Types of Snow Blowers

Snow blower types, engines and safety

The most thorough snow blower review can be found at Consumer Reports, where editors plowed through 8,700 linear feet in their quest for the best two-stage, single-stage and electric snow throwers. Consumer Guide offers detailed product reviews and recommended models but it doesn't conduct comparative testing or assign product rankings. We also found some helpful comments from owners posting on the Amazon.com and Sears.com websites and, to a lesser extent, on Epinions, GardenWeb.com and The Best Snowblower & Lawnmower Forum. Much of the information found at these websites concerns the units' ease of use -- no small consideration when some two-stage, gas-powered snow blowers can weigh 150 to 250 pounds.

Snow blowers (often also called snow throwers) remove snow and ice much more quickly than a shovel, but they take some getting used to because they're awkward to maneuver. Most reviews begin by advising readers to estimate their snow removal needs, but experts caution that you should estimate on the high side because smaller snow blowers can labor in heavy snowfalls or in wet snow. In the course of our research, we found many comments from owners who wish they'd bought something more powerful.

There are different types of snow throwers -- single-stage or two-stage -- which are designed for tackling varying amounts and types of snow (wet versus dry) and terrain (paved versus gravel surfaces).

Single-stage snow blowers come in two varieties: gas and electric. Both use a rubber-tipped auger that scoops up snow and either propels it forward or ejects it through a chute in one motion. Since the auger blades actually scrape the driveway or sidewalk, you can't use them on gravel drives, as they would eject stones along with the snow. The clearing path for both gas and electric single-stage blowers ranges from eleven to 24 inches, depending on the model. Two-stage snow blowers have even wider clearing paths -- up to 45 inches on extra heavy-duty machines.

If you get deeper snow and have a greater area to clear, or if you have a gravel driveway, you'll need a two-stage, gas-powered snow blower. The first stage of this type of snow thrower is a slow-turning metal auger, different from the rapidly spinning auger of single-stage snow blowers. The second stage is a fast-spinning impeller that takes the snow from the auger and zaps it out the chute. Naturally, this consumes more power, so a two-stage blower is equipped with a four-cycle engine rated at five to eleven horsepower with at least four forward and several reverse speeds. The result is that two-stage snow blowers are actually self-propelled. You provide the guidance and make sure not to run over things you don't want scooped up and tossed out the chute.

In the past year, a number of snow blower manufacturers, such as Craftsman, Ariens and MTD (maker of Cub Cadet Troy-Bilt) have discontinued their old models and introduced new product lineups. The Yard-Man brand (an MTD product line) has been totally discontinued. Many of the new snow blowers have not yet been tested and reviewed by experts, but a few owner-written reviews have started to appear on retail websites sites like Amazon.com, Sears.com and HomeDepot.com .

Snow blower power ratings can be confusing

One of the most significant industry changes involves snow blower engine ratings. In the past, horsepower was the standard by which an engine's strength was measured, but now many manufacturers are including their engines' displacement in cubic centimeters (cc) or torque ratings (foot pounds, or ft-lb) in their customer-focused technical specifications.

This change comes as the result of a class-action lawsuit initiated in 2004, which cited the majority of lawn mower and lawn mower engine manufacturers for fraudulent horsepower ratings. According to the Consumer Reports article, "Mower Makers' Horsepower Ratings Challenged: Industry Accused of Blowing Smoke to Hide Inflated Specs," manufacturers were "reporting one horsepower rating to the EPA but labeling machines as much as 88 percent higher in their marketing to customers."

The labeling change has created confusion for consumers who aren't familiar with the ratings system. The problem is compounded by manufacturers using different ratings or no ratings at all, reports The Washington Post. For instance, most of the Craftsman snow blowers are listed by engine size in cubic centimeters, while Husqvarna uses horsepower in its promotional material. Toro advertises engine size in cubic centimeters for its single-stage models, but with its two-stage snow blowers, it also adds in the engine's horsepower rating. The most accurate measurement of an engine's power – torque – is rarely if ever used by any of the manufacturers.

In addition, there isn't a way to safely or reliably compare the various figures, because they measure different things. As engine manufacturer Briggs & Stratton explains, cubic centimeters measure the size of an engine's cylinder chamber volume; horsepower refers to the "rate of doing work" over the course of time; and torque is "the immediate rotational force an engine can produce at a given moment" -- much like the twisting force when using a wrench. And as The Washington Post explains, there isn't a practical conversion chart for these different ratings.

Experts agree that when shopping for snow blowers, the higher the torque rating, the greater the engine power. A Husqvarna representative explained that the torque rating is most important when the power is going directly to a blade, such as with push lawn mowers. Equipment with multiple gears, such as riding mowers and two-stage snow blowers, do fine with horsepower ratings since the power generated from the engine is being converted by another mechanism -- in this case, a gearbox. Snow blower engine power can be affected for better or worse, however, by other product features or operating conditions, such as powered wheels or reduced oxygen at altitudes above 8,000 feet.