2 degrees

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
This was from last years blizzard in March! When it gets really bad I bring out this....22 HP Yanmar Diesel ( it had a workout that day!)
March162017.jpg
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
There you go, JW. Mine only has 20 HP, but it does move the snow. Fortunately,
the most we usually get is about a foot, but it does drift. 900 foot driveway is
the major deal, but also a large concrete parking pad, about 35x40 ft on the north
side of the house - if you don't blade it off, it will take forever to melt off and WILL
turn into an ice rink.

Hope we dodge the blizzards again this year, but it can't go on indefinitely.

Currently in the 40s, hit low 60s yesterday, will be high about freezing tomorrow.

But heading to San Diego, I have another young Marine friend graduating from SD Recruit
Depot late next week, the second of two boys that I have "uncled" since they were born.
Really a close friend's kids, but they have always called me 'uncle". Taught them to shoot,
snowshoe, fix cars, and they both made Eagle Scout with their father's guidance, a little help from me
from time to time, and some school tutoring in HS and JUCO Chem, Physics and math.
He passed "The Crucible" 54 hour continuous high-stress, low rest, low food, 45 mile marching
test with lots of obstacle course team challenges, so he got his Eagle, Globe and Anchor, is officially
a Marine, although not yet graduated.

In any case - I will be warm later this week for a while. No snow in SD.

Bill
 
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Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
I can't believe that Jim found some old guy to plow his drive!

I don't have enough drive to justify a tractor. I do have a fair size blower and a couple shovels. My wife does comment frequently about how it seems to snow more when I am at work and she is home. Somehow she is becoming an expert on the blower?
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
I started with a big blower, and it did the driveway pretty well, but the big concrete pad was
a real problem. Once you process the snow through the snow blower, it is partially melted and
compacted. When it hits the ground, it is like setting cement. If you can't throw it far
enough to get off the pad (and the two sides with buildings make it impossible to work around all the
sides blowing outwards), the second processing is nearly impossible if it happens more than
5 minutes after the first pass. The blade works far better for the concrete pad.

Bill
 

Ian

Notorious member
Rally, that's an impressive wood pile. I suppose the beaver keep you supplied with felled trees?

Looking at that Heatmor boiler introduced me to a whole new world! Just throw in some whole, 4' logs and shut the door, very nice. We just put in a 4-ton ductless heat pump this winter which has relegated wood heat to "emergency only", like if we lose power and need to heat/cook with the parlor stove. Of course our coldest night this winter might have kissed the single-digits for an hour or two, once. We alternate heat and ac every few days here and boiler heat doesn't make sense for our climate.
 

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
My Drive is 250 ft up hill and banked! Most times I clear it by hand because ir is easier to get to the gravel and have it melt when the sun comes out
But some times (30 inches +) you got to call out the big guns!
 

Rally Hess

Well-Known Member
Bill,
I also have a large driveway and just gave up on blowers and shovels pretty much. Even a 42" blower just made concrete and putting the snow where I wanted it, or have to store it, takes some planning. I have a buddy that has a tracked skid steer with a "snow bucket". He asks $50.00 to do it and I give him $80.00. Money well spent and he usually gets to me first so the wife can get out. I have to be able to get a semi in here for cable and wood deliveries and I like just turning a circle with my truck when I have a trailer on. My yard and driveway are surrounded by trees pretty much and he can bucket the snow between them for better run off in the spring. I shovel around the doors, dog kennels, and front of the wood stove. That's plenty.

Ian,
Heatmore makes a good stove. That one pictured is one year old. Our old one had a tree fall on it and our homeowners policy bought us a new one, and a new roof on the house from the same storm. I did the work and actually put some lead money in my pocket. The stove is an interesting design, in that it has no bottom, other than a grate and auger system in the center. You place the stove on a concrete slab, which has a slot or hole form out in the back of for the piping and wiring to go out. The stove is actually caulked to the slab all the way around and then sand is placed in what would normally be the bottom, flush with the top of the grate. It has a six inch pipe coming out the back to auger ashes out, but I take them out the front with a shovel and wheel barrow. It is a forced air system with two blowers, one front and one back. Thermostatic controls on fire box and access door. A bladder system to control expansion and steam loss through a weighted relief stem on the top. A door on the back as big as the front for access to the pumps, plumbing, and electric, both keyed. The firebox is stainless and concaved over the fire, with the exhaust running through the bladder, which helps with heat loss. Entire stove is insulated. It weighs just short of a ton. Took a track hoe to get it where it is. Even has a courtesy light over the door that comes on when you open the door. I've got it heating two buildings and pre-heating our hot water in the house. All the lines(92' to the house) are inside an insulated 4" PVC with insulation wrapped 1" CPVC lines, which are buried 5' below grade. I also put my water supply line for the shop inside just in case it could freeze where it enters the shop. The system holds about 120 gallons of water, 50 of which is anti freeze, and a couple gallons of water conditioner. I have radiant heat along all the baseboards on both floors in the house. Two pumps running each leg, one at the stove and one at the farthest point from the stove. Our electric bill goes up about $40.00 in the winter, per month. No mess or blowing air in the house, but I have to go outside to fill it. LOL I have lots of buddies who I work around, whom are loggers. It's cheap enough to get them to bring it right next to the wood shed, and I try to keep their timber contracts dry. The way I have them stack it there, if I cut it right it will just about roll into the wood shed. LOL
That pile pictured is real close to 25 chord. My brother and I figured we probably cut and threw twice that on shore the last couple years, on beaver contracts. Most in places you couldn't get to with machines or canoe only access. Not to mention the amount we've taken out of beaver dams. Some of the Ash would make real nice lumber, but not practical to get it out. My Dad makes ornamental turtles out of burls, and we bring plenty out of the bush for him. It's amazing what 20 wet burls can weigh. At 84, it keeps him out of the woods alone, and away from a chainsaw. Win win.
 
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