Tall Chute Iced Up

[Ed Kennell 38,021]

After using the blower for about two hours clearing the 10" heavy snow from mine and three neighbors on Thur., the  blower started to vibrate and make a loud knocking sound.    I pushed and pulled at the auger and jack shaft bearings and could not detect any movement.  The auger turned freely.  I was almost finished, so I put her in the heated garage and finished plowing with the Yammy 4 wheeler.

 

After thawing out a little, I could see the auger was loaded with solid ice in several spots.  After all the ice melted out, the blower worked fine yesterday.

I assume the ice just had the auger out of balance so bad it was causing the vibration and banging noise.

 

Has anyone ever encountered this icing problem?

[WH nut 553]

I have had it happen, If its a real wet snow you are going to have that problem.

[squonk 41,018]

High moisture content in that last storm that blew through. Most of the other storms all winter have been fairly dry.

[rexman72 210]

this has been a real tough winter and  I have encountered issues like never before

[RT WH416H 10]

I had this happen also because of the wet snow. I pushed the throttle up higher and it went away and I did not have the problem after that.

[ernie laware 8]

Went to Wally World and bought their cheap spray on non stick cooking oil and blasted my blower and chute with it.

works great to prevent buildup.

Keep your PTO speed all the way up and go slower so chute clears out snow before building up.

Ernie

[Ed Kennell 38,021]

I haven't been running at full throttle, mainly because the Onan searches a little when it's up against the governor at 3600 revs. At 3000 it runs smooth and sounds like it has plenty of power to run the blower. I have been thinking of changing to a smaller drive pulley on the blower jack shaft to increase the auger speed. It would also make it much easier to install belts w/o having to loosen the jack shaft to get the belt between the pulley and blower housing.

Anyone tried a smaller pulley ?

[squonk 41,018]

If you use a smaller pulley it will require more engine power to run the blower.

[ernie laware 8]

Went to harbor freight and purchased a sonic cleaner, about $70.00 to clean my carbs--ethonal is puke stuff.

I put about a 1/2+ cup of simple green in the water for use, run through about 4-5 times until water is pretty dirty, change water and have at it again.

Pull carb and notice what choke and throttle cable setting are.

Then I pull the bottom bowl if equipped, pull the brass nut on bottom, usually a 1/2" wrench and clean out the holes in it as good as you can, use a pin or even separate/strip some stranded electricial wire and unwind a bit to get the thin single strand and run through the holes in the brass nut.

Then I count the number of rotations it takes to bottom out the two screws/ air and fuel, write this down so you don't forget and believe me if you don't you will forget and back them out all the way and place all the stuff in the sonic cleaner and clean.

Don't loose anything--lay all parts out on a clean towel and reassemble, placing the air fuel screws in their same holes and same number to turns out after you bottom them out.

If really dirty, I spray the carb after removal with carb cleaner, but that's not enough to get them clean the way the sonic cleaner does.

That should solve the searching problem as I have had that in the past.

Ernie

[boovuc 1,090]

I agree with squonk & RT. We didn't have a lot of super wet snow like you had in that last storm and the tractor wasn't full throttle didn't help.

[gwest_ca-(File Mod) 11,032]

I haven't been running at full throttle, mainly because the Onan searches a little when it's up against the governor at 3600 revs. At 3000 it runs smooth and sounds like it has plenty of power to run the blower. I have been thinking of changing to a smaller drive pulley on the blower jack shaft to increase the auger speed. It would also make it much easier to install belts w/o having to loosen the jack shaft to get the belt between the pulley and blower housing.

Anyone tried a smaller pulley ?

For Onan governor hunting this looks like a possible cause

 

Garry

[Ed Kennell 38,021]

Thanks Gary.  That is some good information.  I will go through the steps and report any changes.

[lynnmor 7,302]

I had the same issue with my 2 stage blower.  I run full throttle, with my 520h, when blowing snow.  The problem was the snow texture from that last snow fall.  You see, I am not far from you, in New Bridgeville.

With those high chutes you want to lay in a supply those plastic guides that are at the bottom of the chute.  A heavy snow will break them.

[Ed Kennell 38,021]

  to  Lynmor.      Are you in Red Lion or Conrads?

[lynnmor 7,302]

  to  Lynmor.      Are you in Red Lion or Conrads?

Conrads

[ericj 1,578]

welcome to    i live just up the road from you near frysville. i too have a 520-H with a 2 stage blower on it. it went through the thur. snow like a champ and threw it 30 ft or better

 

 

 

 

eric j 

[Ed Kennell 38,021]

Hey Eric, Glad to see you survived the winter. Haven't heard much from you on here lately.  

 

   Are you loading the big white trailer for the BIG SHOW?

[ericj 1,578]

still loaded from Windsor are you going to the little guy's show in may in Manchester. i'll be there

 

 

 

 

 

eric j

[Ed Kennell 38,021]

What's  the date on  the Little Mans Eric.   If possible, I'll try to make it.  With turkey hunting, trout fishing, grandsons baseball tournaments, and opening my camp on the Delaware Bay, seems there just aren't enough days in the spring and summer.

[ericj 1,578]

Ed, may 15 & 16 th and they are featuring wheel horse this year

 

 

 

 

eric j 

[Ed Kennell 38,021]

Nothing scheduled that weekend except a work day at Yorkanna Gun Club. The Lil Mans Show sounds like it would be more fun

May be I'll see you there Eric.

[ericj 1,578]

this year it will fri & sat instead of sat sun. we have a rototilling and plowing contest plus all the great tractors and friends. i hope to be set up thurs evening. hopefully there will be a lot of wheel horse showing up 

 

 

 

 

 

eric j

[Theroundhousernr 589]

I don't know Eric and Ed. My tall chute is slinging the snow just fine with the little 16hp onan. It only clogged once all year long and I was blowing snow that was like water a few times this year. The reason it clogged was I had a mouth full of road slush and the pto popped out under load on me. I didn't have it tight enough. Cant blame the blower. I run on the inner pulley around 3000 rpm and spray the inside with Teflon chain lube. Works out ok for me.

Edited March 11, 2015 by Theroundhousernr

[Ed Kennell 38,021]

The road slush is also what caused mine to ice up.    When I hit the two foot pile of plowed road snow, the blower  bogged down and started to stall the engine. I kicked the PTO out before something broke.  I took me a while to drive back to the house and get the blower unclogged and turning again.  I think this time allowed some of the wet slushy stuff to freeze to the auger causing my out of balance and vibration problem.

I have been running mine on the outside PTO pulley though.   Only because it lines up better with the blower pulley.  I'll have to look at moving the blower and idler pulleys in to align with the inner PTO to get more revs on the auger.

[Theroundhousernr 589]

I was just poking a little fun. My buddy has a 520h with a two stage and it clogged this last snow. I laughed and told him, don't worry I won't tell anyone. Lol I really like running my tall chute. One of the best tools I have for the house/ horse. That stuff really froze to the metal though. Had to chisel it out with a broom stick. But once I got it out, I sprayed the chute and auger down, and went right back to the same slush. Only this time, the pto was a few turns tighter and it ate right through like a knife through butter !