We transition from Gas to Electric.
Maybe someday we'll only need to deal with non-oxygenated gas when the electric power goes out. With no gas we can store equipment inside.
Manuals need to have a place in either the Main Office or the E-House Shop for reference, but these online notes can save us time.
Snow, Lawn, Batteries & Yard Machine Compatibility for efficient maintenance.
Winter Snow Removal
Craftsman Gas Snow Thrower
Model:
Purpose to chew and trow ice snow off of large and often uneven lot surfaces. Self propelled.
Heavy snow that forms ice in the chute is most challenging to throw any distance.
To go lighter duty, we may need to invest in smoother porous paved surfaces, and some means to catch & convey lifted snow more than 20 ft off of a parking area. Landscaping can create storage swales closer to more areas we need to get cleared.
Tecumseh Engine
Shear pins -- These must break when a rock jambs in the propeller to not break expensive parts.
Drive Belt
Skid plates
Notes About Gas:
While some old lawn devices mix oil with gas, our Snow-thrower has separate compartments for oil & gas. To start and burn cleanly in the cold we need non-oxygenated gas. Sometimes we add a fuel stabilizer.
For this reason we do not share the snow thrower gas can with those used for lawn devices.
Keep our gas clean & dry. This avoids a lot of need to clean out the engine..
Gasoline Stations with Non-Oxygenated
Safety Gas tanks can be a safety hazard when one struggles with them. Use the right tank, and the funnel tube. We added fuel line shut valves so we can drain all the gas with less mess. These need to be connected and open to start and run the device. It is easier to drain fuel into a small clean & dry glass jar with a lid than directly into a gas can when one needs to do a repair inside. Such old gas is best to add when the machine is warm and will burn through it promptly.
When done with a repair and ready to resume use, do not pour gas or open a container with gas in it inside the building. Bring machine close to the entry way to warm up with a power cord to start up the machine. Once ignition is done, put the cord inside and close the door to keep our fumes while it warms up near the building.
EGO Battery Snow Thrower
EGO Power+ 21-Inch Snow Blower Model SNT2100/SNT2102/SNT2103<-- which one
$20 Scraper Bar ASS2100 for EGO Power+ 21-Inch Snow Blower SNT2100/SNT2102/SNT2103 -- anticipate 1 to 2 year life
Scraper Bar ASS2100 AmazonLink
$46 Rubber Paddle pair ARP2100 for EGO 21-Inch Snow Blower SNT2100/SNT2102/SNT2103 -- anticipate 1 to 2 year life
$17 EGO Drive belt AVB2306 if a suitable generic belt isn't cheaper -- anticipate 5 year life
Drive belt AVB2306 AmazoLink Dec 2020
$142 EGO Power+ BA1400T 56-Volt 2.5 Ah Battery with Upgraded Fuel Gauge (3rd Generation) - anticipate 5 year mean life with 3yr warranty on replacements
$430 EGO Power+ BA4200T 56-Volt 7.5 Ah Battery with Upgraded Fuel Gauge (3rd Generation)
This implies a $63 to $48 annual cost of electric snow thrower operation if we repair ourselves and ignore that electric power with losses through batteries is more expensive than gasoline per horsepower.
Discussion of Batteries and service Parts Compatibility:
Our battery systems are EGo (Snowthrower) and (Lawnmower), beyond this we may agree on a rechargeable AA for thermostats, and perhaps go with a Dewalt or Ryobi batter pack for drills, but so far we delay by using the tool library when corded will not serve our need. Minimizing the diversity of our battery dependencies with associated obsolesces is a sustainability and storage economy issue.
Yard Machine Compatibility for efficient maintenance
Oregon tools has a pole chainsaw and power bristle sweeper brush relevant to extending time between arborist visits for tree care, and clearing snow+ice from uneven surfaces, and a robust set of professional servicing tools.
EGO promises to keep these tools and a lawn mower into their tool system. There are a lot of competing ecosystems where we prefer broad compatibility of parts.
For example a Toro compatible paddle pair plus scraper Bar sells for <$30 from POSEAGLE -- Dec 2020
Greenworks, Powerworks, Sun-Joe, Snow-Joe, Go-Jo?, Oregon, Toro?, Earthwize, Works, Yardworks... promise a mess of incompatibility issues.
NA EGO Power+ LM2135SP 21-Inch Select Cut Mower with Touch Drive Self-Propelled Technology 7.5Ah Battery and Rapid Charger Included
$150 EGO Power+ PH1400 56-Volt Lithium-ion Power Head - Battery and Charger not Included
$60 EGO Power+ EP7500 31-Inch Extension Pole Attachment for EGO Power Head PH1400 and Pole Saw Attachment PSA1000
$150 EGO Power+ PSA1000 10-Inch Pole Saw Attachment states "Includes 1 Oregon 10 in. Bar and chain" and requires EGO 56-Volt Lithium-ion Power Head System
NA EGO Power+ BBA2100 Bristle Brush Attachment for EGO 56-Volt Lithium-ion Multi-Head System
Ideally we can design our yards not to need extra power-tools. We can reduce lawn mowing area, and nearly eliminate hedge trimming, leaf blowing, and leaf shredding.
We however value navigable steps, paths and parking, lawn play areas, lush vegetation maintaining a healthy micro-climate, and trees that extend that shelter over our heads.
A casual aesthetic and willingness to wait for compost minimizes work, but pest suppression, snow|ice clearing, and basic tree care call for some power tools.
In the tree care department it is better to help the tool library invest in the safest extendable pole saws rather than storing, maintaining and protecting more MSC stuff.
We use a tree weed wrench, a rope saw, pole saws, and paradoxically ladders to reach desired cut locations without climbing higher than we readily jump. Being able to securely position a extendable saw into a cutting position 10 feet out from a window or fire escape before turning on power to it would simplify keeping branches and squirrels off of roofs, and avoid the hassle and risk of throwing the bean bag to thread ropes into position for a rope saw and struggling to keep it and branches in position with extendable poles and more ropes to achieve a safe cut and limb retrieval trajectory. A professionally certified tree & vegetation management plan might help convince an insurer that flying storm debris, pest, root damage, fire, and rot protections are reliably sufficient to minimize risks they insure. At some point cooperation beyond our coop is called for in ecosystem and alley management.