# Impeller mod lesson.



## jermar (Dec 10, 2014)

I've been running a home made impeller mod on two of the four impeller blades. I ran this for three years without a problem. A couple of days ago I used my blower on 10" of snow, and left it in the garage. Two days later, [13 deg] I went to start it and motor died when I tried the auger lever. The impeller blades were frozen solid. After the last use, an impeller blade with the rubber extension rested in a vertical position at the bottom of the barrel. This caused the snow and ice that collects on the bottom to freeze the rubber to the barrel. Now I'll check to see that an unmodified blade rests at the bottom of the blower when I finish.


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## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

That or drill a 1/4"-3/8" hole in the bottom of the impeller housing more to the rear to allow for drainage. When it's warm enough I'd try to apply some paint to the area to keep it from allowing rust to bubble up around the hole.
Just tip the machine on it's bucket and pop the hole in from the outside. A lot of machines have a drain hole from the factory.


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## caddydaddy (Dec 10, 2014)

My Cub has a drain hole at the bottom of the impeller housing. My garage stays slightly above freezing, even when it's below zero out, so that helps to prevent it from freezing solid.
Maybe after using it next time, clear any snow from inside the impeller housing would help prevent that from happening again?


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## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

Indexing the impeller is good but the drain hole takes into account you being cold, tired and maybe a little sore and all you want to do is push the blower into a corner and go inside and warm up. Nice thing about the drain hole is you don't have to remember to do anything for it to work 

I park mine on a pallet to keep it off the garage floor as I get puddles here and there. Depending on where you store it you could also put a 2x4 under the tires/track so the auger housing is tilted down so it drains without the hole.


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## Spectrum (Jan 6, 2013)

In that day, maybe it was 1978, I remember we had a storm form **** that had a very west slushy finish. Owners went out and took care of that with their Gilsons and life was good.

This went immediately into bitter cold with another storm few days latter. People were firing machines up that had frozen (despite factory drains) and were burning belts trying to get them to go. I remember driving around with a tool kit and box of belts making onsite repairs.

Another risk is snow being captured behind the impeller and freezing there. Many impeller have features to help prevent this.

It's always helpful to clean what you can from a machine then let the impeller dry cycle for a few minutes to clear the chamber as much as possible. In the end it's still a wet machine in cold storage so you need to be careful. An impeller kit may make it more sensitive but it's not root cause. 

Pete


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## jermar (Dec 10, 2014)

All valid points. Especially Kiss4afrog about being tired & going back inside. Drilling a drain hole is fine, but won't help much when temps are in the teens and the unattached, unheated garage doesn't allow the blower to thaw. I'll be more aware of impeller position next time.


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## RedOctobyr (Mar 2, 2014)

If you make a drain hole in the impeller housing, don't make it too big. 

I had an MTD that was, for a period of time, missing one of the bolts that held something for the chute (as I recall) to the impeller housing. When blowing, especially if the snow was a bit wet, you'd see a stream of snow shooting out of the empty bolt hole  

I like the idea of parking it tipped forward, so if something does melt, it tries to drip away from the impeller housing.


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## greatwhitebuffalo (Feb 11, 2014)

Spectrum said:


> In that day, maybe it was 1978, I remember we had a storm form **** that had a very west slushy finish. Owners went out and took care of that with their Gilsons and life was good.
> 
> This went immediately into bitter cold with another storm few days latter. People were firing machines up that had frozen (despite factory drains) and were burning belts trying to get them to go. I remember driving around with a tool kit and box of belts making onsite repairs.
> 
> ...


 I had a similar problem with my 55012, it wasn't frozen, but last time I tried to start it, the auger clutch was engaged. I usually re-engage the auger on a Gilson rather than let it sit for months against the spring. then disengage it to start it. well this time I forgot. 

it fired up. but then the augers didn't work. the impeller spins, but augers don't work. not a good scene.

it's always best to start them with auger/impeller disengaged. I'm wondering if starting it with it engaged, broke it.


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## Rob711 (Feb 5, 2015)

Mine froze up, I happen to have a torch on a 20lb tank, like a roofers torch, from harbor freight, a careful quick blast frees it up. I just have to be careful I don't melt the rubber on my impeller kit.


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## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

It's still just so easy to park it with the rear wheels on a 2X4 so it drains forward.
With the drain hole someone said their garage wasn't heated so it wouldn't work  If it's cold enough the snow isn't melting you don't have a problem to begin with and if the snow is melting you'd have the hole to drain it.


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## Ken05 (Feb 13, 2015)

The same exact thing happened to my blower a few days ago. Probably the same day as you. Also I have two of the four blade modded. I ended up just chipping the ice out with a big stick and now I make sure to run the impeller dry before parking it in the unheated garage.


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