# Plugging in the 2014 Ariens 28 Deluxe 921030



## kellidotca (Dec 29, 2013)

So I just picked up my first snowblower yesterday and am stumped on why the casing around the plug is so small. I can't find an extension cord that will fit it anywhere.. and i've got serious girl spaghetti arms.. it's my preferred choice to start it since i'm in northern ontario and -20 is normal.

Anyone have any suggestions?


----------



## kellidotca (Dec 29, 2013)

another angle


----------



## Blue Hill (Mar 31, 2013)

Welcome Kelli
I have the same cord receptacle on my machine and encountered the same issue. You'll have to find a cord with an end that will fit, or just buy a cord end and cut off the female end from one your own cords and replace it. You can buy a fancy schmancy Ariens cord if you want as well, but I wouldn't. I'd likely swap out the female cord end. If you go that route, make sure you get the wires on the correct terminals. You'll have 3, green, white and black. Your terminals will be colour coded, green, brass and silver. Green wire on green, white on silver and black on the brass coloured one. You can likely find a YouTube video if you haven't tried this before.
Good luck.
Larry


----------



## detdrbuzzard (Jan 20, 2012)

hello kellidotca, welcome to SBF!! my 826 toro is also a tight fit so i looked around the house for one of these


----------



## Tom99 (Nov 16, 2013)

It looks like the problem is the clearance to the right of the ground terminal. I would grind down the plug on your extension cord in that area. 

Tom


----------



## kellidotca (Dec 29, 2013)

Thanks for the welcome and suggestions  it seems strange to me that Ariens would make such a big mistake on a cold weather machine. If the plug doesn't fit a standard extension cord, you're doing it wrong. 

Hopefully I'll figure this out before the snow hits again!


----------



## Blue Hill (Mar 31, 2013)

It fits a lot of cords, just not the real heavy duty ones. If I was allowed to guess, I would say you might find that identical setup on lots of brands with electric start. Nobody except Honda and Yamaha actually make their own engines.


----------



## db9938 (Nov 17, 2013)

Welcome to SBF, and as someone else has mentioned, I'd looked at the clearance aisles for Christmas light extension cords, that have a smaller ground nub (little rubber protuberance on the plugs exterior) and either take some nippers, or if you have a bench grinder, slowly work the ground side down until it fits. 

I am surprised that this was designed the way it was. It almost looks like it should be oriented 180 degrees from the way that it is. My guess is, that they have done this, so that you will have to buy the proprietary "accessory cord." I don't know if that is the case, but it is the only plausible explanation that I can come up with. 

Best of luck.


----------



## kellidotca (Dec 29, 2013)

The 24" deluxe has more space between the ground terminal and casing than the 28" but HD didn't have another 28" to test on as they were sold out. Oh well.. they seemed just as surprised as i was. 

I've only found a couple of other complaints online, so maybe it's just a given.


----------



## Grunt (Nov 11, 2013)

I thought all new blowers came with the cord if the machine is equipped with electric start.??? I would see if new machines in the box at the store have them and request (demand) one if they do.


----------



## Blue Hill (Mar 31, 2013)

I bought mine at a dealer and no cord was offered.

So, I'm interested in what you think of your machine, other than the cord issue that is. How'd you like the auto-turn? That's been the subject of lots of debate on here.


----------



## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

Relative bought a new Troy last month, cord came in bag with manual. His previous one did too. I don't know about Ariens specifically but everything I've seen over the years (Toro, Craftsman) came with a cord if it had electric start. It's usually the first thing I lose  as it gets used for something else and never finds it's way back to the machine.

I'd take it apart and see if there is a way to center the plug in the housing. There isn't much in there you can mess up just taking a look.

Next would be to get a short sturdy extension cord and "trim" the plug end to fit but by all means leave the ground connection functional. If using the ebay adapter or one like it I'd make sure I had a connection to that ground. After all you're working with electricity and you usually are standing in water or snow 

Or . . . I'd take a hacksaw to the shroud. I prefer the protection but both my Craftsman blowers have the contacts out in the open. They all used to come that way.

But to me yours looks like it's assembled wrong. It should be turned around 180 degrees and then have a channel that lets it slip over that left side enough for the plug to be more centered or if offset a little more space for the ground contact hump than the two power prongs like in the picture below.


----------



## Snowcone (Jul 17, 2013)

I would find a dealer close to your house and explain it to them. They may even give you one of those short cords that "usually" come with some snowblowers. My new snowblower didn't come with one but my last one did. Either way a dealer will help you.


----------



## kellidotca (Dec 29, 2013)

Hmm. I'll call ariens tomorrow and ask about the casing. Maybe assembled wrong?. We're supposed to be getting -40 temps tomorrow. I'm thinking I won't want to spend much time in the shed 

Blue Hill: I'll keep you posted on what I think once I finally get to see what she can do.


----------



## dbert (Aug 25, 2013)

I dont remember where I got mine, but I have several of these. They're like a foot long. I'll bet they fit. They work great for what they were designed for too (making room on powerstrips with big bulky transformer hogging space).
Power Strip Liberator Classic | Original Solution for Power Outlet Problems


----------



## kellidotca (Dec 29, 2013)

Snowcone said:


> I would find a dealer close to your house and explain it to them. They may even give you one of those short cords that "usually" come with some snowblowers. My new snowblower didn't come with one but my last one did. Either way a dealer will help you.


I think Home Depot is the only dealer we have here and they told me today it didn't come with any cords. There is a repair shop that lists ariens snowblower a on their maintenance list so I may check with them. Good idea. 

To be fair, Home Depot did rig a solution they thought would work bc it did with the 24 but it was too big. At least they tried? Though being able to start my snowblower is kind of an important feature


----------



## Garnetmica (Oct 27, 2013)

I talked with Ariens a few weeks back. They no longer supply power cords for their machines.


----------



## kellidotca (Dec 29, 2013)

Garnetmica said:


> I talked with Ariens a few weeks back. They no longer supply power cords for their machines.


I figured. Which would be fine if their setup worked with standard power cords. They've really made this difficult to use the electric start,, why not centre it?


----------



## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

For what little it costs them per cord when they're buying them by the thousands it sure makes more sense for them to include one. More than someone shelling out close to or well over a grand and then having to hunt down or purchase a cord to use the starter on their new blower.

Oh well, just another thing to move a cost to the consumer.


----------



## kellidotca (Dec 29, 2013)

So.. i'll start with I finally found a cord that i could wiggle in and the snowblower started right away in -30C. Yay!

But it was a weird day 2 of searching. The small engine repair shop that handles HD's warranty work including Ariens (a husq dealer) had nothing and suggested i cut the casing around the plug on the snowblower off.

I wasn't real keen on taking a hacksaw to my new snowblower.

So i went back to HD where they found a third cable that looks pretty thin and they gave that to me for free and it finally worked.

You know what was really weird? The fact that the c-clips on one of my wheels was stolen while on the floor so i'm waiting for them to get more in, and the fact that the shear bolts were stolen off the 24" blower on the floor.

Who steals shear bolts and c clips?


----------



## detdrbuzzard (Jan 20, 2012)

toro does not supply the power cord with their snowblowers either, i heard a salesman tell a coustomer this today


----------



## kellidotca (Dec 29, 2013)

Just got a reply from ariens from their website question form. They're sending me an extension cord. Awesome!


----------



## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

kellidotca said:


> The small engine repair shop that handles HD's warranty work including Ariens (a husq dealer) had nothing and suggested i cut the casing around the plug on the snowblower off.
> 
> *I wasn't real keen on taking a hacksaw to my new snowblower.*


Imagine that, you don't want to hack up your new blower.  I suggested that too but it sure wasn't my first or best idea.
Glad you have something that fits and it's now push button.
I still think you need to or have someone take that plugs case apart and modify it so the plug sits more to the center of the recess. If you get the Ariens cord and it's tight or doesn't fit than you know it's an assembly issue. Those contacts just look too skewed to the one side.

By any chance did you check out the position of the prongs on any other machine while you were there ??


----------



## kellidotca (Dec 29, 2013)

I did have a closer look at the 24 and it had a little more clearance, but it was negligible. Either they figure nobody uses the starter or forgot heavy duty cords are encased in thick rubber. I hope they change it for future models.


----------



## sscotsman (Dec 8, 2010)

kellidotca said:


> You know what was really weird? The fact that the c-clips on one of my wheels was stolen while on the floor so i'm waiting for them to get more in, and the fact that the shear bolts were stolen off the 24" blower on the floor.
> 
> Who steals shear bolts and c clips?


Wow, they actually told you, with a straight face, that those things were stolen? that takes some nerve! 
Its SO totally obvious that what really happened is they didn't put them on when they assembled it..
(Home Depot is fairly infamous for poor assembly quality)
so yeah, its absolutely obvious that someone simply left those off when they assembled it..

Scot


----------



## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

I tend to agree with Scot but having worked in an auto parts store and watching someone steal a 99 cent air freshener I wonder. If it was the type of shear pin that clips in I can see someone doing it. If they bolted in, much less likely someone could get away with pulling out wrenches.
It's like the spray nozzles on pressure washers. It's hard to find a floor machine that has all the ones it should.


----------



## kellidotca (Dec 29, 2013)

The shear pin was the spare two that are attached to rhe rig. The clips were weird because one was on, the other was missing. Someone once stole the wiper off the back of my SUV. Weirdos  People will steal anything that isn't bolted down, and apparently, things that are.


----------

