4 Common Cold Weather Problems With Your Snow Blower

4 Common Cold Weather Problems With Your Snow Blower. Snow blowers are designed to work in cold weather. Yes we know this is obvious given the name of these glorious snow moving machines however you may not realize that your snow blower can fall victim to extremely cold weather and this can cause problems with your equipment and your snow blower will require repair or tuning up. There are 4 common problems that can arise from snow blowers in extremely cold weather – just the kind of cold weather you find in Ottawa gotta love the Valley 🙂 So, What Are The 4 Common Problems? 1) Smoking belt or impeller won’t engage So you’re geared up and ready to clear your driveway. You grab the auger engagement handle on your snow blower and unfortunately nothing comes shooting out of the snow blower’s chute and the belt starts to squeal and then your snow blower starts smoking like a chimney. What should you do? Let go of the handle right away and shut down your snow blower to prevent further damage. Once your snow blower is safely turned off, give us a call. We can fix this for you and get your snow blower back up and running asap. 2) The auger or wheel drive handle won’t even engage Typically this is an issue with snow blower models that have cables instead of linkage. The primary cause is because moisture gets inside the cables and freezes. The fix is pretty simple, your snow blower needs to thaw so best to bring it inside your garage or place a tarp around it to trap in some heat. If you have a snow blower that does not have cables then you need to follow your linkage to a pivot point that is frozen in order to discover the issue and heat the area with a hair dryer. 3) Snow blower’s manual or electric starter won’t engage Sometimes with very cold weather your starter will not engage your snow blower. This is why it is highly recommended to get the optional electric starter for your blower because when one starter doesn’t work usually the other will. It is possible to fix this by applying heat to the area. If this doesn’t fix the issue then it is best to have our snow blower repair team take a look to repair your snow blower. 4) Snow blower won’t start. Even though your snow blower may have run perfectly during the last snow storm, it is possible that you went to turn it on today and nothing happened. It is especially possible if it is very cold outside and your snow blower may have a small amount of moisture in the tank, carb, or fuel line that is frozen. This is another situation where thawing may help along with adding gas line anti-freeze however if there is too much water present in the fuel then you may have to remove the entire fuel line and drain out the tank. Happy snow removal and if you have any issues with your snow blower we can help get your machine back up and running right away. Also if your snow blower is running a bit sluggish we can help get your machine running like new again with a complete snow blower tune up.