Snow Blower Sizing - Opinions Wanted

[leonz]

With Zaugg you start out with snow blowers for 2 wheel tractors,
then work your way up to sub compact tractors, small tractors,
then tool carriers with front and rear mounts, large tractors
with front and rear mounts all the while sizing it based on
the machine width with no horsepower mentioned.

The ZAUGG units weigh more and have the heavy
EUROCARDAN PTO shafts too.

The other option is the rubber track drive ZAUGG SNOW BEAST that is almost 60 horsepower.
The ZAUGG SNOW BEAST has an operating weight of 1,430 Kilograms (3,152 pounds)
It can clear 3.6 feet-47 inch deep snowpack with a 47 or 51 inch wide cut on the first pass
with its dual cutters.

The diesel engine does not require DEF.

The ZAUGG SNOW BEAST is rated to clear:
440 metric tons - 7.33 metric tons per minute
441 short tons U.S. per hour/7.5 tons-U.S. per minute

 

[fishhead]

Horsepower requirement is a rate. …of how many pounds/minute of snow you’re lifting and throwing.

The pounds/minute (hp) of snow being thrown is a product of:
Snow density (wet vs. dry) x snow height x blower width x forward speed x overlap %..
These are the major factors that will determine how much horsepower a blower requires at any given moment.

For some reason, of those 5 factors, we only talk about the width.

A nice rounded number horsepower rating slapped on a sales brochure makes a lot of assumptions about the other factors that may not apply to your situation.

If blower is rated for 30” of wet snow at 2.5 mph using 60 hp, then it can handle the same snow at 2.0 mph with 48hp. That’s just math. …ahh, but they don’t really tell you what that “60 horsepower requirement” is, do they?

Mostly agree,
I'm guessing that like many things, snow throughput is non-linear as one approaches the max throughput of the fan and chute. Width is important as some minimum is necessary due to tractor width but also rarely discussed are fan size and depth. A larger fan will sweep more volume but also will try to accelerate the mass of the snow more due to the higher tip speed thus using more power. Adding depth to the fan chamber allows more throughput but with lesser throw than a bigger fan and because the snow is accelerated less should allow for more tonnage per hour at a given power level. Chute design enters the picture as well.

I believe hp ratings are usually from a minimum of what the designer figures would be minimum acceptable performance to a design maximum based on gearbox, drive chain etc.

 

[CobyRupert]

Mostly agree,
I'm guessing that like many things, snow throughput is non-linear as one approaches the max throughput of the fan and chute. Width is important as some minimum is necessary due to tractor width but also rarely discussed are fan size and depth. A larger fan will sweep more volume but also will try to accelerate the mass of the snow more due to the higher tip speed thus using more power. Adding depth to the fan chamber allows more throughput but with lesser throw than a bigger fan and because the snow is accelerated less should allow for more tonnage per hour at a given power level. Chute design enters the picture as well.

I believe hp ratings are usually from a minimum of what the designer figures would be minimum acceptable performance to a design maximum based on gearbox, drive chain etc.

Mostly.
I think that at a fixed rpm (say 540 rpm or whatever), where everything is going through, throughput (measured as a volume rate or lbs/min) would be as linear with any of the factors discussed (snow lbs, width, speed, overlap)

I think you are correct that if the design changes how FAR one wants to throw those lbs, this would demand a different amount of horsepower in a non-linear fashion.
But once built, it’s fixed, you get what you get, and horsepower demand is once again a measure of lbs/min moved as a function of snow density, height, width and speed.

 

[screamin400]

I understand the concern for what you want to run. I also look at it far differently than most. I believe you can run whatever you can lift. HP is what is required to move x tons of snow per hour from one location to another. Width only sets the mph. If you go with a larger fan that is going to throw the snow 50' compared to 20' that could change how many ton per hour you can move. It is again about how much hp does it take to throw x number of tons 50' compared to 20'. Don't buy into all the hype. It all boils down to how fast do you want to drive.

 

[leonz]

When you deal with the Pacific Chinook winds driven by ocean fed snow making Sierra cement,
Cascade concrete and the North Sea driven snows of northern Scotland they are very deep and
extremely dense as they are windblown and heavy.

A road legal width of snow blower in the United State is limited in width to 96 inches if my
memory correct.

Using a Zaugg Snow blower as an example they use narrow ribbon cutters with teeth cut into the
steel ribbon bands into the smallest portion and conical side discs rather than wide steel ribbons
and side weldments to help cut into the snowpack and push it inward to the paddle fan to eject it.

If the manufacturers here employed these design's they would sell more of them as they are designed
to work very well with a standard machine width.

The Zaugg Impeller/paddle fans from their smallest snow blower which is the SF40 which is 31 1/2" wide
and has a 16" impeller fan to the largest and widest tractor mounted snow blower which is the SF110 which
is 130 inches wide and has an 39" impeller paddle fan.

Zaugg does not discuss tonnage discharged per hour which is a simple sales tactic, they simply describe thier
snow blowers basic proven design, the available options for each frame size, the impeller/paddle fan diameter.

This You Tube video is showing the Grant Ritchie contracting folks in Scotland clearing an access road to a
wind farm in northern Scotland with a Fendt 4 wheel drive tractor with a Zaugg FS110 snow blower with a
rotating impeller drum which allows side discharge of the snowpack. I belive the Fendt tractor uses a
1,000 RPM Power Take Off.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Hz9vPAKV6A

 

[airbiscuit]

Not exactly cheap. $200 per inch of width!

 

[Beaver Cove Deere]

Not exactly cheap. $200 per inch of width!

View attachment 783192

View attachment 783191

Not even wide enough to clear the tire width on a JD 750.

 

[leonz]

It may be 55 inches wide but it will clear snow faster than a 2 stage snow blower
of nearly the same size.

If you want an implement with high quality of build and a large impeller you have
to spend good money and in the process you will have a snow blower that will outlast
every tractor you put it on.


The company that is selling this ZAUGG snow blower has to make up its mind as to whether
it is new or used and edit their sale sheet.

Edit: The komatsu store listed does not list this "used" Zaugg snow blower in thier used
equipment inventory for sale.

 

[airbiscuit]

If I was going to clear an airport runway, I would consider it. I'll admit the rotating side edges is a clever design. What kind of snowblower do you have?

 

[leonz]

I sent my 2011 John Deere 2 stage junk to the scrapper. My 20 and 30 year old Toro snow pups and my original
garden way snow blower are more dependable than the belt driven JD junk.