Winter Prep for Snowblowers, Mowers and Generators
Basin winters come in sideways. Here's how to get your equipment ready before the first drift lands against the garage door.
Snowblower: get it storm-ready
- Start it now, not during the storm. If it fought you last spring, it'll fight harder at 6 a.m. in a blizzard.
- Deal with last year's gas. Fuel left over from spring has probably gone stale. If it starts and runs smooth, burn it off and refill with fresh fuel plus stabilizer. If it surges or only runs on choke, the carb likely needs cleaning.
- Change the oil to the winter weight your manual calls for, often 5W-30.
- Check the shear pins. Carry two spares in a zip bag taped to the handle. Use the correct pins only, never regular bolts.
- Look at the belts, skid shoes and scraper bar. A worn scraper leaves a packed layer that turns to ice.
- Lube the chute so it turns when it's 10 below.
Rather not? A snowblower tune-up is $185 single-stage or $205 two-stage, done in your driveway.
Mower: put it away right
- Run the tank nearly dry or fill it with stabilized fuel and run it five minutes.
- Scrape the deck while the clippings are dry.
- Pull the battery on riders and keep it somewhere it won't freeze, on a maintainer if you have one.
- Fall is a good time to get blades sharpened so spring starts clean.
Generator: be ready for the outage
- Run it under some load once a month for 15–20 minutes.
- Use stabilized fuel, or run the carb dry for storage if your manual says to.
- Keep oil, a spare plug and a heavy-duty cord with it.
- Never run it in a garage or near a window. Never back-feed a house through an outlet; transfer-switch wiring is a job for a licensed electrician.
Our generator service is a flat $150 maintenance package.