# New Ariens and 3 inches of slush



## Ariens hydro pro (Jan 24, 2014)

I have about 4 hours on my new pro 36 machine and Tuesday it rained and then turned colder but still mostly rain.
When I got up around noon time (I work nights) the driveway was covered and so were the sidewalks. I was hoping it would have been clean, but no dice.

So I tried the new machine and it marched thru the slush like like a trooper. No issues at all. 

Thanks Ariens!

I spent a lot of hard earned cash and they built me a good blower. I couldn't be more pleased on the performance of this machine. I still feel a bigger engine could be had I'd would have got it, but it blows snow where it came from and blows slush like a 8HP machine blows snow.

We are having a crazy winter. They said wet and colder, well we got the wet but the temps are slightly above which I won't cry about.


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## detdrbuzzard (Jan 20, 2012)

what engine did ariens put on your machine


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## drmerdp (Feb 9, 2014)

Good stuff.


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## JLawrence08648 (Jan 15, 2017)

The Ariens Pro 36 has a 420cc B&S engine, that must be close to 17 hp.


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## Ariens hydro pro (Jan 24, 2014)

It has the 420cc 21.0 torque engine.

If I go normal travel speed down the driveway and hit the heavy snow piles the engine will slow down some. But if you cut your travel speed a little and keep the engine wide open it goes thru the pile like it wasen't there.

It's a real good machine, but the bucket is wider and naturally your packing the snow into the impeller. Again, if they offered a 20HP engine it would be a true boss!

There are different conversion formulas on the net. 1 formula says 16.8 HP and the other says 14.39 HP.

I was hoping to never slow down my travel speed, but in reality you have to listen to the machine (any machine) and let it process the work. 

The snow was real heavy (all that slush) and I did shovel the steps by hand. Wow that was tough to do. Thank GOD I have the Ariens to do my work!:tongue:


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## Town (Jan 31, 2015)

Ariens hydro pro said:


> It has the 420cc 21.0 torque engine.
> 
> If I go normal travel speed down the driveway and hit the heavy snow piles the engine will slow down some. But if you cut your travel speed a little and keep the engine wide open it goes thru the pile like it wasen't there.


Are you sure the engine slows down? The governor senses any extra load by engine speed dropping and the governor opens the throttle almost instantly to recover to the governed speed (3600 +/- 100 rpm) as previously set. While the engine note changes to a much deeper sound the engine speed doesn't drop (perhaps momentarily it does).

When my machine encounters deeper or heavier snow the sound changes noticeably but the speed stays the same since the snow is thrown just as far. My machine has 414 cc and 20 ft lbs of torque so it is close to the Pro.

Good luck.


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## Ariens hydro pro (Jan 24, 2014)

Town said:


> Are you sure the engine slows down? The governor senses any extra load by engine speed dropping and the governor opens the throttle almost instantly to recover to the governed speed (3600 +/- 100 rpm) as previously set. While the engine note changes to a much deeper sound the engine speed doesn't drop (perhaps momentarily it does).
> 
> When my machine encounters deeper or heavier snow the sound changes noticeably but the speed stays the same since the snow is thrown just as far. My machine has 414 cc and 20 ft lbs of torque so it is close to the Pro.
> 
> Good luck.


Yes the governor works fine. Once the governor can do no more the engine starts to bog down.
On my first movie I made you can see how I charge into the end of road pile and the engine bogs down some. No way of it stalling out just the RPM drops some. This happened on my first use taking the full width (36") at a pretty good clip.

I did this to see how strong the machine is and what I can get away with. "My learning curve".

Here it is watch the first minute or so as I approach the road the first time. (again the machine was brand new and I never used it before). Had around 7-8" (about 18" snow piles) and it was raining as I was cleaning the walks. I was afraid of freezing later in the evening so I went to clean everything at that moment.


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## Town (Jan 31, 2015)

Ariens hydro pro said:


> Yes the governor works fine. Once the governor can do no more the engine starts to bog down.


Yes, I can see there is not enough power to blow that much snow with a 36 inch wide bucket. Mine only has a 30 inch bucket so it doesn't slow down at that speed in those snow conditions. Good job on the video.


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## nastorino (Jan 28, 2016)

Ariens hydro pro said:


> I have about 4 hours on my new pro 36 machine and Tuesday it rained and then turned colder but still mostly rain.
> When I got up around noon time (I work nights) the driveway was covered and so were the sidewalks. I was hoping it would have been clean, but no dice.
> 
> So I tried the new machine and it marched thru the slush like like a trooper. No issues at all.
> ...


I know exactly how you feel being a CT guy myself. I just got my 28" Platinum EFI 2 weeks before and had an itch. I was hoping the first time scratching it wouldn't be with slush but it was. I was beyond shocked that it was tossing it 20-30' with ease. MY old unit my Dad always forced me to use wouldn't have gone 6'.


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## Kielbasa (Dec 21, 2013)

Has of today, 29, January, 2017, our Connecticut January temperature is about 6 degrees above normal.


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## Marlow (Dec 17, 2016)

JLawrence08648 said:


> The Ariens Pro 36 has a 420cc B&S engine, that must be close to 17 hp.


Really? My 389cc Honda gx390 is rated 13hp. I can't imagine there being any power difference between the two. Does b&s tend to exaggerate the power of their engines?


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## Ariens hydro pro (Jan 24, 2014)

Kielbasa said:


> Has of today, 29, January, 2017, our Connecticut January temperature is about 6 degrees above normal.


I bought this machine because "it was going to be colder and wetter in the North East this winter"

So I was ready with the big guns this year....
Boy oh boy we would have a lot of snow if it wasn't for the temps being so warm!


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## Kielbasa (Dec 21, 2013)

Yes... we sure would have. 



Ariens hydro pro said:


> I bought this machine because "it was going to be colder and wetter in the North East this winter"
> 
> So I was ready with the big guns this year....
> Boy oh boy we would have a lot of snow if it wasn't for the temps being so warm!


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## Ariens hydro pro (Jan 24, 2014)

Marlow said:


> Really? My 389cc Honda gx390 is rated 13hp. I can't imagine there being any power difference between the two. Does b&s tend to exaggerate the power of their engines?


B&S does not list a HP rating. They list Torque. The Torque on this 420cc engine is 21.0

There are rpm / torque formulas that give you an estimate on HP.

I like the HP rating but lately most if not all engine makers give you torque ratings.


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## Strato (Aug 6, 2016)

Doesn't RPM factor into HP calculations?

Presuming 3500 RPM, an engine with 21 ft. lbs. of torque should deliver about 14 HP.


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## Ariens hydro pro (Jan 24, 2014)

Strato said:


> Doesn't RPM factor into HP calculations?
> 
> Presuming 3500 RPM, an engine with 21 ft. lbs. of torque should deliver about 14 HP.


Yes,
There are different conversion formulas on the net. 1 formula says 16.8 HP and the other says 14.39 HP.
Still others give you HP ratings all over the chart.

I think the engine makers like torque ratings because they are a higher number values than HP ratings on small engines.
I'd say 14-15HP would be a fair value splitting the high and the low numbers to something in the middle. 

It don't matter, my 36 will bog down in the wet heavy end of driveway plow piles, I still want more HP!:icon_smile_wink:


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## Kielbasa (Dec 21, 2013)

My repowered Briggs is listed at 342C.C. with 15.5G.T. I am not sure what it is rated at, but it is night and day compared to the old original 7H.P. Tecumseh.


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## ELaw (Feb 4, 2015)

Keep in mind the engine speed can't be expected to stay *exactly* the same as load increases.

The governor works by sensing speed variation... if the engine never slowed down, the governor would not know to increase the throttle. In control systems terminology, there's a "proportional band" where at some RPM the throttle is held at or near idle, and as RPM drops the throttle is increased, eventually to its maximum. So if the engine is running at exactly 3600 RPM with no load (and thus the throttle plate almost closed), it might drop to 3500 before the governor gives it full throttle. That's completely normal and IMHO doesn't mean the engine is "bogging".

When the throttle plate is wide open and the engine continues to slow down is when it's bogging and you might need a more powerful engine.


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## Ariens hydro pro (Jan 24, 2014)

It's snowing outside!

I can walk it around again in 4 1/2 HRS. Yippie!

About 4 inches this time. Looks like real snow for the first time this year. It will be fun (sort of) to clean.


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## Cardo111 (Feb 16, 2015)

We have had a joke of a winter here so far: we had one 5" wet snowstorm and then two 2" inch storms.

Regarding the horsepower ratings I attached the LCT service manual they rate their 420cc engine that puts out 21 lb-ft. of torque at 13hp see page 3 of the attachment. I would think that the Briggs engine should be close to that hp rating.

http://lctusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/PGM45015_Online-Service-Man_revE_080816.pdf


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## Ariens hydro pro (Jan 24, 2014)

Cardo111 said:


> We have had a joke of a winter here so far: we had one 5" wet snowstorm and then two 2" inch storms.
> 
> Regarding the horsepower ratings I attached the LCT service manual they rate their 420cc engine that puts out 21 lb-ft. of torque at 13hp see page 3 of the attachment. I would think that the Briggs engine should be close to that hp rating.
> 
> http://lctusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/PGM45015_Online-Service-Man_revE_080816.pdf


Thanks I also looked and noticed that.

Yesterday was our first real snow storm. 3" of powder. The blower was like come on where's the snow...


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## Strato (Aug 6, 2016)

Ariens hydro pro said:


> Thanks I also looked and noticed that.
> 
> Yesterday was our first real snow storm. 3" of powder. The blower was like come on where's the snow...


Conflicting, isn't it?

Personally, I really don't like winter. But, I love using my blower.

This is the 2nd winter in the row (in New England), with virtually no snow. Love it. :wavetowel2:

Yet, my new blower sits lonely, and forlorn. :icon-sadwave:

This is why psychiatrists have jobs.


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