# Ariens Compact 24 Review



## Auger1 (Dec 4, 2020)

Today I got to try out my "free" Ariens compact 24 for the first time and I cannot know the blower at all as it has some super nice features, but the B&S engine sucks IMO. The engine does not have enough power on high speed and does bog down even with the lowest speed on it. I really think when it gets warm this blower may get a HF 212cc swap or see if I can re-govern the speed a little as it needs it bad on this engine. The blower itself is very nice, the shute stays where you put it and with the new added super low gear I added did get the job done. I know that when I waxed the blower housing and I added some of the hood bra 3M plastic to the inside of the shute no snow stuck at all and no clogging of any sort. All in all this is a very good blower.


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## GoBlowSnow (Sep 4, 2015)

Huh. My B&S powered Compact 24 does just fine.. you have it at 3600 RPM?


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## 140278 (Aug 27, 2020)

people don't just give something away for free if it has no issues ,free sometimes means broken or in need of major pricy work or even they didn't want to haul it the some scrap yard them self's 

no power start with the basics make sure it's running back to 100% good luck have fun


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## drmerdp (Feb 9, 2014)

My biggest gripe with compact 24 is wheel speed. Low speed is way to fast. It can’t effectively crawl. Also the low cost motor does not have engine speed controls. Other wise I like it as a capable, small, agile, lightweight, machine.


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## GoBlowSnow (Sep 4, 2015)

drmerdp said:


> My biggest gripe with compact 24 is wheel speed. Low speed is way to fast. It can’t effectively crawl. Also the low cost motor does not have engine speed controls. Other wise I like it as a capable, small, agile, lightweight, machine.


That can be adjusted.


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## drmerdp (Feb 9, 2014)

GoBlowSnow said:


> That can be adjusted.


Yeah, I did. Geared a bit too high For my liking.


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## Auger1 (Dec 4, 2020)

GoBlowSnow said:


> Huh. My B&S powered Compact 24 does just fine.. you have it at 3600 RPM?


Won't know until Monday when my tach shows up. It did much better today than on Wed. the snow was more powder than wet.


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## Auger1 (Dec 4, 2020)

drmerdp said:


> Yeah, I did. Geared a bit too high For my liking.


I fixed that on mine by cutting a slot between low1 and reverse1, it worked out great like some of my other blowers


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## Auger1 (Dec 4, 2020)

captchas said:


> people don't just give something away for free if it has no issues ,free sometimes means broken or in need of major pricy work or even they didn't want to haul it the some scrap yard them self's
> 
> no power start with the basics make sure it's running back to 100% good luck have fun


Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining at all about the Ariens machine I am just not a big B&S fan, the machine just needed a new carb, fresh oil and spark plug and that's all fixed. For me I am used to a blower that has more rpm if I need it and the B&S engine just does not deliver that for me. Neighbor has Ariens 524 that I put a HF 212cc on a couple of years ago and that little blower cuts through everything and that's what I miss, but after I get the tach I will see if I can get some more out of it. One good thing is the B&S engine is very good on gas, plowed all day and only used 1 tank of fuel.


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## Auger1 (Dec 4, 2020)

We got 3" of snow this week and the old guy across the street was plowing with his 8hp Yard Man blower so I let him try out the Ariens 24, he was most impressed with it and the way is threw snow so much further than his machine does, he may buy a new Ariens now.


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## Auger1 (Dec 4, 2020)

Bringing this back form the dead as I got another Compact 24 needing an engine, so this is my Compact 2.0 review. After an engine swap we got 5" snow today and I needed to test this one out. All I can say is "WOW" was I impressed with this one over the original Compact I started this thread with. I do miss the electric start but I could blow snow 50ft in the air and this one did not miss beat, I could even run this sucker in 6th gear with no bogging at all. I did add my own gov shield I mad from an old license plate and glad I did. As it ran there was a lot of wet snow on that shield and most likely would have froze up without it. For me Ariens are the best snow blowers out there, I am keeping my 3 Ariens and selling the rest of the other ones.


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## JJG723 (Mar 7, 2015)

Auger1 said:


> Bringing this back form the dead as I got another Compact 24 needing an engine, so this is my Compact 2.0 review. After an engine swap we got 5" snow today and I needed to test this one out. All I can say is "WOW" was I impressed with this one over the original Compact I started this thread with. I do miss the electric start but I could blow snow 50ft in the air and this one did not miss beat, I could even run this sucker in 6th gear with no bogging at all. I did add my own gov shield I mad from an old license plate and glad I did. As it ran there was a lot of wet snow on that shield and most likely would have froze up without it. For me Ariens are the best snow blowers out there, I am keeping my 3 Ariens and selling the rest of the other ones.
> 
> View attachment 190413
> View attachment 190414
> View attachment 190415


Nice work on the gov. shield 👍


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## Auger1 (Dec 4, 2020)

JJG723 said:


> Nice work on the gov. shield 👍


Thanks, I found a new use for recycling old license plates now. I need to make these for the 212's and sell them.


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## JJG723 (Mar 7, 2015)

Auger1 said:


> Bringing this back form the dead as I got another Compact 24 needing an engine, so this is my Compact 2.0 review. After an engine swap we got 5" snow today and I needed to test this one out. All I can say is "WOW" was I impressed with this one over the original Compact I started this thread with. I do miss the electric start but I could blow snow 50ft in the air and this one did not miss beat, I could even run this sucker in 6th gear with no bogging at all. I did add my own gov shield I mad from an old license plate and glad I did. As it ran there was a lot of wet snow on that shield and most likely would have froze up without it. For me Ariens are the best snow blowers out there, I am keeping my 3 Ariens and selling the rest of the other ones.
> 
> View attachment 190413
> View attachment 190414
> View attachment 190415


Nice work on the gov. shield 👍


Auger1 said:


> Thanks, I found a new use for recycling old license plates now. I need to make these for the 212's and sell them.


I have a buddy who repowered an old 5/22 craftsman machine with a Predator 212 years ago. He always complained about the throttle linkage freezing up. He sold it back in 2013 and replaced it with an Ariens Deluxe 28 Plus. The precursor to the Deluxe 28 SHO.


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## Auger1 (Dec 4, 2020)

So today I picked up an Ariens 624E (same as a Compact 24) for $75. While I have to fuss with the carb a little, the Tecumseh 6hp runs pretty good. The point of this, is the difference with what I did with the Compact I just fixed vs this 624 machine in snow throwing ability. The 624 throws snow less than 1/2 the distance of the Predator powered Compact and waxing the machine I really think helped a lot with the Compact. I plan to get my gopro out this week to video the 2 machines side by side to show the difference. I was pretty surprised by this.


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## 1132le (Feb 23, 2017)

Auger1 said:


> So today I picked up an Ariens 624E (same as a Compact 24) for $75. While I have to fuss with the carb a little, the Tecumseh 6hp runs pretty good. The point of this, is the difference with what I did with the Compact I just fixed vs this 624 machine in snow throwing ability. The 624 throws snow less than 1/2 the distance of the Predator powered Compact and waxing the machine I really think helped a lot with the Compact. I plan to get my gopro out this week to video the 2 machines side by side to show the difference. I was pretty surprised by this.


it throws half the difference because the predator turns more rpm so the impeller is faster
although thats not even close to 6hp 4.75 downhill with the wind


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## Auger1 (Dec 4, 2020)

1132le said:


> it throws half the difference because the predator turns more rpm so the impeller is faster
> although thats not even close to 6hp 4.75 downhill with the wind


I set them both with my tach to 3700 so I think you are right the Predator does have the advantage, but but, with my 2 identical 10K Ariens blowers, one with a Predator and the other with the original 4hp engine, the one with the original engine blows snow better than the Predator equipped one.


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## RIT333 (Feb 6, 2014)

Auger1 - I think most people here will find your analysis interesting, to say the least.


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## 1132le (Feb 23, 2017)

Auger1 said:


> I set them both with my tach to 3700 so I think you are right the Predator does have the advantage, but but, with my 2 identical 10K Ariens blowers, one with a Predator and the other with the original 4hp engine, the one with the original engine blows snow better than the Predator equipped one.


impeller gap and impeller rpm and a good belt are what matters more so then engines
if those things are not equal it skews the ( oh my predator blows so much better)
4 hp is a joke faster to shovel
i gave away an st504 it was useless clogged every 6 feet wet snow about all i get
would have been maybe usefull for 6 inches with and imp kit but that was 2005


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## Auger1 (Dec 4, 2020)

1132le said:


> impeller gap and impeller rpm and a good belt are what matters more so then engines
> if those things are not equal it skews the ( oh my predator blows so much better)
> 4 hp is a joke faster to shovel
> i gave away an st504 it was useless clogged every 6 feet wet snow about all i get
> would have been maybe usefull for 6 inches with and imp kit but that was 2005


Well normally I would say you are right on the 4hp deal, but this old 10K with that little engine surprised me how well it blew snow that day. I had an St-420 and it was poor performing machine, even my old ST-824 did nor blow snow very far. I was not impressed with it but for free I did not complain, when it broke the auger gear I pulled the engine and tossed the rest.


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## 1132le (Feb 23, 2017)

Auger1 said:


> Well normally I would say you are right on the 4hp deal, but this old 10K with that little engine surprised me how well it blew snow that day. I had an St-420 and it was poor performing machine, even my old ST-824 did nor blow snow very far. I was not impressed with it but for free I did not complain, when it broke the auger gear I pulled the engine and tossed the rest.


my kitted rust bucket [email protected] blows snow 45 feet and slop 30 plus feet


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## Auger1 (Dec 4, 2020)

1132le said:


> my kitted rust bucket [email protected] blows snow 45 feet and slop 30 plus feet


I think my ST-824 got to the senior citizen phase of it's life and died after a heart attack 24" snow from that weekend back in 2017.


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