theory.

Another observation is the transition point from where the shute starts as round base (needed for rotation) and becomes a 'squarish' shute deflector is where the voids start the accumulation of wet sticky stuff thet simply builds up and clogs.
Like carb iceing!
What the PTO blower indusrty needs to do is mould a nice smoothe HD plastic shute to best handle the wet stuff. Probably won't happen.

Wonder if pickup truck liquid 'bedliner' might do the trick? Wish it was available in quart size as I'd be tempted to try that.

A freshly painted shute stick much less than worn 'sand blasted rusty' one, however a painted shute only lasts all of about 1/2 of the first snow event.

In northern Canada aircraft that operate on skiis always have a PVC liner rivitted to the ski bottoms to prevent sticking. Known as LDR bottoms. (low drag resisitance)
A later inovation was paint on or bond a urathane coating and oddly they discovered that rough brushed on was better than spray coated. (ever look at the bottoms of cross countyr skiis?)

 

[MarcusCarr]

Any idea where to buy PVC sheets? Wonder if Home Depot would have something like that.

Marcus

 

[PILOON]

Any idea where to buy PVC sheets? Wonder if Home Depot would have something like that.

Marcus

No, not big box stores, they only have (sometimes) Lexan or Plexiglass and maybe core foam all of which are not suitable.

Yellow pages is where I find that kind of stuff.

Often you can get 'cut offs' or reminents as many companies will order specific sizes or 'cut to measure stock'
The ideal material would be High Density poly. HDPE
In my area there are even surplus warehouses that specialize in either flat sheet stock or others that stock only tubing.

Good luck!

 

[PBinWA]

That post about what you learned was great - hilarious!

I had the same problems with slush last year. I painted the inside of my chute with Graphite paint (Slip plate) last summer and then coated it with Fluid Film. It seemed to stay less clogged during the last storm but after 20 hours of blowing most of the high impact areas have worn off the paint. I guess blasting rock and gravel through will do that.

I have heard of people adding thick rubber fins to the impeller blades to get tighter clearances and better pressure.

However, in my experience it's best to just plow the slush. It doesn't blow easily.

 

[Tig]

Wonder if pickup truck liquid 'bedliner' might do the trick? Wish it was available in quart size as I'd be tempted to try that.

Try "gravel guard" it comes in spray bombs and can be found in the automotive paint and body supplies section of your favourite store. It's used to protect the quarter panels of cars from stone chips. It dries to a hard finish with some ripple. You probably could wet sand the ripple out if you so desired. As a mater of fact the last time I bought some for a car it was the same colour at the chute on my Buhler.

 

[Zephrant]

McMaster-Carr is a decent source for plastics at reasonable sizes as well as bolts, etc... While I normally buy my acrylic from a local shop (Laird), McMaster delivers and carries the UHMW and other neat plastics I play with.

I'd consider UHMW or Delrin instead of PVC if you are going to line the chute- it's much slicker, but it is softer. Maybe try a little of each and see how it works.

I buy 1' squares of self-adhesive UHMW (Part no 1441T91) to be a glide point on my products. Great stuff to have around. I even convinced my Piano repair guy to use some on a sticky point on my Piano when he came out. He was sold in seconds, and I sent him off with a partial sheet and the part numbers.

Zeph

 

[dqdave1]

I was on you tube watching big blowers in action. I did notice some of the big rigs had a bypass of some sort that allowed snow to fly out without going thru the directional chute. It seemed to give it more "throwing power". here is a link so you can see what I mean.
You may be on the right track to make chute shorter with a slight curve.
YouTube - snow blower working new holland tv 145

 

[Ductape]

There has been some heated debate here in years past about the best clearance between impeller and housing. I'm confident you'll find some reading on it by using the search function. My (unproven) theory is....... when the blower is full of snow, there is effectively zero clearance, since snow fills the gap between impeller and housing. Also.... adding anything to the impeller to create near zero clearance would probably have to balanced very well. I would think that the higher the impeller speed the better....... but i'm sure manufactureres try to find a cost/benefit balance since higher impeller speeds = higher manufacturing costs to get everything balance so it doesn't self destruct. I like the slick plastic chute liner idea, though i think a good smooth finish with fresh paint will work fine. I wouldn't get too crazy with coatings, since the amount of grit that goes through your blower (even if you can't see it) will have it back to bare metal in no time. Also, your blower will naturally throw better to one side than the other (allowing the snow to make its natural arc coming off the impeller). If you can, keeping the snow going in its natural direction will allow it to blow better. On my front blower (sitting in the tractor), having the chute turned so the snow exits to my left allows it to blow better, as my impeller is spinning counter-clockwise (looking at it from the seat).

I do think you have a couple improvements to make to your new blower, but don't drive yourself crazy. As was stated, heavy,wet,sticky slush just aren't the snowblowers strong suit. I'll never be perfect in that type of snow condition.

 

[KubotainNH]

When I used a walk behind snowblower I tried a couple things. One was sanding down the chute and putting a Teflon coating. That worked pretty well. What I would do is the same I did on my ATV plow. I took one one of those cheap roll-up sleds and attached it to the blade. It was like night and day for snow sticking to the blade. Later I added similar plastic to my plow truck, it is also much better. I agree with Ductape on the chute direction, I always tried to blow to the right or forward because it threw snow 5 to 10 feet farther than shooting to the left.

Good luck.

 

[DrainPondDesign]

If you are looking to fab a non-stick plastic chute you might try lining your existing chute with this first.

Strong and Slippery UHMW Polyethylene Tape

Provides a nonstick, low-friction surface similar to PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) tape but with higher abrasion and impact resistance. Ideal for chutes, packaging lines, slides, and anywhere high-pressure sliding contact occurs. Also eliminates squeaks and rattles caused by adjacent parts movement. Tape has a UHMW (ultra-high molecular weight) polyethylene film and 0.0015" of acrylic adhesive. Color is translucent. 0.0045" thick, 0.0065" thick, and 0.0115" thick tape has a temperature range of -40ｰ to +225ｰ F and includes a peel-off polyethylene liner. Temperature range for 0.0215" thick, 0.0325" thick, and 0.0615" thick tape is 0ｰ to 120ｰ F.
Tape 0.0045" thick tape has a 0.003" thick film. 0.0065" thick tape has a 0.005" thick film. 0.0115" thick tape has a 0.010" thick film. 0.0215" thick tape has a 0.02" thick film. 0.0325" thick tape has a 0.03" thick film. 0.0615" thick tape has a 0.06" thick film.


Go to McMaster Carr Supply McMaster-Carr and plug uhmw tape into the find product window. UHMW Poly should resist abrasion better than Teflon.


This sort of tape is also often available from woodworking supply company catalogs as a friction reducer for saw fences.

Just don't ask me how they get the adhesive to stick to the non-stick tape.


So was that tipping the chuteless blower back test planned?

Stay warm

 

[Hooked_on_HP]

On semi dump trailers we use a plastic liner so sand and stone doesn't stick in the winter. These liners are 1/4 thick and verry slick and verry long wearing. If anyone in your area installs liners they should have some scrap pieces left over you could try in your chute.
Bill

 

[MarcusCarr]

PROBLEM SOLVED!

I am throwing slush about 20ft!

I spent 30 bucks on 1/8in HDPE plastic and lined the inside of the cylinder chute, the inside arc of the deflector part of the chute and the drum.

I lined the drum that the impeller turns in, but found later that it didn't make any difference (by removing that plastic).

My clearance from impeller tip to drum is still about 5/8th inch, but it still seems to work great.

 

[Ductape]

Shirley you took some pics of your liner installation for us !