Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - As many of you have a better chance of clearing snow and ice from your driveway thanks to warmer weather, many of you will likely use a snowblower. One expert says you may want to be careful and check what gas is in your blower.
Bill Malczewski of Hector's Hardware says bigger isn't always better when it comes to snowblowers.
"Some of the smaller, single stage machines with the rubber paddles work a lot better than the big machines, the big ones, when you have all that snow and ice and water gets stuck in there, it just sort of plops it right out. So you're better off to actually use a smaller machine with rubber paddles that tends to fling it out better," said Malczewski in an interview with WBEN.
If you are using a bigger blower, he recommends taking smaller paths at a time.
He also recommends inspecting the driveway after the street is plowed.
"Sometimes when the plow goes by, it might pick up a rock or a stone out of the street and throw it in your driveway. If you get a stone cut in your impeller, and it might break a shear pin, and that's easy to replace, but also you could burn up your main auger bearing in the front of your unit, and that's a major problem," Malczewski said.
He suggests patting it down a little bit, or breaking it up with a shovel, and if you see a rock or something, you can get that out of the way.
The biggest issue he sees in repairing snow blowers: Bad gas.
"People don't read the manuals, and they figure, 'Well, I just used this gas from the lawn mower, which I merely bought in September.' And now here it is, four or five months later, that gas is very old. The machines now, with the environmentally friendly carburetors, have to have good, fresh gas to work the proper way," Malczewski added.
One very important thing to remember when clearing snow from the chute: don't ever use your fingers. He says use a stick instead.
"Make sure you stop it. Make sure it's in the off position. And even if the machine is stopped, you might spring back. So always use a stick. Or most machines now have a safety shovel built right onto them. Use that safety shovel in the chute and be careful," Malczewski warned.