It is a weekday afternoon just south of Minden, and Craig McKnight stands in his small engine repair workshop, “in the middle of green gas, bad gas, dirty carburetors.”
He has got snowblowers on the work bench he is servicing for winter.
“Green gas?” he’s asked. “Yes, as the gas goes bad, it smells and turns kind of green,” he explains.
He is pulling carburetors out and putting them in a humming machine behind him that cleans them.
The yard is filled with all manner of small engine machinery but mostly rideon-lawnmowers being serviced for winter slumber, and snowblowers that will soon be required to keep County driveways clear.
Since the blowers are a bit more pressing this time of year, McKnight is asked about his process.
“I usually fire them up to see if they’re going to run, or if they run badly.” If they are running rough, “then we know we’re into cleaning carburetors.
“Underneath, there’s a whole bunch of shafts and rubber wheels and stuff that drive the machine itself. They need to be greased and cleaned. I check belts, make sure all the shear pins in the front are ready to go, the gear cases are greased, lubricate handles, and stuff like that.” Sometimes an oil change is required, or spark plugs need replacing.
McKnight said how often you service a blower depends on how much you use it. For example, the last couple of winters “there were a lot of hours put on the snow blowers, so I would think anybody’s machine from last year would need, at least, an oil change. If you don’t use it a lot, you can get away with every other year.”
He suggests starting your snowblower before winter, as opposed to the first big snowstorm. “If it isn’t running smoothly, then it needs to be here for a checkup.”
Another tip is about gas. He said some folks think it is fine to use the leftover rideon mower gas in the snowblower. However, he said most gas has a shelf life of three months so that is not a good idea. “With the ethanol in it, the gas goes pretty bad, pretty quick.” Another idea is instead of draining all the gas, leave a little in, and add fuel stabilizer.
“If you empty them completely or run it out, you never get everything out of the carburetor, and it will evaporate and cause a film that’s actually worse than leaving them full.” McKnight added. And since snowblowers are often stored outside in the summer heat, the gas goes bad fast.
