Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - If you haven't prepped and primed your snow blowers already for the rapidly approaching snow season in Western New York, you may want to start sooner rather than later.
The National Weather Service has placed a Winter Storm Advisory for Thursday, Nov. 17th until Sunday, Nov. 20th for Erie, Genesee and Wyoming counties.
Hardware stores are already have their phones ringing nonstop since last weekend inquiring about purchasing snow blowers and snow blower maintenance.
"[It's been], very busy, very busy, as soon as they mentioned snow, everything changed," says Ken Sfeir, Manager at Hector's Hardware on Maple Road. "We're running out of equipment. Repairs are way behind already, which is typical this time of year. The first snowfall always scares everybody, even the threat of snow is enough to get people moving."
Sfeir says if you need some repairs on your snow blowers, get them in while you still can as most repairmen are behind already.
"We're a Toro Service Center, we do tuneups and preseason stuff. After that, once people start using the machine start to break down then we do more major repairs," says Sfeir, who says a tune-up could cost you $179 for a four-cycle at his shop, which is the common snow blower you see nowadays.
When you get those snow blowers out of the garage and ready for the season, make sure you start in up before you get it out in the snow, "The first thing would be to not wait till the snow starts flying before you take a look at your snowblower. Make sure everything is functioning properly. You want to get some fresh gas, fill up the gas tanks, put the fresh gas in and start the snow blower. Make sure everything's working properly, it's starting right, the belts are good, the augers are moving and everything is functioning properly before the snow arrives," says Grant Szymanek, Store Manager of Ed Young's True Value Hardware.
If you're in the market for a snow blower, you may want to start with size and work from there, "Depending on the size of your driveway, if you can get away with a smaller 21-inch tread or if you're going to need something larger," says Szymanek. "If you're on a busier street, you might want to get a larger snowblower or what they would refer to as a two-stage snow blower that would take care of the real heavy snow," says Szymanek.
Sfeir agrees, but don't be afraid to consult the staff, "Everybody should look at their needs, talk to the dealer and say, 'This is what I have. What do you recommend?'"
The going price for a single-stage snow blower is around $550-$900 according to Szymanek and Sfeir. A two-stage snow blowers could run you from about $900-$1200 on the low end, depending on the battery, features and brand you buy.
Szymanek reiterates it's important to replace the gas regularly, especially if you haven't used your machine in a while, "Ethanol free gas, that is the best for snow blowers. A lot of times, we might go weeks at a time without using the snowblower and your gas can go bad. You want to make sure you small amounts, two gallons at a time of gas so it doesn't go bad."
