Keep on the move this winter
Just as we thought we might escape any serious snow falls this winter, buckets of the stuff have fallen blocking roads and closing schools, especially the north and Scotland.
Treacherous paths and roads have led to loads of accidents. But proper equipment and preparations can keep us safely on the move – and by us we mean homeowners and businesses alike.
So here are ten way of keeping on the move both at home and at work. And although this might sound obvious, the first thing you can do is make sure your footwear is appropriate.
How often have you seen youngsters sliding all over the place as they are wearing just a thin pair of trainers.
Or men and women on the way to work with leather shoes with shiny soles.
We’re sure the boss won’t mind if you arrive in stout boots while the paths are slippery and take shoes to change in to once safely there.
Around the house these simple products will keep you, and visiting friends, safe, at least while on your property.
Shift it quick: Garant Nordic Large Snow Shovel
Snow can be shifted with a proper snow shovel like this one, the Garant Large Canadian Snow Shovel/Pusher (45cm/18″).oaThey know a thing or two about snow in Canada and this has been developed to shift large amounts of the stuff with each shovel full.
It is light with an 18 in working width and can also be used as a snow pusher so you can just push the snow off the paths and on to the garden.
It costs £17.95 and is much more efficient than a garden spade and will get the job done in a fraction of the time. Delivery the next working day is free.
This clever little machine comes from a German engineering company and clears snow to one side as you push it along.
The Einhell MSF 570 Manual Snow Plough takes all the effort out of snow clearing usually associated with shovelling. It is 50 cm wide and can clear garden paths quickly relying on the Archimedes Screw principle.
Have a look at this picture, you can see how easy it is to use and how efficient it is as well.
It costs just £25 and if you buy three you can have them for £20 each. Delivery the next working day is free and there is a two year warranty from Einhell.
To keep the paths ice free try this, LNT Magic Ice Melt Original is used by airports arount the world as it is not only highly efficient but will not harm plants, or lawns and will not corrode metal and is safe to use near astroturf.
It is degradable and much easier to spread than traditional rock salt. A 10 kg bag will cover up to 2000 sq metres, six to ten times as much as rock salt and costs £25, delivered the next day for free.
And here’s a great little machine, featured recently on TV, made for use on paths around the house.
The Stiga Snow Electric 31 Snow Blower is a great little machine which will do most of the hard work for you. Just plug it an and push it along, it’s as simple as this.
It has a clearance width of 31 cm and is fitted with a 1100 Watt electric motor which picks up the snow and throws it clear.
The intake height is 23 cm and it will throw the snow up to eight metres away, enough to shift the stuff from paths and drives around the house.
Made for use on hard paths it slides along on snow shoes.
It costs £79, £20 off the maker’s recommended price and has a one year warranty. And we deliver it free the next working day.
This equipment is fine for keeping the snow clear from ordinary domestic properties, but if you have a larger house with longer drives and paths or own a small business where you want to stay open and keep it safe for your staff and customers you really need a petrol snow blower.
So next we have four snow blowers to tackle larger areas and deeper snow.
First is the Oleo-Mac Artik 52 Single-Stage Petrol Snow Blower, a machine which will collect the snow and blow it clear thanks to a 163 cc engine engineered to deal with colder weather and to start easily.
As you push the blower along it collects the snow in the front chute and blows it clear, up to eight metres away. The angle and pitch of the chute is adjustable so you can blow it well clear, just take a care that it is not landing on the neighbour’s dog.
It weighs only 45 kg and the clearing width is 52 cm.
It costs £299, has at three year warranty and is delivered free the next working day.
Another machine from the same company, the Oleo-Mac Artik 56 Dual-Stage Snow Blower (Manual Start) is an even easier machine to use as it is powered – you just need to steer it.
As the snow and ice makes its way into the front chute it is crunched up and then a powerful impellor comes into play to blast it well clear.
It has a 182 cc Loncin impellor, five forward and 2 revers gears making it suitable for larger properties with longer drives and wider paths.
This one would also be ideal for health centres, smaller industrial estates and the like.
You can set the working height by using adjustable snow sliders on the front of the intake hood.
The intake height of the hood is 52 cm and the working width is 56 cm meaning you can shift a lot of fairly deep snow with the minimum of fuss.
This one costs £479, £220 less than the recommended retail price and has a three year warranty with free next working day delivery.
Now on to more serious machines from Stiga, a leading manufacturer of snow clearance machinery popular in Sweden and Norway.
The Stiga Snow Patrol Dual-Stage Snow Blower has a working width of 55 cm and can deal with snow falls up to 50 cm deep.
The power comes from a 182 cc engine and it has four forward and two reverse gears.
This too has powerful augurs to drag snow and ice into the machine and a powerful impellor to blast it away – up to ten metres.
Yu can adjust the direction as the chute rotates 190 degrees and the pitch is always easily altered.
The front skid shoes mean you can work on loose surfaces as well as hard and the Snow Hob tyres give excellent grip.
The great value machine costs £599, £80 off the recommended retail price, has a one year warranty and free next working day delivery.
You’ll recognise this as a serious snow-clearing machine.
The Stiga Silex 95H Two-wheeled Snow Plough has a powerful Honda engine to help it move really heavy falls of snow.
The snow blade will clear an 85 cm swathe through thick snow and with both forward and reverse gears it can work very precisely in restricted areas. It has a scraper bar to get right down to the hard surface.
The blade is adjustable so you can clear either to the left or right and can be altered so you don’t have to leave the driving position.
Large wheels with thick-tread tyres means it can deal with any weather the winter can throw at it.
With this machine you can fit a sweeper brush for clearing fresh snow and a host of other attachments.
It costs £749 compared with the recommended price of £978, has a two year warranty and is delivered free within two to three working hours.
And finally two professional machines made for clearing large areas of really heavy snow falls.
The Stiga Pro 1171 HST Commercial Dual-stage Snow Blower is made for larger commercial premises and small estates with a 305 cc Briggs & Stratton engine and hydrostatic transmission – so no gear changes involved once you get going.
It can be started either by attaching an electric cable or by a recoil cord with a large handle.
It will clear a path 71 cm through the snow and the powerful impellor will throw snow up to 15 metres away once the auger has dragged the snow and ice into the chute.
The pitch and direction can be adjusted from the driving position without the end to stop and powerful headlights mean you can carry on working in the dark.
It costs £2199. £700 less than the recommended retail price, has a three year warranty and is delivered free within two to three working days.
And finally the Stiga Pro 1581 HST Commercial Dual-Stage Snow Blower a really heavy duty commercial machine with a 420 cc Briggs & Stratton engine designed to work in temperatures as low as -20F.
This one has a 36 cm auger made of cast iron and a four blade impellor to shift huge volumes of snow and crunched down ice.
With an intake height of 50 cm and a clearing width of 81 cm it can clear huge areas of thick snow in double quick time.
Hydrostatic transmission means very precise control is possible and it is supplied with a weatherproof cover.
It costs £2699, has a three year warranty and free delivery within two to three working days.
From our list you can see there are loads of different way of dealing with the snow, there is no longer any need to spend all your time at home or close down your premises just because of a fall of snow.
See these pages for an even bigger list of snow clearance equipment and give us a ring on 020 3026 8712 if you would like our advice before deciding what to buy.
