A Single Stage Or A 2 Stage Snow Blower? ~ Quality Snow Blowers

A Single Stage Or A 2 Stage Snow Blower?

Using a Snow Blower in winter is very good when it snows a lot. It is an optional personal choice to use a snow blower or not. Some individuals who shovel their drive ways each time it snows (they simply call it exercise) and I know others who swear by snow blowers. For me personally have done both.

Snow blowers are awesome and if you can manage to buy one I would recommend it. There are 2 unique kinds, a single stage and a 2 stage.

A single stage, take the snow and throws it. A 2 stage, takes it smashes it up, then throws it.

If you can afford it a 2 stage is the best choice. However they are a little larger and need a little more maintenance but they will power through even the toughest snow and ice.

A single stage may work extremely well as well as I believe your drive way is reasonably flat and smooth, but if we get anything like a foot of snow falling you will most likely have to "blow" it two times.

What I would stay clear of are those driven snow shovels or anything electric operated. My experience is that they simply don't have the "power" necessary.

As for speed... look at the self powered snow blowers (either single or 2 stage) but make certain the wheels are great enough to have grip on ice... I have had that issue before.

Single Stage Snow Blowers

A single stage has a thin metal auger only for attaching rubber auger tips. The auger on a single stage throws the snow directly out to the chute so an impeller is not needed. The shape near the center of the auger is flat for throwing the snow into the chute.

The auger speed on a single stage is faster than a two stage in order to get the momentum of the snow higher so it can be tossed without the need of for an impeller.

A single stage has no wheel drive. The rubber tips touch the ground and pull the snow blower along. They bounce around quite a bit on non-flat driveways from hitting high spots.
Single Stage: On a single stage the center part of the auger functions as the impeller.
Single sages have rubber auger blades and attach to a metal auger similar to two stage augers.
A single stage runs across the full intake housing and has a flattened section near the center under the chute which propels the snow up into the chute.
There is no separate impeller on a single stage like on a two stage.

Poulan Pro PR624ES - Quality Snow Blowers

Poulan Pro PR624ES 24-Inch 208cc LCT Two-Stage With Electric Start

Toro 38381 18-Inch 15 Amp Electric 1800 Power Curve Snow Blower

Poulan Pro PR521 21-Inch 136cc Single Stage Snow Thrower

2 Stage Snow Blowers

The impeller consists of blades around the auger drive shaft. The snow gets pushed into the impeller by the augers. The impellers rotate at about 1200 rpm. They usually have 3 to 4 blades of varying shapes. The diameter of the impeller varies from 10 to14 inches.
There are usually 3 to 4 blades and of various shapes. Some are like flat paddles and others are long strips.
In general there is no advantage to shape or number of blades. Each company designs to maximum efficiency for their shape of blade versus number of impeller blades and diameter. There is usually an advantage to having a larger diameter impeller.
Larger horsepower snowblowers have larger diameter impellers with three to four blades. Very large blowers generally have 4 blades.