I just moved into an area with a decent amount of snowfall each year and my driveway is about 70 feet long. I have already decided that I want
an auger-type two stage snow thrower. I don’t really want to pay for any frills and I see that Wal-Mart sells one for $499 (Yard Machines). I met someone who just bought one from Sears and he paid an additional $150 for a service contract and claims that I would be foolish not to follow his example. Altogether he shelled out about $800.
Is this a stupid way for me to save money? How prone are snow throwers to having problems? The Wal-Mart one has a two year warranty from the manufacturer, but if you pay enough ($99 - $150) Sears will send someone to your house for “covered repairs”. My [uninformed] guess is that I will have problems that won’t be covered anyway, like my kids’ toys getting jammed up in the damn thing.
A snow blower is something that you are going to have around for a while (hopefully). In addition, you are going to be using it at times when having it broken will be a major problem (like the morning after a snow storm.) I would suggest that if you will be living in a place that gets much snow, the snow blower is NOT a good place to skimp on cost. If your lawnmower breaks, you can wait a couple of days if necessary. If your snowblower breaks, you could be shoveling that 70’ driveway by hand.
Personally, (YMMV) I would avoid both Walmart and Sears. Either check with your neighborhood hardware store, or look in the phonebook under Lawn and Garder Equipment, or under lawnmowers (most of the lawnmower stores I have seen also carry snowblowers).
My Yard Machine mower has been the poster child of reliability, easy starting on the first pull after 2 years with only an oil change over winter. Seems to have more than the usual amount of consideration in the design. I don’t know about the Snowblower though.
I would stay away from extended warranty plans. Just get a small engine center to do a tune-up & change the filters every couple of years.
If you can minimise the mechanical complexity/number of moving parts by getting a unit that doesn’t have a power wheel drive, I strongly suspect that you will have increased your reliability considerably. Pushing these babies can be a bit of work, but you want a bit of activity to keep you warm anyway, considering you’re not shovelling, after all… Also, manually pushing will make sure you don’t overfeed the auger and jam it. Safely unjamming an auger is a pain, because your have to turn off the engine (and maybe even disengage the transmission). Quickly unjamming an auger is an excellent way to meet nice vascular surgeons and evaluate the limb reattachment capability of your local medical center.
I hear ya, Tastes, but I seriously doubt that Sears would have a guy right out there that same morning, or even that same day. I’d still by shoveling by hand in that case.
I realize that I asked for advice, and you’re giving it, but I’m weighing the odds of a machine breaking down in the first 3 to 5 years vs. the cost of the service plan - keeping in mind that they are only going to cover manufacturing defects and not all repair costs.
Well, I just bought one of the Sears machines with quite a few of the bells and whistles and allowed myself to be suckered into buying the 3 year contract. They * claim * that the contract covers pretty much any mishap that can happen to the mower, including snapping a belt from too aggressive feeding into snowbanks. So we’ll see. I can see accidentally sucking up some firewood or a branch into the augur once the outline of the driveway gets blurred by heavy snow.
The machine seemed to be comparable to the machines at Home Depot selling for about the same price and was $90.00 off on sale, so I figure I’m getting an equivalent machine at the same price with a somewhat better warranty. Give me three years and I’ll tell you whether it was worth it. As long as the durned thing can take care of the End-of-Driveway-Plow-Debris and keeps me out of the cardiac ward, I’ll be happy.
Recent Consumer Reports have given some Yard Machine models pretty good marks for reliability, so they’re worth considering.
Consumer Reports also has said that, in general, service contracts/extended warranties are not worth it to the consumer (but really profitable to the store).
P.S. When you buy your snowblower, also by a 3 foot lenght of 1/2" wooded dowel, and keep it on the machine. So it’s right there to use, and you won’t be tempted to unclog a jam with your hands. Dowels are much cheaper to replace than hands.
Snowblower reliability is as good as the maintenance it receives. My snowblower belonged to my grandfather-it’s ~35 years old. Before the flakes are discussed, it gets fresh gas, trickle charge the battery for a day or so, and then fire it up. At the end of the season, drain most of the fuel out, add anti-gum to what’s left, and run the carburetor empty so there’s nothing in there to turn to goo. Grease all the fittings, check belt tension, and let it take a nap until late Autumn.
Service contracts are a rip off. They cost too much for what they do cover, which doesn’t go wrong, and they don’t cover what does go wrong.
Virtually every snowblower now comes with a builtin rack storing a brush/stick for cleaning out the augurs. I guess the snow blower companies got tired of telling their customers “Yup, you really shouldn’t have put your hand in there.”
I appreciate everyone who has commented so far. I’m leaning in the direction of the Wal-Mart special. Obviously not everything you buy there is top caliber, but I have yet to hear from someone who says Yard Machines are any worse than their more expensive competition.