How to Use a Snow Blower

Snow blowers are a very useful tool to clean up after winter storms. They effectively remove snow, and it is often at a fraction of the time it would take to shovel. Snow blowers work the best when the snow is at least a few inches deep. Here are some tips to get you acquainted with how to operate a snow blower.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Snow blower
• Driveway full of snow
• Gas

1. 
   gas cap

   Make sure your snow blower has plenty of gas in it. The gas cap is usually labeled with a gas symbol or the word "gas."

2. 
   Snow blower with auger

   Crank up the blower at the top of your driveway. Make sure that there is nothing in front of the blower, because the auger will pull it in and is likely to chop it up.

3. Start in the middle of your driveway and make a stripe right down the center to the end. It doesn't matter for this first stroke which way your output is facing. Just pick a side.

4. As you come back up the driveway, run your blower so that you are overlapping the area you just removed the snow from by several inches. This will make sure that no snow gets pushed onto the area you just plowed. Blow the snow to the left if you have gone to the left of your original stripe, and adjust the output so that the snow is blown to the right side of your driveway if you have gone to the right of the first stripe.

5. Once you are back at the top of your driveway, continue to remove snow in the same direction you were going. Keep blowing the snow onto the edge of your driveway until you have all the snow from the driveway removed and a huge drift of snow piled up on the side.

6. Switch to the other half of the driveway and repeat the same process until you have completely cleared your driveway.

Tips & Warnings

• If your blower is not picking up all the snow, check for jams in the auger and slow the speed down of your self-propelled blower.
• Sometimes your auger may jam with ice and/or snow. NEVER STICK YOUR HAND INSIDE TO FREE THE JAM! Please refer to the article "How to Fix a Jammed Snow Blower" in the resources section of this article.

Resources

• Photobucket
• Photobucket
• Photobucket
• How to Fix a Jammed Snow Blower

[veryirie]

on 11/26/2008 I didn't realize there was an art to using a snow blower. :) Very detailed directions. Easy to follow. Thanks!

[sunshine11219]

on 11/26/2008 good tips

[ReuseItAll]

on 11/26/2008 Super article! Great for first time users!!