After an hour or two clearing snow from your yard, all you want to do is run inside, change into some warm clothes and curl up on the couch with a book or a steaming cup of coffee. However, like most things in the do-it-yourself world, cutting corners with equipment maintenance can cause you major headaches down the road.
If you have a top-of-the-line Husqvarna snow blower that comes with features like power steering and electric starters that make snow removal a breeze, you should make sure to take care of your machine in between sessions. While most models are built to withstand the harshest elements Mother Nature can throw at them, you’ll need to step in from time to time to deliver some tender loving DIY care.
Now that you’ve got the job done, what should you do with your snow blower?Dry run
Depending on the storm, you might have just spent an hour breezing through light, powdery stuff or slogging through a heavy, wet blanket that covers your entire yard. While the latter might be a bit tougher to cut through, both types of snow can coat the external and internal surfaces of your machine with moisture. If you just roll your snow blower into the garage and walk away, this could freeze overnight and seize your machine up the next time you need it.
Instead, you can use the heat from your snow blower’s engine to evaporate any excess moisture. Just let the machine run for a few minutes in a well-ventilated area and the residual heat will take care any any problematic water droplets inside the machine. Don’t think this will force you to spend another hour out in the cold – with powerful engines like the one inside the Husqvarna ST224, your snow blower will be bone dry in minutes.
Fuel for the soul
If you live in an area where snow storms are more of the rule rather than the exception, you probably use your snow blower more than once a month in the winter. However, if you only get a few big storms a year that come over 30 days apart, you’ll want to take special care of the fuel in your machine’s tank.
If left to sit for more than a month, snow blower fuel can degrade into a formula that the engine can’t convert into power. In fact, this could actually damage your machine. If you know that your neighborhood is going to stay dry for the foreseeable future, either drain the fuel tank before putting your snow blower away or add a fuel stabilizer compound, a small liquid packet that keeps fuel from decaying over long periods of time.