fire as a snow removal tactic

[SugarCoat]

A little something I've wondered a few times: In North America, everybody seems to talk about either shoveling or blowing the snow away. Are these things (I guess they might be called snow scoops) sold there? That's what almost everybody uses around here.

that looks incredibly flimsy. I assume its just used to push snow aside? Cant see shoveling with it since theres no place to grip to actually lift it without putting a lot of strain on your arms and lower back.

Problem is if you get a considerable amount of snow that things going to be more work then useful. For a few cm i'm sure it would work fine.

To answer your question, no, i dont think they are. And if they are then they arent popular.

 

[Mark]

that looks incredibly flimsy. I assume its just used to push snow aside? Cant see shoveling with it since theres no place to grip to actually lift it without putting a lot of strain on your arms and lower back.

Problem is if you get a considerable amount of snow that things going to be more work then useful. For a few cm i'm sure it would work fine.

To answer your question, no, i dont think they are. And if they are then they arent popular.

It's for drifts or deep snow, really, and they are popular here in Canada (or at least in my province). You slide them along the ground into the drift, break off a chuck, then dump it somewhere. My uncle swears by those things. Not much point if you don't have somewhere to dump though I guess.

 

[DudeMiester]

Or if you have no snow... looks at green grass in Toronto...

 

[SugarCoat]

broke a heat record set in 1913 today here. problem is this doesnt look like a fluke which it problably was in 1913, winters over the last decade have been getting quite rainy.

 

[Mintmaster]

yeah, i've been looking at snow thrower devices, i said f'it when i saw the price tag and just got two of the same shovel and used them at the same time, it works a lot better than you might expect, cleared the entire thing in like 15 minutes

Yeah, snow throwers are actually pretty slow. We got this 3 foot wide shovel, and it clears through snow in no time. One guy pushes snow to the edges with this shovel, and the other guy does a little cleanup at the edges with a normal shovel.

Blow some cash on a snow thrower, you won't regret it.

Just make sure it's a thrower and not a blower, the blowers suck but the throwers rock.

Yup, and then when you're done clearing snow the slow lazyass way, you can go waste even more time and money on your Bowflex

 

[Skrying]

I'm glad there was only one big snow and no more this winter.

Though if I did have to remove a lot of snow again I'd simply call up a guy down the road and use his Bobcat skid loader.

 

[Basic]

A little something I've wondered a few times: In North America, everybody seems to talk about either shoveling or blowing the snow away. Are these things (I guess they might be called snow scoops) sold there? That's what almost everybody uses around here.

They are common here, and if I'd ever need to clear out a driveway by hand, I'd definitely prefer those. You need to plan where to dump the snow a bit more than with a shovel though. If you need to get rid of a lot of snow you need to build a ramp (of snow) up on the snow pile so you could dump it on the other side. On the snowy winters when I was a kid, we often had a 1.5-2 m high snow pile next to the parking lot.

And for those who haven't used them, no you never lift one of those.

 

[MuFu]

Thermite Plasma.

 

[WhiningKhan]

They are common here, and if I'd ever need to clear out a driveway by hand, I'd definitely prefer those. You need to plan where to dump the snow a bit more than with a shovel though. If you need to get rid of a lot of snow you need to build a ramp (of snow) up on the snow pile so you could dump it on the other side.

Yep, they are pretty much the only sensible muscle-powered way to clear up any significant area (such as a front yard) of snow.

Strange that they are not popular in US. Maybe the areas to clear are predominantly too large or small there. OTOH, even decently gripped shovels also failed to sell in US for a long time (or so I have heard).

On the snowy winters when I was a kid, we often had a 1.5-2 m high snow pile next to the parking lot.

Yeah, those were the times. Playing 'king of the hill' on several meters high snow piles ruled. These 'winters' we have now are are pathetic, the lack of snow gets really depressing in this northern darkness. And 2007 has been predicted to be warmest year ever... I might really consider moving to Lapland.

 

[SugarCoat]

over the last 15-20 years in the US pretty much everyone that lives in a place that gets a good amount of snow uses one of these.

Suburban areas can really varry in the length of walkways or driveways that need to be cleared though. To be honest i cant see what that 'snowscoop' does that a modern light plastic shovel cant or doesnt do. Just doesnt look like it saves any muscles from work over a shovel.

 

[levicki]

Crazy idea -- don't try unless you are crazy and in that case I am not responsible.

1. Light up one of those bricks for firestarting which won't exhaust if you put them in snow
2. Pour liquid oxygen over it using at least 3m long pole

 

[Basic]

If you're clearing out a small or narrow area, then yes, a ordinary shovel is easy. And house owners usually have one of those too. But if you want to clear something larger (like a driveway), then you'd either need to carry the snow to where you can dump it, or maybe throw it a few meters. With that snowscoop you can gather 100 kg of snow is one sweep, and push it to where you want to dump it rather effortlessly.

 

[obobski]

lol thermite plasma, through all 6" of snow, 3" of driveway, and probably down into the dirt too

and LOL to lox

this snow scoop thing intrigues me, i've seen them for sale, but i'm having a bit of trouble understanding how you exactly use it? you just push along 100kg of snow and then do what? drag it backwards and upend it to empty it elsewhere?

 

[Ty]

Move to San Diego. We never get snow unless you live in the mountains.

 

[rwolf]

ok, i have like 6" of snow on my driveway/walkway, which is 6" more than i'd like to have, I don't want to go shovel through all of that because its 3 cars wide, and I don't own a snow thrower machine...wouldn't fire or another heat source work? (i'm talking like the $50-style flame thrower, wouldn't that work for getting the snow away?)

or if anyone has other ideas for getting rid of the snow...can't think of much, i just keep thinking of fire as a solution to my problem

edit-
ok after reading something about rotary snowplows i have a better (and probably legal) idea

couldn't you take a lawn mower, turn the blade facing up (ok thats where we realize this is dangerous, so instead of a lawnmower blade, take like a piece of metal or something, but you get the idea) and stick the motor at a 90* rotation, move the wheels (or build a cart ffs) and have yourself a rotary snowplow?

Give a 10-year old neighbor 10 bucks to shovel your snow.

 

[Rys]

Thermite Plasma.

I'm with this man. Or you could declare your yard a sovereign annex of Iran and wait for Israel to say hello with a suitcase nuke. That shit totally gets rid of snow.

 

[K.I.L.E.R]

Why not use napalm on your lawn?

 

[_xxx_]

A scatter grenade will solve the snow problem rather quickly

 

[obobski]

LOL

but if i declare it a soverign, dubya will beat me to nuking it

 

[WhiningKhan]

Suburban areas can really varry in the length of walkways or driveways that need to be cleared though. To be honest i cant see what that 'snowscoop' does that a modern light plastic shovel cant or doesnt do. Just doesnt look like it saves any muscles from work over a shovel.

It does, significantly, like Basic already wrote. You can't clear a light-to-medium-snowy driveway with a shovel just by walking it 3-4 times end-to-end.

Shovels are for digging down, scoops are for moving horizontally. Just like in heavy machinery for land construction: shovel/excavator vs. scoop/bulldozer. The latter moves a lot more stuff at a time.