Is a 5 HP Motor Large Enough for a Snow Blower?
The vast majority of homeowners who deal with a lot of snow seem to prefer to spend some extra money hiring a service to remove their snow after every storm, rather than buying the right equipment to do it themselves.
It should be an easy decision to make between paying someone $20 to clear a driveway after every storm, or to spend a few dollars to buy a decent snowblower once and clear the driveway yourself every time there’s a storm. However, there are other questions to be asked.
If I Buy a Snow Blower, How Much Power Do I Need?
If you make the decision to buy a snow blower and handle storms yourself, you will still have to know which kind f snowblower to get. For example, how much power will you need to be effective at clearing the snow? It’s probably the most common question among new customers.
It should be obvious that the more powerful the snowblower, the larger the motor and the larger and heavier the snowblower itself. On the plus side, the more power, the faster it will clear snow. However, you must keep in mind that you also have to carry it while you clear the snow.
Therefore, if you have a large property and you need to clear a wide area of a large property, the power may become less important than the impact on your back. On the other hand, since a higher-power blower will have the torque to clear the snow more quickly, the strain on your back may be a lot less than if you were to use a smaller motor.
So, How Much Horsepower Should a Snowblower Have?
If you examine online reviews, the preferred minimum horsepower varies widely, but most seem to believe 5 HP is large enough for most jobs.
Some people say 5 hp may be a little too much, in fact, but 5 horsepower seems to be sufficient for most snow clearing jobs, regardless of the amount of snow. In fact, a 10 hp snowblower has suggested that 10 hp is often cited as way too much, and just adds extra weight and noise, without a resultant advantage in snow clearing capacity.
What all that adds up to is, having a 5 HP snowblower should be sufficient for most snow clearing jobs, unless you’re clearing 40 acres for a farm that gets 2-4 blizzards per month. And Few people get that much snow, outside of the Alaskan Tundra!