# Please don't cut corners...or fingers!



## motorhead64 (Dec 15, 2013)

Got a call from a guy whose 10000 series Ariens I tuned a couple of months ago. Wanted me to come get the machine if I wanted it. Told me the machine was OK, but his finger wasn't. He will leave the blower in front of his garage for me to pick up. I didn't ask the specifics, but he did say he will be going in for "minor surgery" tomorrow.
Ironic, but I distinctly remember admonishing him to shut the machine down if he ever got a clog, and to make sure he disconnected the plug boot before attempting to clear anything. I hope that wasn't the issue.
Bottom line...snowblowers can be very dangerous and no shortcuts should ever be taken using them. Never rest on knowledge and experience alone. Be defensive, and be safe. MH


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## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

Had a co workers husband have a close scare a couple days ago. Apparently he was trying to clean the chute out with the engine running and the auger off. As he reached down to do that he leaned on the auger lever to hold himself up and got his hand caught. Looks like he got lucky and only needed a few stitches.


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## GustoGuy (Nov 19, 2012)

Shryp said:


> Had a co workers husband have a close scare a couple days ago. Apparently he was trying to clean the chute out with the engine running and the auger off. As he reached down to do that he leaned on the auger lever to hold himself up and got his hand caught. Looks like he got lucky and only needed a few stitches.


My Wife's uncle had the tips of some his fingers cut off by a snow blower many years ago. He was trying to clear the chute that got clogged with wet snow. That is another great reason to put an impeller kit on your snow blower.* My snow blower handles the wet slushy snow great now since I put a $9 home made baler belt impeller kit on.* Sure beats having to go to the emergency room to have your severed fingers sewn on or stitched up. 
Always shut off the engine before sticking your hands in the chute of a snow blower. Some snow blower manufactures even go so far as to recommend disconnecting the spark plug from the engine to prevent it from possibly starting.


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## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

Pulling out the plastic key if you have one is likely a lot easier than pulling the plug wire. Depending on how often your unit clogs it's also easier on the plug wire being pulled on and bent and failing early.
.
.


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## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

Kiss4aFrog said:


> Pulling out the plastic key if you have one is likely a lot easier than pulling the plug wire. Depending on how often your unit clogs it's also easier on the plug wire being pulled on and bent and failing early.
> .
> .


Before relying on that pull that key with the engine running and see if it works.


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## micah68kj (Oct 8, 2011)

Dang, that's awful. We need to be very careful. I don't want to ever read on here that someone has been chewed up by any machinery.
*Be careful!!*


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## Blue Hill (Mar 31, 2013)

I'm a safety specialist at a large mine site and I've been one for quite a few years. The first hard lesson that I learned is that you just can't give folks credit for common sense. The fingers in the chute thing is why the manufacturers have to mount the clearing tool on the front of every blower.
It's only idiot proof, until a better idiot comes along.


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## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

_*"It's only idiot proof, until a better idiot comes along."

*_And he's already out there just waiting for something he can screw up !!

+1 about checking to make sure the key works before relaying on it.


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## db130 (Feb 16, 2013)

just as a reminder, the danger lurks even with the engine off


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## Blue Hill (Mar 31, 2013)

db130 said:


> just as a reminder, the danger lurks even with the engine off


That's a great article DB. I think I'll print it out and post it at work. We like folks to be safe, both on and off the job.


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## db9938 (Nov 17, 2013)

_"There's nothing common, about common sense"_

Sometimes Attributed to Samuel Clemens, but I think it's actually a mis-quote of Voltaire.


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## GustoGuy (Nov 19, 2012)

Blue Hill said:


> I'm a safety specialist at a large mine site and I've been one for quite a few years. The first hard lesson that I learned is that you just can't give folks credit for common sense. The fingers in the chute thing is why the manufacturers have to mount the clearing tool on the front of every blower.
> It's only idiot proof, until a better idiot comes along.


Funny but true. It is amazing what people will do like stick their hand in a running snowblowers plugged up chute. Not good at all. I do like safety features on the newer snow blowers because the old ones would keep on going if you let go of them like my old Gilson made Montgomery Ward. My son commented on some of the real old snowblowers and how the augers extended out past the front of the bucket. I said thats for putting an interesting patina on your garage door. The new ones the augers and drive stop when you release the handles. And the augers are mounted behind the front of the bucket and do not extend out beyond so you can't put an interesting patina on your garage door either. I also like the stickers on the engine telling people not to run the engine on their snow blower indoors.


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## jonboat (Dec 19, 2013)

Since all of my machines have been, and are old enough that they didn't come with a clearing tool, I have a 2' piece of broom handle that I carry in my back pocket while clearing snow. I like having all my fingers too much to go sticking them inside a piece of machinery that might lop them off.


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## micah68kj (Oct 8, 2011)

db130 said:


> just as a reminder, the danger lurks even with the engine off


This article should be *required reading* before anyone is allowed to leave the premises with a snowblower. So many "accidents" could be prevented by taking 5 minutes of one's life'to educate themselves. Thanks for posting this.


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## darcy32171 (Nov 28, 2013)

This is my first year owning a snowblower. Not sure why, but anytime I needed to do work on the "Business end" of the snowblower, I always reached up and pulled the park plug wire even though it wasn`t running or there was no key in it. 
I never read it anywhere, but I just took it upon myself and thought "What if". 
Like the famous saying goes: Don`t put your fingers where you wouldn`t put your _ _ _ _.


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## motorhead64 (Dec 15, 2013)

A good substitute for the clearing tools supplied on the newer snowblowers can be fashioned from a broomstick, duct tape and a gutter-cleaning scoop. You don't even have to bend down!


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## snowhog (Nov 24, 2013)

Retired after 37 years fulltime as a firefighter in snow country. Almost every year we had at least one (or more) incidents of people trying to reach in and pull out a snow clog. The result was the wife calling us and the husband standing in the yard with a jacket rolled up around a hand with missing fingers. Even sent a few of them to the hospital for reattachment. The operators a mixture of people that were new to the sport of snowblowing as well as people who had used them for years. 

Talk to your neighbors that have blowers. They may not even be aware of the dangers of this practice.


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## wdb (Dec 15, 2013)

db130 said:


> just as a reminder, the danger lurks even with the engine off


Quoting the article: "Even with the machine turned off, by a seemingly knowing and experienced user there can be torque left in the system and the impeller can still spin rapidly once cleared causing injury." 

A local dealer told me he has a customer who lost two fingertips that way. Thought he was doing everything right.


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## 43128 (Feb 14, 2014)

i always keep a pole with me, turn the engine off, and with ariens 10000 machines release belt tension. i have not used a stick since my impeller kit


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## J_ph (Dec 17, 2013)

> Pulling out the plastic key if you have one is likely a lot easier than pulling the plug wire. Depending on how often your unit clogs it's also easier on the plug wire being pulled on and bent and failing early.


If the key does work, is it wired to do the same as pull the plug wire?

thanks!


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## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

Thee key is wired in the same basic way was the regular on/off switch. Because of this, if there is ever a short in the system or something doesn't make good contact one of two things is going to happen. Either it is always going to run no matter with way things are set or it is never going to run no matter which way things are set. Unless, of course you have an intermittent issue.


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## J_ph (Dec 17, 2013)

thanks, I always wonder about the manuals saying "disconnect the spark plug wire and ground against the engine"... 

would putting the wire in close proximity to the block be enough or is metal to metal the only way to ground it .... or is pulling the spark wire enough?


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## sscotsman (Dec 8, 2010)

GustoGuy said:


> My son commented on some of the real old snowblowers and how the augers extended out past the front of the bucket. I said thats for putting an interesting patina on your garage door.


The Gravely collectors call these "dog eaters"..
scary:










And the first three years (1960, '61 and '62) of Ariens snowblowers werent much better:










("Full side sheilds" came along in '63.)

Most snowblowers of the 1950's and early 60's were that way..exposed augers..not just Graveley and Ariens, it was everyone..safety caught on slowly! 

My 1971 ariens has a "full bucket"..it wont chew up the side of the garage..but it will run by itself if you let go of it! "letting go of the handlebars stops the machine" didn't come along until 1973! more than a full decade into the walk-behind snowblower's evolution..

Scot


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