Home Snow Blower – If you’re a first-time snow blower owner or you’ve just purchased a new snow blower, it’s a good idea to refresh yourself on how to properly start your machine.
The consequences of starting your machine improperly can be severe: you could damage the snow blower and even cause yourself serious injury. To help you avoid those situations, we’ve put together a handy breakdown on how to start a snow blower.
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Remember, you should always read your snow blower owner’s manual to become familiar with specific instructions for starting and operating your machine. For more snow blower maintenance tasks and operation tips, there are a number of helpful snow blower guides out there like this one from Cub Cadet.
Now, let’s get to the steps to take when starting a home snow blower:
Check the oil level and change if needed.
Protecting your snow blower’s engine is vital to the machine’s long-term health, and that starts with regularly checking its oil level and changing the oil when necessary. Check the owner’s manual to find out what type of oil is recommended for your snow blower.
Fill your snow blower up with gas.
Don’t get stuck out in the cold without any fuel. Every time you use your snow blower, fill up the gas tank beforehand to ensure you don’t run out of gas in the middle of clearing your driveway. Consider using additives to maintain a clean fuel system and stabilizers to keep your fuel fresh. Consult your owner’s manual for recommended fuel, additives and stabilizers.
Insert the ignition key.
The ignition key is a safety measure. If it is not inserted, the snow blower engine will not run.
Open the fuel valve.
If your snow blower has a fuel shutoff valve, open that valve or move it to the on position. The fuel shutoff valve should be closed whenever the snow blower is not running.
Set choke and throttle to full.
After you’ve checked your snow blower’s oil, filled the gas tank and ensured the ignition key is in place, set the choke to the full (on) position and move the throttle to fast (usually indicated by a picture of a rabbit).
Prime the engine.
When the choke and throttle are both in position, push the primer bulb three times. Hold the bulb down for one full second during each push.
Start the engine with the recoil or electric start.
· For the recoil start, pull the rope slowly until you feel drag and then pull it rapidly to start the engine.
· For electric start, connect the power cord and push the starter button. Make sure to check your snow blower owner’s manual for safety precautions regarding use of the power cord.
Move choke to off position.
Once the engine has started, slowly move the snow blower’s choke to the off position. If you’ve used an electric starter, disconnect the power cord now.
Your snow blower is now started and ready for use. When you want to stop the engine, move the throttle to the off position and the engine will shut off. – Home Snow Blower