Snow Blower Testing Science Revealed | Consumer Reports
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- Опубліковано 21 гру 2014
- Before you see a flake of snow, Consumer Reports is putting snow blowers through a range of rigorous tests that even include wet sawdust to recommend the best models for you. Here's how it's done.
I just did a video spreading topsoil with a craftsman snowblower just for fun and I was impressed with how well it actually worked !
Consumer Reports should go to a hockey rink. Pay the rink to use it for awhile. The Zamboni that shaves the ice collects snow. That snow is wet and heavy. Have them dump a pile or two of that on the rink and blow it around until your heart is content. That will enable you to run a blower in a cool environment as most rinks are kept around 32 F. The machines will also be moving wet heavy snow. It does not get much more realistic than that.
Project Farm is the real consumer reports!
The last test wasn’t a very accurate method of testing the driveway pack. These guys must be from FL. 😂
Got a 32" Ariens from 2001, still throwing snow 25/30 feet no problem, wet, heavy, thick, light. It blows it all.
With all of this testing, you'd think these manufacturing companies could solve the problem of having too much of a space gap between the impeller paddles & the chute housing.
Looks like I'm going sawboarding this summer
YEAH!!!!
You have to test a snow blower with snow! You want to test sawdust, use a sawdust blower
We got a 30 cm dumping of sawdust last night. Others were screaming end of the world while I was out testing my snowblower
Built a trailer to automatically feed various snow blowers a few years ago for a major brand. Return chute, conveyor and all fun project.
Thought it was sand in the thumbnail. That would have much more entertaining.
Come to Edmonton we get warm weather from BC and as it comes over the mountain the freezing rain starts you can test for 8months out the yr
WELL, we’re waiting!!
Hugh Jafro This was to show how they test snow blowers in general. Not a specific blower.
I'm sorry, but warm weather wet sawdust is by no means an excellent simulation of what happens with snow. You're simply not going to sheer any pins that way, and BTW, *HOW* did you control how much water you put into it? Your video shows some guy with a hose just hosing it down. Doesn't seem very controlled to me.
Know you need to freeze it that would be a good test
Can use to transfer dry sand?
Now FREEZE that sawdust.. add chunks of ice the size of a dinner plate..run the machine at ten below zero.. and do that for decades and you would be close to real conditions. People who live in Carolina don't buy snowblowers.. If you need one it better work in realistic conditions.
Then add some water to the frozen mixture to simulate slush, then run that through the machine at -10 while misting the machine with water to simulate freezing rain, while turning the chute up, down, side to side while shifting forward and reverse, on ice, uphill, downhill, running it into half frozen mounds simulating the end of the driveway, in darkness...
I'm disappointed at CR for this lame testing. It's doubtful they have ever used a snowblower in real winter conditions.
Richard Travis just saying, you don’t know what real snow is. C9me on over to Canada then you’ll see. Shoveled 5 times yesterday and was still snow. Also we got down to -40 with wind chill and still had school.
Well said.
so what do you buy then? a 3 stage?
Cool!
I'm in Canada, but even in summer there's a mound of heavy snow every time the local skating rink surfaces the ice. Rinks aren't a thing in the US?
The real test would be to hit a brand new heavy duty garden hose you rolled up and forgot about covered in a foot of snow, if it spits the pieces out and keeps running buy it, it shut mine down in a heartbeat but it did get the better of the hose slicing it to smithereens.
Would it work in sand?
That engine knock tho lol 😂 good thing this is not a 24h test
there is no point to watch this video if you dont get the final result . what brand or model is the best
Juan Ortega Dude,they have tons of videos showing results. This is just to show u how they test. They do videos every fall for snow blowers. And Honda is def a great one. But expensive. Toro and Ariens are very good too.
There is no point watching the traffic report when you want to know the weather. This video is titled to be about the methods, not about the results.
It's a bit overdone, just come to Canada for the winter... But make it quick, it only lasts for about 5 months!
Gotta turn the chute to simulate end of driveway. You were either throwing it back into the road or reverse back into your driveway 😆
The result is they tested a number of snowblowers in a medium that in no way shape or form feels, acts or behaves like snow and now have a pile of utterly arbitrary results based on this testing. The winner will then take the results and slather their product with praise (Consumer Reports Best Buy!!!) and some some poor schlub standing in Sears will see that and go 'Well, that sounds good!' not realizing they tested the snowblower's ability chew through wood in the middle of august..
the only real snow condition worse than wet saw dust is frozen slush, & _maybe_ heavy slush. this test is more than adequate to demonstrate the abilities of any snowblower for most possible winter conditions.
Well, It's Consumer Reports. I used to think they were valid....when I was 8.
You should see how bad their car testing is. Somebody created an awesome T-shirt (I wished I had bought one) with a guy in a crash helmet driving a car off of a cliff. The sub text read "Watch Out! Consumer Reports is testing cars again!"
lol.
Here's the thing; water expands and becomes less dense as it freezes.. So a solid medium that absorbs its weight in liquid water is going to be more dense/heavy than snow could physically be. If all the snowblowers tested performed period, they're already functioning beyond performance expectations. If one of them didn't perform or suffered a failure, the manufacturer would point out that the testing method and medium is hardly empirical. Either way, it's hard to legitimately say we learned how these machines perform in the medium they were made for.
@@Pure_KodiakWILD_Power How many winters have you fought? How many hours of your life has been spent chipping ice? How many hours behind a snow blower? How many hours wrenching on them? How many layers of clothing does it take to work outside in 15 degree weather for hours? Nvm you have no idea. Stay in southern California, they need you!
you should've add final evaluation of your testing technique .. in another video like part two .. for each snowblower brand man !! you just left us in the dark !!!
East17A you have to pay for the reviews....
How about testing different types of snowblower belts. I seem to go through them a lot and I'm only going through a few inches of snow. I can smell the belts burning. I should be able to go through a foot of snow with my snowblower.
Check alignment of pulleys. I replaced the auger belt every year til I noticed the crack in the chassis and the pulleys were out of line. Had it welded and I put a washer in there somewhere to line up the pulleys.
Wet Cement would be more realistic
didn't even freeze the chunk at the end plowed up snow always frozen
Pop corn foam packing . Cheap and fun to test with. Dry corn now that works well. Wheat , and kidney beans. And for all you " think you know it's all. Don't knock it tell you try it.
most any snow blower on the market would pass these tests. all snow blowers are the same, according to consumer reports
That's nuts
I have a snowblower that needs to be tested!!!!!! 💀
Ariens
FTW!!!
Thank you the video was very helpful..now if i could only dump all that snow on the plow guys head after he dropped it in front of my driveway... i have it on camera he was laughing to
Why didn't show some testing ❓😕
Ya but pins and axles ,gears sherr crack and snap from ice chunks so many add some softball sise rocks
I fix all types of snowblowers I personally have a Honda and an Ariens I hate to say it but the Ariens outperforms the Honda. Another little piece information you might want to know about the Honda is you'll have trouble getting parts for it after 15 years i've still been able to get parts for an Ariens that is 50 years old. Honda is a good machine but you better take really good care of it. I have a Honda track drive it is 20 years old The final drive transmission is broken you can't buy it.
If you broke the final drive then you didn't care for it properly or used it improperly. Or it was used commercially and just plain wore out.
Parts are available but I find some dealers are reluctant to get parts, preferring to sell new units.
The parts for Ariens or any other cheaper model are easily available because millions were sold, and because there is planned obsolescence involved, requiring a strong parts/repair market.
I went ahead and bought a Yamaha 6/24" blower with tracks. Bloody thing is unstoppable. Electric start and a nice bright LED light. Plus it's the quietest blower I've ever heard.
That's hilarious, I've been a small engine technician for 10 years. I own 2 snow blowers as well. One is a Honda HS928TAS (tas=tracks) and the other is an Ariens Deluxe 28+ mod no: 921034 and to be completely honest my Ariens beats my Honda in every category except one.
#1 Ariens engine is bigger and more powerfull
#2 Ariens Impeller is bigger and more stout
#3 Ariens uses 2 belts to run the impeller
#4 Ariens parts support is amazing I was able to get all the parts in for a customers unit that was from 1970. (friction disc, hex shaft bushings)
#5 thicker steel and an iron gear box. Tougher gear box means bigger shear bolts and less bolt breakage.
#6 I like my Ariens because it's simple.
there are many other things I like about my Ariens over my Honda but I feel those are the main points.
My Honda happens to have tracks and it's hydrostatic that means it does tremendously well on grades and smashing through plow berms. (Ariens makes hydrostatic track models as well)
Don't get me wrong the Honda is a fine machine but I find I wind up doing most of my work with the Ariens.
i still get Gilson parts.
And this is why the China engines are everywhere now. Because all engines run fine at 70 degrees. Carbs rarely freeze during the summer in California. Wow just wow. I will disregard everything consumer reports has to say about snow blowers now. You find a geographic location that has your conditions and you move your test there. My holey God, here's your sign.
Now do it on ice and gobble up a few newspapers...
1987 Noma. Works best kind.
Not every one knows how to properly handle or maintain their equipment of choice, thus why some have bad and others have good and then the few with mediocre outlook of their own machine
And this is why it takes two weeks on youtube and two tries to buy anything. HIGHLY subjective testing methods.
9 cubic feet.....that’s cute
I can't believe Honda never made it even close to the top. Did you guys test all Honda models? Yamaha?
+todd baker As a previous honda owner, I don't think any snowblower will ever come close to comparing to them. Unless its a Yamaha (Honda Clone). Wish I never sold mine.
Their test is biased towards cheaper machines if they have comparable performance in their test. No evaluation is given for longevity either so Honda does not get anything for that either.
Nothing comes close to a Honda but the only problem with Honda is unless you're in Canada or the upper peninsula of Michigan you'll be very hard pressed to find people willing to spend the coin it takes to buy a Honda or even an Ariens professional which is also in the same price class as some of the Honda's. At that price point I can go purchase a plow for the front of my truck which is what most people willing to spend that kind of money do. Even so if I had a tractor I could get a nice PTO snowthrower built out of heavy gauge steel minimal maintenece needed since it has no engine of its own, with a lot more power and bigger clearing width.
Honda price is based on the quality, and that goes for Honda anything, not just snowblowers. You can spend $2500 once or $500 every few years. As to a plow, a good Western is about $5k now. And it can't do sidewalks or pathways like a snowblower can. There's pro and con to everything, but to me a snowblower that can move the snow 50' away beats a plow that only makes a pile where I don't want one.
julie r I don't doubt Honda's quality but yeah 5k if you want a Western mounted on a 3/4 ton full size truck. Down where I live you'd be hard pressed to sell a Honda where I live. I have a Honda single stage snowblower it's awesome yes cost more than many in it's class. My 2 stage I use for more heavy snow is an Ariens and it's 35 years old and have had no problems with it. No you can't do sidewalks with a snow plow but 2-3 swipes and a little shovel work is a lot quicker than a snowblower. I mean no you're not gonna get a Western or Boss for $2500 but you can still get a light duty plow for a small truck or SUV for that kind of money. It will do a faster job than a snowblower and work fine for 90% of the people that buy them use them for their house and it does just fine and that's all they care about.
And the next test was using Sour Cream.
I'd use wet sand. Same as snow.
Like we don’t have enough real snow
We really do not get enough snow since it only does snow in winter time and may not always get thick heavy or wet stuff and thus why they show how they test the rest of the year
If it ain't 12ft deep it doesn't count give her a real snowdrift test and aslo don't just lightly sprinkle water on the test dust soak it in a swimming pool for a week then strain dumping it where it's to be blown from and don't wait too long because ya don't want it to have time to dry out and then ya gotta wear the snowpants and winter coat ski goggles gloves and hat to really have an authentic test y'know what just come up north and try the real stuff Fake snow just isn't the same even if styrafoam looks good for the movies
Where is the result?
audavid It wasn't about results
Average_Joe87, not worth the effort to reply/respond to comments more than six months old as they may not ever get the notification with the way that program operates at best. And here i am doing this very same I am saying to not do.
thought it was sand in the thumbnail. so where's the actual test, & the results?
oh, apparently people have been asking for the last two years....
Seriously, what part of "Snow Blower Testing Science Revealed" aka HOW WE TEST year round did none of you get from that title?
yea any more fairy tails you wanna tell us?
If it's the exact same thing as snow then let's see you have a horse bedding fight. Yeah didn't think so.
The Murray brand won best snowblower
+Tony McKinnon If thats the case, any credibility that Consumer Reports had is now lost.
Murray is absolute garbage, go with an Ariens they're much better units and competitively priced.
Go with a 1970s-90s Gravely unit. LOL
Jon Homrich areins, simplicity, Honda, husqaurana what every its called are good brand
ever
What a mess!
Now that's a ingenious way to test snowblowers, not only can you have controlled experiments but it can be done all year long
I hope the person or persons who thought of this got compensated
And the End Result is ??????????? if you have a Wood Shop or your using Chainsaw or anything that makes Sawdust you can use a Snow Blower to Move it or Clean it up.
yet another who misunderstood the HOW they test per the title clearly says the science behind the testing
I will never pay for your results consumer reports ...hahahahahhahahahahahaha!
That's it?
What did you expect? Title says its all, HOW they test, makes no point about any actual test results, you half brained thinkers are real gems in this comment section
Why didn't you just test it in snow?
you need to listen what they said as they stated clearly the weather does not always play fairly and it only snows few days a year and only during winter thus having this testing system allows year round variable testing set to what what they want to test for
I'll keep my 18 year old 24" Craftsman with a 9 horse Tcumseh engine. Nothing new will come close to it.
Tcumseh, what is that? I heard of Tecumseh though
Zumba shit
And the wining snow blower is...
My girlfriend (she loves blowing with a mouth full of snow, cause dicks melt snow and she can stay hydrated while she works)
With your scammey post on Facebook I definitely don't trust your reviews