Today, we received another 3 inches of snow in my area. It seems to be the light fluffy stuff so I am hoping me and my shovel can handle it without difficulty tomorrow morning. However, my electric snowthrower is still not repaired. My interpretation of the situation: the repair shop did not really understand or want to deal with the snowthrower. I was told the problem (needs a new assembly) was not covered under warranty as I had "jammed ice" into the snowthrower.
As a refresher, I had purchased the Toro PowerCurve 1800 snowthrower in February 2007, never used it and finally brought it out a few weeks ago and it stopped working after less than two mintues. At my father's suggestion, I looked in the owner's manual (I keep them and read them!) There are warnings not to electrocute yourself or not to stick your arm into the moving parts but no warning that heavy snow or ice are incompatible with using the machine. When I informed the Toro-authorized repair shop manager of this, he indicated Toro warranty only covers manufacturing defects. After I asked, he said that gas-powered snowthrowers with this same repair would also not be covered and that he had fixed four other [gas-powered] snowthowers with this same "jammed it into ice and broke it" problem.
Then the power in my snowthrower was denegrated (electric does not have any power) and I finally just said reassemble the snowthrower and I will pick it up. This was the third phone call to the place, I had difficulty finding someone to talk to and I felt so dissatisfied by the treatment in trying to get answers. I did not jam my machine into the ice--I was moving heavy snow. How can a machine be considered free of manufacturing defects when it stops functioning after only two minutes? I have an electric lawnmower that has worked flawlessly for two years. As my dad pointed out, if the electric snowthrower was so under powered, how did it break? I intend on trying another Toro-authorized repair shop and hope my experience is more satisfying than the one in my city.
Until the snowthrower is repaired, my secondhand shovel and I will be putting in more hours.
Showing posts with label snow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label snow. Show all posts
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Green and frugal snow removal
My trusty shovel, a hand-me-down from my grandfather who moved from his house into a condo as age was slowing him down, has served me well in the nearly two years of home ownership. Although a bit bothered by the dissonance of listening to birds chirping as I shoveled yet another round of snow today, I did finish the job even if my streets department had not. I am not looking forward to backing out into eight inches of snow in the street.
While I appreciate the low expense of my snow shovel, moving more than a few inches of snow from my inclined driveway and sidewalk can be time consuming. I looked into electric snowthrowers as I had a fairly short driveway and did not want a large machine I had to lug gasoline and oil to make it work. I finally purchased a Toro PowerCurve 1800 from Amazon.com in February 2007 and it arrived just after a big, heavy snowfall. Subsequently, there was never enough snow to allow me to use it so it was only recently I finally moved it from my basement to the garage for the first snowfall of the season. I was encouraged by its immediate reponse to turning on the power. My neighbor's boyfriend was still trying to get his machine started so I felt a bit superior.
The snowfall was a heavy one, mixed with sleet and freezing rain on top of the 4-5 inches of snow. Shoveling it was a bear and while I did not think my electric snowthrower could handle such a heavy load, I thought I would try it. Darn if the heavy wet stuff was thrown several feet! I was encouraged even if it was slow going and my chute kept needing adjusting because of the force of the heavy snow. Unfortunately, the snow stopped throwing less than two minutes later. I thought it was just too much for the machine to handle and left it sit in the garage to thaw. My neighbor's boyfriend did get his monster machine started and was kind enough to remove most of the snow from my driveway. I cannot say anything bad about the kindness or the power however polluting.
However, the next snowfall was light powdery stuff so no problem right? No, the snowthrower does not do anything at all except make a lot of noise. My snowthrower, that I had purchased at $100 off retail and shipped to me free, was an inert piece of mostly plastic. With the several rounds of snow since then, I have regreted purchasing the snowthrower. It gave me hope to spend a little less time clearing snow and more time indoors. However, it is now sitting in a repair shop supposedly covered by a warranty and should be functional in a week--just in time to miss all the snow we have gotten.
So it is back to the secondhand shovel that allows me to move five inches of snow in almost two hours. My body is getting a bit tired, but it is good exercise and I have some spectacular snow piles around my driveway and sidewalk. How frugal do you think my snowthrower purchase is?
While I appreciate the low expense of my snow shovel, moving more than a few inches of snow from my inclined driveway and sidewalk can be time consuming. I looked into electric snowthrowers as I had a fairly short driveway and did not want a large machine I had to lug gasoline and oil to make it work. I finally purchased a Toro PowerCurve 1800 from Amazon.com in February 2007 and it arrived just after a big, heavy snowfall. Subsequently, there was never enough snow to allow me to use it so it was only recently I finally moved it from my basement to the garage for the first snowfall of the season. I was encouraged by its immediate reponse to turning on the power. My neighbor's boyfriend was still trying to get his machine started so I felt a bit superior.
The snowfall was a heavy one, mixed with sleet and freezing rain on top of the 4-5 inches of snow. Shoveling it was a bear and while I did not think my electric snowthrower could handle such a heavy load, I thought I would try it. Darn if the heavy wet stuff was thrown several feet! I was encouraged even if it was slow going and my chute kept needing adjusting because of the force of the heavy snow. Unfortunately, the snow stopped throwing less than two minutes later. I thought it was just too much for the machine to handle and left it sit in the garage to thaw. My neighbor's boyfriend did get his monster machine started and was kind enough to remove most of the snow from my driveway. I cannot say anything bad about the kindness or the power however polluting.
However, the next snowfall was light powdery stuff so no problem right? No, the snowthrower does not do anything at all except make a lot of noise. My snowthrower, that I had purchased at $100 off retail and shipped to me free, was an inert piece of mostly plastic. With the several rounds of snow since then, I have regreted purchasing the snowthrower. It gave me hope to spend a little less time clearing snow and more time indoors. However, it is now sitting in a repair shop supposedly covered by a warranty and should be functional in a week--just in time to miss all the snow we have gotten.
So it is back to the secondhand shovel that allows me to move five inches of snow in almost two hours. My body is getting a bit tired, but it is good exercise and I have some spectacular snow piles around my driveway and sidewalk. How frugal do you think my snowthrower purchase is?
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