In Wisconsin
everyone knows the quote "in Wisconsin there are two seasons construction
and winter". The winter part of the quote infers a large percentage of the
year is cold and snowy. Some people reposition the snow manually while others
get mechanical help.
For many years I
toted the newly fallen snow from one
location to another manually. About 15
years ago the family decided that I needed help and they bought this one stage
Toro snowblower for me. The Toro
performed admirably until five years ago when it came upon a mountain of snow
at the foot of our driveway piled there by a huge city-owned snowplow. The Toro succumbed to the snow pile and
burned up. The Toro was brought to a
nearby small engine center and the owner said at its autopsy that it was not
repairable.
After the Toro went
to the great junk yard in the sky, the family authorized me to find a
replacement. Knowing the Toro was too
small to handle six foot snow piles at the end of the driveway, we purchased an
Ariens 22 inch two stage snow blower. We
were assured by the salesman the Ariens would handle any mountain of snow the city placed in front of the driveway.
The Ariens was a
challenge from the beginning. It would
not start. The procedure to start it was
to turn the key, prime the carburetor, and then either pull the rope or push the
button for the electric start.
Occasionally the Ariens would start and just as soon stop. After a half
hour of frustration, the Ariens was placed in its comfortable garage location
and then I would shovel the snow manually.
The Ariens was
driven back to the dealer for repair work.
The Ariens was a heavy machine.
It took two people to load it into the back seat of our Honda minivan
and then another two people to unload it at the dealership. The dealership would look at it, proclaim
nothing was wrong, and then call to tell me to pick it up. I would return with the Ariens, it would snow
and again it would not start. We would
then take it back to the dealership and the whole circle of repair would begin
again.
The circle of repair
happened three times. I told a neighbor
about the continued frustration regarding the Ariens. He suggested I bring the Ariens to a
different dealership where they had people with technical degrees in small
engines. I did as he suggested.
The new people
stated the problem was with the carburetor.
Ariens outsources some of its parts to China. The Chinese may be adequate in a number of
areas but snow blower carburetors was not one of them. The new guys rebuilt the carburetor, with a
cost, and the Ariens at the end of the snow season two years ago finally
started up with a small amount of
effort.
Since the carburetor
was rebuilt, we have not had a major snowstorm.
A fixed Ariens snow blower scares the major snowstorms away. This winter the Ariens kept the snow away
until March and April.
In the middle of
March we had a snowfall where the Ariens could move some snow. I started the Ariens up and we went after the
snow. After about 30 minutes of snow
blowing the Ariens decided to push the snow.
Snow was no longer blown out of the chute.
My neighbor and I
looked at the Ariens. We looked at the
shaft which augurs the snow to the chute.
It was broken in two. My neighbor
was amazed because he never saw anyone break a shaft in two. He admired my skill and suggested that I
tried to blow a tree through the chute and that is why the shaft was now in two
pieces. I try to avoid trees whether I
am riding a bicycle or snow blowing and so I thought his claim was a little
suspect. However, he has two snow blowers to my one and so I guess he is wiser
than me and I accepted his explanation.
The Ariens again
went back to the new dealership to have the shaft replaced. It took them three weeks to repair the Ariens
and $300.
The Ariens returned
just in time for the last snowstorm of the season in mid-April. I pulled the starter rope and the Ariens ran
on the first pull. That was great. I then pointed the Ariens to the snow. The augur ran but nothing came out of the
chute. The Ariens again pushed the snow
up the driveway.
My neighbor came
over and we again checked out the Ariens.
We compared the Ariens to a similar unit of another neighbor. From our comparison it appeared the new
dealership reversed a plate where the augur pushes the snow to the chute. That plate blocked the snow rather than
allowing it to be ejected through the chute. Consequently, the Ariens pushed
the snow rather than blowing it.
The Ariens returned
to the new dealership for a correction.
The Ariens returned to its comfortable garage spot a week later after
the plate was reversed. By that time the
snow season was over and so I do not know if it will blow the snow or push the
snow until the next major snowfall.
So sometime in late
2018 or early 2019, the Ariens snowblower and I will assault a city-developed
snow pile. If the Ariens starts and I
can point it to the snow, the snow may actually blow out of the chute. Of course if the tires do not work then I
will be back to manually removing the snow.
