# Storage mat for snowblower?



## KJSeller (Nov 3, 2021)

Does anyone keep their snowblowers on a mat in the garage? 

I watched this video. He's OCD For sure, puts his on a mat and then uses a heater to melt the snow on the auger and In the housing. But his Ariens looks brand new. 

Wanted to know how many of our members do this?


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## Oneacer (Jan 3, 2011)

No one that I know does that .... but hey, if I had the room, why not .... there is no such thing as overkill when it comes to taking care of your equipment. ... the more maintenance and care, the better. ....


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## KJSeller (Nov 3, 2021)

I never thought of it until I saw this video. Even his idea of using a heater on it. I'm planning on gutting my garage this summer and spray foam it and run some more outlets. I'll.also be repainting the floor as well and recognizing it. Previously the rust from the snowblower would stain the floor.


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## aa335 (Jan 21, 2020)

I have my tracked snowblower up on a modified furniture dolly about 4 inches off the ground. It has excellent drainage for melting snow and good ventilation to dry out moisture. The scraper blade rests on 2x4 wood so no rusting.


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## Oneacer (Jan 3, 2011)

Ideally, think about it ..... every time you're done with it, bring it in your nice warm garage, grab a coffee or hot chocolate, dry it off, wipe it down, apply a fresh wax and lube it all up, as well as check the oil and top off the gas tank, this way it will be all ready for the next time.

LOL .... yeah, right .... In a perfect world I suppose ....


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## tlc1976 (Dec 24, 2021)

Never have. But might be a good idea. The spot I park mine is eating away at my floor from the salt. Despite brushing and knocking off the majority of the snow, giving it a shake, and running the auger till it’s clear before bringing it in.


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## RC20 (Dec 4, 2019)

I have a piece of cardboard down in the shed. While I do a machine brush off before it goes in, snow falls off, sometimes temps rise. I can pull it and set aside if frozen stuff builds up.

If we get a temp rise (almost 50 the last couple of days) then the melt off is abrorbed by the cardboard and does not flood all over the shed floor.


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## aa335 (Jan 21, 2020)

Oneacer said:


> Ideally, think about it ..... every time you're done with it, bring it in your nice warm garage, grab a coffee or hot chocolate, dry it off, wipe it down, apply a fresh wax and lube it all up, as well as check the oil and top off the gas tank, this way it will be all ready for the next time.
> 
> LOL .... yeah, right .... In a perfect world I suppose ....


I like your set up better, there's always a fresh clean snowblower for each snowstorm.

Today it is Big Red, tomorrow Mellow Yellow, the next is Sassy Green.


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## Oneacer (Jan 3, 2011)

Yeah, I do have them lined up ready to go, ... literally ....  

I am fortunate .....


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## tadawson (Jan 3, 2018)

50+ years and ours has always been on a mat or catch tray with the bucket elevated slightly off the floor. The garage tends to run warm enough to always melt it clean (hence the catch pan/mat - didn't want a wet floor). We also always clean with a broom before bringing it in. Our blowers have always held up well . . .


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## KJSeller (Nov 3, 2021)

Oneacer said:


> Ideally, think about it ..... every time you're done with it, bring it in your nice warm garage, grab a coffee or hot chocolate, dry it off, wipe it down, apply a fresh wax and lube it all up, as well as check the oil and top off the gas tank, this way it will be all ready for the next time.
> 
> LOL .... yeah, right .... In a perfect world I suppose ....


Yeah I'm not that OCD yet! I may buy a mat for next winter.


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## rwh963 (Nov 21, 2019)

i leave mine outside in the winter covered on a pallet.


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## Big Ed (Feb 10, 2013)

KJSeller said:


> Does anyone keep their snowblowers on a mat in the garage?
> 
> I watched this video. He's OCD For sure, puts his on a mat and then uses a heater to melt the snow on the auger and In the housing. But his Ariens looks brand new.
> 
> Wanted to know how many of our members do this?


What video???


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## KJSeller (Nov 3, 2021)

Big Ed said:


> What video???


Sorry I thought I pasted the link. Here it is.


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## Orangeman05 (Jan 20, 2015)

I put mine on am Ariens snowblower mat that I bought at a garage sale for $10. Works nice since it channeled.


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## aa335 (Jan 21, 2020)

KJSeller said:


> Sorry I thought I pasted the link. Here it is.


Good advice. Snowblower in the garage, truck outside.


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## Oneacer (Jan 3, 2011)

Lol....


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## KJSeller (Nov 3, 2021)

Orangeman05 said:


> I put mine on am Ariens snowblower mat that I bought at a garage sale for $10. Works nice since it channeled.


That's one heck of a deal!!


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## Orangeman05 (Jan 20, 2015)

It has a slight hole and had a few rust stains on it. The people I bought it from were moving to Florida and were in a bit of a hurry to get rid of stuff.


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## ST1300 (Feb 17, 2017)

Looks like a great system/idea if you have room in a garage! But keeping a $30,000+ truck parked outside in inclement weather so you can keep a $3000 snow blower inside is not a real good idea IMO. I would much rather work on or even pay for repairs on the snow blower than work on or pay for repairs on a $30,000+ truck. 
I've always maintained that blowers are made to live and play in the snow and ice. (but that doesn't mean you don't check it out before starting it for use or take care of them in the off season)


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## tabora (Mar 1, 2017)

I have a tracked HSS Honda, so I just back it into the garage with the auger housing tipped up and plug it into the battery maintainer. Wish I had a heated garage with a hose spigot and drain, though...


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## groomerz (Feb 7, 2015)

1x6 plastic deck board rest scraper across it 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## tadawson (Jan 3, 2018)

Takes a special kind of stupid to tell you not to broom out the bucket . . .


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## Tony P. (Jan 9, 2017)

I bought set of 6 18" rubber interlocking tiles for my snowblower and another for my mower. They basically cover the equipment footprint so don't take up any space.


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## badbmwbrad (Jul 30, 2019)

I don't see how raising the attachment to tilt it rearwards will help drain water from the impeller barrel. In addition, he recommends running the machine at idle RPM for several minutes to cool it and lower the temperature. He claims this lowers the temperature and cites a liquid-cooled NASCAR race engine and how the NASCAR drivers make a cool-down lap after a race. 

My understanding is that excessive idling lowers the flow-rate of the engine's liquid coolant and it lowers the fanned air-flow-rate passing through the radiator. The net result is reduced heat rejection from the engine and higher operating temperature. 

Regardless, our snowblower engines are air-cooled and their blower's air flow rate is lower at idle RPM, therefore, excessive idling raises the engine's operating temperature.


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## Hollowpoint (Oct 20, 2021)

For the Compact grabbed a mat advertised on Amazon as a snowblower mat.....wrong, auger froze to it. Found a boot caddy 2" lip at a discount store under $10.00 big enough to set the auger in on top of a scrap piece of plastic decking. Shed has wooden floor, do have a 240v space heater on the wall but don't use it below freezing.....waste of $ unless I absolutely have to get something done. No hot chocolate here depending on time of day, Scotch when finished.


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## Oneacer (Jan 3, 2011)

@bad,

Yeah, why people want to compare a small, air-cooled engine, with a splash oil system, to all this other stuff that has exactly nothing to do with each other is beyond me ... good for a laugh though.

@Hollow,

Yeah, a cheap boot mat from the dollar store would seem to suffice.


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## bisonp (Mar 23, 2018)

My attached garage is unheated but usually about 15-20 degrees warmer than the outside temp. I usually just engage the auger and drop the bucket on the ground a few times to clear it out and knock the loose stuff off. I don't think I've ever had it ice up since I started doing that.


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## meierjn (Jan 8, 2013)

We have a heated garage that is kept at about 10 C in the winter. I have one of them big car mats that the cars sits on and all of the drippings are trapped on it to prevent them from running everywhere in the garage. Whoever poured the garage floor didn't do a great job and everything runs to the sides vs. the center. Anyway, when I'm done with the snowblower (or snowmobiles) they sit on the mat untilled they are thawed off then moved to where they are stored off of the mat. The thaw time can be sped up drastically by using a fan to direct air towards what you want thawed. The water, and other crap that was picked up by whatever you are thawing is easily cleaned uo with a shop vac and dumped back out on the street.


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## Beanhead (Oct 17, 2021)

I have a garage that is connected to the house with a sink on that wall and a drain that is plumbed into the house. The garage floor is pitched to the center and there is a drain in the middle that just runs out to the yard along side of the driveway, I don't know how this was allowed but I'm glad its there the car and blower drip off and run out the drain. The garage is insulated but I only heat it if I will be working out there or if it will be -20F for a long time. As for rust stains It's a garage floor no worries.


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## Hollowpoint (Oct 20, 2021)

Suspect that may violate current building codes here....be thankful for the drain. My folks had a late 1800's home with French drains in basement and garage plus a 250-gallon oil tank buried underground.


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## Oneacer (Jan 3, 2011)

250 gallon oil tanks buried back in the day was pretty common.


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## Hollowpoint (Oct 20, 2021)

Indeed they were.....and became a real problem for some to get rid of them.


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## RC20 (Dec 4, 2019)

_Takes a special kind of stupid to tell you not to broom out the bucket . . ._

Thank you for the compliment. I don't broom out the bucket, I don't have a bucket, I do have a front auger assembly. 

Funny I can't get into it with all the blades and stuff, not to mention most of the time its 20 deg or colder, but what the hey.


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## Cstanis (Oct 19, 2021)

I believe in maintaining my equipment but you guys have put a whole new perspective on it for me. After next snowfall I am bringing mine in the house and put the wife in the garage


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## crazzywolfie (Jun 2, 2014)

i got a snowblower sitting on a piece of plywood in someone else garage to make sure it doesn't leave rust stain on the concrete. so far it has been working. not really too worried about snow melting but do give the machine a lite clean off before bringing it back in.


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## hawkerxj (Feb 18, 2015)

I have a wood floor, and the water off the snowblowers rots it out after a couple years. So I used a mat for a while, until I accidentally chewed it up with the snowblower. Them I switched that out for a steel drip tray.


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## aa335 (Jan 21, 2020)

Cstanis said:


> I believe in maintaining my equipment but you guys have put a whole new perspective on it for me. After next snowfall I am bringing mine in the house and put the wife in the garage


I guess the wife is treated better than the truck.


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## bibeaud (Jan 1, 2021)

groomerz said:


> 1x6 plastic deck board rest scraper across it
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I prop the front bucket end up on a 2x4 28" long piece of treated lumber to help drain the melting snow. Garage is not heated; but insulated including thick insulated doors. Temperature is always above freezing inside.


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## TwiceStroked (Sep 30, 2021)

Remember tho, warm blower into Snow will add to snow sticking, I keep mine outside (under carport) and use old snow brush from 20 yr ago to clean out augers.
Works 4 me.
And when the augers wont spin due to being frozen mapp gas and a few minutes work.


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## tadawson (Jan 3, 2018)

badbmwbrad said:


> I don't see how raising the attachment to tilt it rearwards will help drain water from the impeller barrel. In addition, he recommends running the machine at idle RPM for several minutes to cool it and lower the temperature. He claims this lowers the temperature and cites a liquid-cooled NASCAR race engine and how the NASCAR drivers make a cool-down lap after a race.
> 
> My understanding is that excessive idling lowers the flow-rate of the engine's liquid coolant and it lowers the fanned air-flow-rate passing through the radiator. The net result is reduced heat rejection from the engine and higher operating temperature.
> 
> Regardless, our snowblower engines are air-cooled and their blower's air flow rate is lower at idle RPM, therefore, excessive idling raises the engine's operating temperature.


Cooling airflow does drop, but heat generation drops more . . . . crictional losses for both occur at rhe square of the speed, so reduced speed reduces heat produciing friction (as well as no load hurning less fuel), and as the cooling fan slows, air resistance and backpreasure in the ducting also drops. The net resilt will be thag if you compare CFM of cooling air moved to engime RPM, the fan is _more_ efficient at lower RPM, and that coupled with disproportionateley less fuel needed to odle results in a greater reduction of engine temp at idle than at power. Physics and thermodynamics at work . . .


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## tadawson (Jan 3, 2018)

RC20 said:


> _Takes a special kind of stupid to tell you not to broom out the bucket . . ._
> 
> Thank you for the compliment. I don't broom out the bucket, I don't have a bucket, I do have a front auger assembly.
> 
> Funny I can't get into it with all the blades and stuff, not to mention most of the time its 20 deg or colder, but what the hey.


I was referring to the guy in the linked video, who was clearly talking about a 2 stage . . . Bucket/augur/impeller . . . been brusing them out for 50 years, and never been a problem or even slightly difficult . . .


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## Cstanis (Oct 19, 2021)

aa335 said:


> I guess the wife is treated better than the truck.


It's a three car garage 😁


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## dr bob (Dec 12, 2015)

My cheapo solution is a small Harbor Freight movers dolly (about $10 on sale) that the machine sits on between uses. The front dangles out over a plastic boot tray (~~$10 at Big Lots) that's just width of the bucket. All the front melt-off drops in the tray. Tray gets dragged outside and dumped when necessary. Keeps the melt-off contained, and sitting on the dolly means the machine is super easy to move around when needed. Plus the machine doesn't sit in that water and rust.

In my ~~60º garage workbay:


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## STEPNOUT (12 mo ago)

I always spray 3-in-1 silicone all over my snowblowers. Years ago we used cooking spray in the chute and on the augers. I have a heated garage and always run a dehumidifier all year. I live 2 miles from the bay salt and fog can't get away from it.


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## 1132le (Feb 23, 2017)

KJSeller said:


> Sorry I thought I pasted the link. Here it is.


jb=== junk box for short
that guy is a dope
never done any of that
not a good idea to touch the rakes after blowing snow lmmfao what a dope
goes in a garage yes i have an old plastic office mat only because its free
always check the impeller before next use to see its free
no mat put the scraper bar on a 6 inch 2x4
brush off snow on outside of blower is common sense
clowns on the internet


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## infiniti30 (Jan 22, 2017)

I use a 3 by 5 restaurant style rubber floor mat.


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## Hollowpoint (Oct 20, 2021)

1132le said:


> clowns on the internet


He should do a maintenance video....unless he already has. 1-D-10-T


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## KJSeller (Nov 3, 2021)

Hollowpoint said:


> He should do a maintenance video....unless he already has. 1-D-10-T


Yes he's got maintenance videos. Lol I was wondering what 1-D..... meant.. lol. I thought it was a new shift pattern like PRNDL2. 🤣🤣🤣


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## KJSeller (Nov 3, 2021)

dr bob said:


> My cheapo solution is a small Harbor Freight movers dolly (about $10 on sale) that the machine sits on between uses. The front dangles out over a plastic boot tray (~~$10 at Big Lots) that's just width of the bucket. All the front melt-off drops in the tray. Tray gets dragged outside and dumped when necessary. Keeps the melt-off contained, and sitting on the dolly means the machine is super easy to move around when needed. Plus the machine doesn't sit in that water and rust.
> 
> In my ~~60º garage workbay:
> View attachment 187901


That's a nice setup. I may have to do something similar.


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## Hollowpoint (Oct 20, 2021)

KJSeller said:


> Lol I was wondering what 1-D..... meant.. lol.


IDIOT


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## KJSeller (Nov 3, 2021)

Hollowpoint said:


> IDIOT


Yes I figured that out. Thanks.


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## Hollowpoint (Oct 20, 2021)

I knew you did.


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## Hollowpoint (Oct 20, 2021)

KJSeller said:


> Yes I figured that out. Thanks.


Certainly, no disrespect intended. Have a funny .mp4 file of Clearing Snow, but can't seem to upload it.
Retired Network Engineer, so I guess I'm the 1-D-10-T.


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## Honda1132 (Sep 2, 2016)

I noticed a "nearby" small engine parts warehouse was selling a product called the "Floor Defender" mat.

I don't use a mat between uses. I just brush the snow off and clean the sugars and housing with an old car snow brush and bring the snowblower in the garage. The garage is unheated but insulated and typically the temperatyre just goes to 7 or 8 Celsius at the lowest. I also run a dehumidifier in the garage.


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## tabora (Mar 1, 2017)

Hollowpoint said:


> Have a funny .mp4 file of Clearing Snow, but can't seem to upload it.


Upload it to a free Youtube account, and then post it using the Media function behind the ellipsis.


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## Toolboxhero (Dec 24, 2010)

KJSeller said:


> Does anyone keep their snowblowers on a mat in the garage?
> 
> I watched this video. He's OCD For sure, puts his on a mat and then uses a heater to melt the snow on the auger and In the housing. But his Ariens looks brand new.
> 
> Wanted to know how many of our members do this?


I don't use a mat but I regularly use a heat lamp. There are at least 200 comments over at movingsnow.com where someone didn't clean out the housing and broke/burnt out the impeller belt the next time they wanted to use the snowblower.


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## kevinrr (Mar 14, 2020)

KJSeller said:


> Does anyone keep their snowblowers on a mat in the garage?
> 
> I watched this video. He's OCD For sure, puts his on a mat and then uses a heater to melt the snow on the auger and In the housing. But his Ariens looks brand new.
> 
> Wanted to know how many of our members do this?


What I do is to roll the tires onto two boards,one under each tire. The board is high enough off the garage floor to allow snow and ice to melt and not have the metal auger housing sitting in water until the next time it's used.


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## sledman8002002 (Jan 20, 2021)

No mats here, but I do see the point. Mine generally stay on gravel under a non-heated carport, outside temp controls the melt, snow dust wiped off for the most part, impellers timed (4,8,12) to help prevent freezing.


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## The Q (Dec 19, 2016)

I don`t see what all the hate is about. The guy lives in Buffalo, NY, a city that gets clobbered with lake effect snow every winter. He has a routine that obviously works for him and has shared it with this forum. If his routine helps someone that decides to do this, then so be it. If not, that`s okay also. Name calling is unnecessary.


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## tabora (Mar 1, 2017)

The Q said:


> I don`t see what all the hate is about. The guy lives in Buffalo, NY


I don't believe anyone called the Discussion Starter anything... Looks like the venom was directed toward the person who made that video.


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## The Q (Dec 19, 2016)

tabora said:


> I don't believe anyone called the Discussion Starter anything... Looks like the venom was directed toward the person who made that video.


Exactly! Why? The Youtuber is just showing what he does and it works for him. So if it can help another forum member then that`s great! If not, okay also. Name calling is unnecessary.


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