My amazing little Snow Joe blower

[dgk]

I have a little house in NYC so it never really paid for me to get a snow blower. But I'm getting near 60 and decided that I really didn't want to be lifting snow anymore. So last month I investigated some snow blowers and ended up getting a small electric model called a Snow Joe. Under $200, 13.5 amps, 18" width and around 10" intake height.

We got 18" of snow on Sunday and my little Snow Joe was overwhelmed but performed heroically. It took a bit to figure out the best way to approach that much snow, but once I did, Snow Joe did all that I could ask. It did my driveway, my neighbor's driveway, and the sidewalk in front of four houses (elderly neighbors).

It certainly wasn't effortless and I can see that having powered wheels would make things oh so much easier, but really, for that price, I couldn't have expected anything more.

This isn't to say that a Toro or some gas-powered monster wouldn't have been better, but they cost a lot more. Nor do I know that this won't die in the middle of the next storm; I certainly kept fearing that it would die in this one but each time it was just the plug coming loose.

And, best of all, the Significant Other has apologized for referring to it as my "new toy". Ah, sweet victory!

[DA]

I am considering an electric snow blower myself (easier maintenance, no gas) but dealing with the long and thick (live) extension cord makes me a little worried. Given that this was your fist experience, how easy/hard was it to manage the cord? Since you've cleaned a walkway in front of 4 houses, how long a cord did you use? Thanks!

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[rlz]

I bought a Craftsman 20" electric snowblower about 15 years ago and it's still going strong. I use about 100' feet of exterior grade extension cable and haven't had any problems with it. I keep the cord on a wind-up reel and leave it on the blower, so it's handy when it snows. It's easy to unwind it when needed and winds back up after I'm done. I've added an additional 100' a couple of times to do other houses as well.

Rob in Denver, Colorado

[WW]

I just bought a Toro Snow Shovel electric snow blower. Now I need some snow to try it out. Only have a double wide driveway and a 42 x 13 deck that is

12 feet above ground. Need to shoot the snow over the railing. Instructions say it will toss snow 15 feet. Only cost $100 at Ace Hardware. Will update if I ever get to use it. WW

[DerbyDad03]

re: "...but each time it was just the plug coming loose."

That's easy to prevent. See here:

[Jim Elbrecht]

I've had the Toro version for many years. It just gets used now for super wet snows, cutting the tops off snowbanks, or when my old beast dies. But I did a lot of snow for 3 winters with just the electric Toro.

The first pass is tough-- but usually you can shave edges off to do the rest. I put drift cutters on mine. Just screwed some

1/8x3/4 stock to each side. It will cut through a 24" bank. [or tunnel through a 36"]

I'm betting that the single stage in your area might be the better choice. It works better on wet snow than a 2-stage-- and you don't need to worry about storing gas & oil. And you can work on the things, literally; 'on the kitchen table'.

I like mine because it is quiet enough and 'friendly' enough that both my wife and kids have taken it for a spin or two. They won't touch the 40 yr old, 7HP Bolens.

I'm not familiar with the snow joe- but suggest you get a spare paddle and whatever breaks when you grab a large rock. I couldn't find any parts locally for my electric Toro & had to wait a week the first time around. Now I keep spare skids, paddle, blade, and the crazy shear-mechanism on hand.

They are incredible little machines.

Jim

[Jim Elbrecht]

-snip-

Let us know. But hopefully your preparedness will keep the snow-Gods at bay.

I picked one up a yard sale years ago & thought it was more work than shoveling. It was fairly heavy & only took a 6" swath or so.

OTOH- My 12amp, 18" electric Toro is a little work horse. [the new ones are 15ap & $300 on Amazon]

Jim

[krw]

My mother gave me one of those, er, 25 years ago. I found exactly the same thing. The first time I tried it we had 3-4' drifts. I tried to top the drifts and the snow flew right back in my face. It was more work than shoveling and when it might have been useful, it choked on the snow. I really never used it.

I suppose, like an electric lawn mower, if all you have is a postage stamp to do, electric works.

[willshak]

WW wrote the following:

That depends upon the wetness of the snow My tractor mounted snow blower will toss dry snow 30 feet, with wet snow, maybe 10 feet..

[DerbyDad03]

I hate cords.

Until either DeWalt or B&D comes out with an 18V Snow Blower so I can use the batteries from my tools or trimmer, I'll stick with my 2 options:

Shovels or my Ariens Sno Tek 24"

I wonder how long an 18V Snow Blower would last. ;-)

[Frank]

There's a snow blower and a snow thrower. The former augers it out of the way and the latter augers it to a thrower which tosses it out. The snow joe appears to be an electric thrower. Electric blowers, as far as I know, can't handle more than a few inches of snow. It takes a thrower to handle deep snow. Nothing electric is going to be as powerful as a gasoline powered unit. Also note that electric units don't appear to be self propelled so there would be more work involved in pushing it into the snow.

[DA]

Well, looks like approximately 2 min, if it could (hypothetically) discharge at 82.5A needed to match the OP's snow blower's power without blowing up itself ;) That's if we start with a 2.8AH (what they call "high capacity") 18V power tools battery.

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[krw]

Which would you use and auger bit or a spade bit?

[krw]

The two words have always been used interchangeably. The difference is usually delineated as single-stage vs. two-stage.

[DerbyDad03]

On Dec 29, 2:25=A0pm, Frank wrote: ... major snip ...

I don't believe that that is true...at least I am unable to find any definition that distinguishes between a snowblower and a snowthrower. They seem to be used interchangably although "snowblower" seems to be more common.

Actually, the terms which distinguish the 2 different types of snowblowers are "Single Stage" and "Two Stage".

A "single-stage" machine has an auger only and the shape of the auger housing directs the snow up and out of the chute.

A two-stage machine has an auger and an impeller. The shape of the auger housing directs the snow to the impeller, which rotates at a right angle to the auger. The impeller breaks the snow up into smaller pieces and throws it (usually farther).

Check out this site, where the more common term of "snowblower" is prevalent, yet they talk about Single Stage units vs. Two-Stage units on a regular basis.

Of course, we should not neglect (or maybe we should!) the Power Shovel which does not even have a chute. The auger just moves the snow forward as you push it along.

Well, OK, but it's also an electric blower.

Again, "electric" is the issue, not blower vs thrower.

True dat!

[clare]

Generally the reverse. A single stage unit is generally refered to as a "thrower" because it just grabs it and throws it. A 2 stage has a high speed fan or "blower" whach ejects the snow which has been ground up by the auger and fed into the blower stage.

When it has a chute. A lot of the "electric snow shovel" type either just throw it forward or have directional vanes that shift it one way or the other. Most (but cetainly not all) of the gasoline powered single stage throwers have a chute

[Vic Smith]

I had a couple snow-blowers/throwers( pick your word) about 10 years ago. Dad of a friend at work was retired and picked them up at garage sales and fixed them up for sale. One cost me $50 and the other $75. Bought both at the same time, since I figured with a corner lot with a plenty of sidewalk and a wide

2-car driveway they would come in handy. They were about 20" wide. One with an auger and electric start, the other with a flapper and rope start. Tossed them after about 3 years, both broke and I didn't want to fix them, as they took too much room for the work they did. Kid broke a handle side rail on the auger model by man-handling it in deep snow - no patience. The flapper model just needed a new rope, which broke. Don't remember the brands, but both had decent engines. 2-strokes. Both always started, but the electric start sure was easier to get going.

While they were down we found shovels worked almost as fast but with a little more effort, and they don't need gas, take up space, etc. Neither threw snow more than 3 feet, most snow getting thrown about 2 feet., and not high either. Almost useless for the driveway, but did the sidewalks okay.

I liked the flapper more, as it really cleaned the sidewalks. Auger left maybe a 1/4" layer of snow to ice up later. Don't know the value of driven wheels except in snow higher than the intakes - that's where my kid broke the handle by horsing it through. I was running the flapper taking small bites and backing off and had no problem except "slow." Seemed to me when the snow wasn't over the intake the things basically pulled themselves through the snow and were easy to push.

Now you guys got me thinking about getting a good snow removal machine. I bet I'll get more exercise. Sort of allergic to shovels, so usually the wife and a kid shovel. Of course for this to work I'll have to make a solemn vow not to teach my wife how to use the snow machine, and that nobody touches it but me.

--Vic

.

[DerbyDad03]

**

Can you show me where a 'single stage unit is generally refered to as a "thrower" '

I'm not arguing, I just haven't been able to find a definitive answer to the question.

Our old, yet untrustworthy, friend Wikipedia say things like "The term "snow thrower" is often used to encompass snow throwers and snow blowers, however, in proper usage a snow thrower is a machine that uses a single stage to remove or "throw" snow while a snowblower uses two stages to remove or "blow" snow."

Where I disagree is with the term "proper usage". I don't believe that there really is a "proper usage" for the terms.

In fact, places that actually sell the machines do not always make the distinction. For example, this site use the terms interchangeably for both single-stage and two-stage machines:

This site uses only snowthrower for both:

This site seems all confused, in some cases using Snowblower as the category heading and then using Snowthrower to describe the two-stage units.

Which is what I stated below when I said "Of course, we should not neglect (or maybe we should!) the Power Shovel which does not even have a chute"

[dgk]

Clever, but only for part of it did I need a second extention cord and that connection never weakened. It was the connection into the Snow Joe that kept coming loose. There is some sort of flapper thing that you run the cord through so that it won't come loose:

It's that thing hanging off the handle just above the second cross-bar. I didn't use it right though obviously. I'll figure it out before the next snowfall. I hope.

[dgk]

That's what I found worked well. Force through the first path, and then just keep edging 4-6" or so into it. A drift cutter is an interesting idea, but I'm hoping we don't get many more snows like that.

It was throwing the snow at least 10 feet - but it was so windy (~40 mph) that all it needed to do was get it up a few feet and that snow was GONE.

I'm not likely to hit a rock, I'm plowing a driveway and sidewalk - but I did read in some reviews that it was a problem getting replacement belts. The manual has instructions for replacing:

Rubber Plates Scraper Bar Belt Skid Shoes

So it's probably a good idea to get those at least.