Toro 721E snowblower (GTA)~ PM at Home Depot for $764

naimc wrote: ↑ FYI, that old spark plug indicates something wrong / off with your engine. It should not look like that after only one season. Looks like it's heavily coated in carbon and oil , carb is too rich or oil is getting in the combustion chamber. ( I would pull out the new one you put after if it got a few hours of runtime and look at it again. and check your oil level more often perhaps. )



For reference i just pulled the plug on my 721RC it must at least 6 years , notice that its dry and not covered in a wet oil gum.



vs your plug

MustaciousFlavour wrote: ↑I'm a total noob when it comes to snowblowers - can anyone comment on how an electric snowblower would stack up to this one? And if it can handle dumps like the one we just got? Really tempted to get this, but want to reduce the carbon footprint and not need to worry about maintenance

2kaccordcoupe wrote: ↑ Everyone that had a single stage unit in my neighbourhood struggled to clean up after the dumping the GTA got this week.
In contrast a run of the mill nothing special 2 stage was cleaning with relative ease.

I know property size, storage etc are all considerations to make. I'm just providing a first hand point of reference / data point for others to consider.

dacrusher wrote: ↑ I don't know where to get non-ethanol gas any more. Shell used to be my goto, but they've started using ethanol in their premium too!

hightech wrote: ↑ This site might be helpful: https://www.pure-gas.org/

gr8dlr wrote: ↑ There's a snow blower thread in Home and Garden forum and someone mentioned Trufuel which I never heard or knew about. It is a fair amount more expensive than gas [$10/litre or $30/3.25litre] obviously but considering we don't get much snow and so don't use our snow blowers much, it's worth it IMO. No need to source ethanol free gas and no need to recycle older fuel - this has a 2 yr shelf life once opened.

https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/truf ... s#store=87

TruFuel Premixed Gas & Oil for 2-Cycle Engines is premixed 50:1 [there's also 40:1 mix] and contains no ethanol, which extends the life of rubber and plastic components
Premium fuel for high end brands like Husqvama, Stihl, Echo, Shindaiwa, Ryobi and Maruyama
Synthetic oil eliminates plug fouling, smoke, and provides advanced lubrication
Acts as a fuel stabilizer for fresh fuel every time, and a water dispersant
Has a 2 year shelf life once opened
Great for use in 2-cycle gas leaf blowers, chainsaws or grass trimmers

skyrink wrote: ↑ On the flip side, does anyone regret buying a snowblower?

I'm on the fence about it due to:
-the inevitable maintenance of it (gas, oil, starter)
-space it takes up in the garage 98% of the time when its not being used
-and what to do if it stops working 1 day (its not like I can lift it and put it in my sedan to bring to a repair shop)

AtlsNBP wrote: ↑ I got the idea from:

DeepFriedTofu wrote: ↑ I have the toro E21 60v electric and it handled the snow we got in the GTA on Monday pretty easily. I can't say how long the battery or machine will last since I just bought it in November. I don't want to deal with maintenance, so that's why I went with electric. Plus I have the 60v lawn mower and trimmer and they all use the same battery.

Webhead wrote: ↑ Good find for older 2-Cycle SB.

I think most newer Single Stage SB are 4-cycle.

skyrink wrote: ↑ On the flip side, does anyone regret buying a snowblower?

I'm on the fence about it due to:
-the inevitable maintenance of it (gas, oil, starter)
-space it takes up in the garage 98% of the time when its not being used
-and what to do if it stops working 1 day (its not like I can lift it and put it in my sedan to bring to a repair shop)

bb320 wrote: ↑ Are these things even worth it? I mean I had a decent size driveway, i was able to clear my driveway with my Sled Shuffle and Regular one, while my neighbors were trying to restart their Toro snowblower over and over again

gr8dlr wrote: ↑ I bought my single stage snow blower almost 20 yrs ago when I bought my current house with a bigger driveway [4 car].

The way I looked at it - this is gonna last the rest of my life [20 yrs and still going] if I somewhat take care of it and this is gonna save my back and body on those bad snow days. FYI Back in the day, there was a lot more snow than we've been getting now. If you've ever injured your back shovelling snow, this money is worth it.

I have a snow sleigh as well for days where we get sub 6" or if the snow is light. Snow falls of 6" can also be hard even for the sleigh if it's heavy wetter snow.

Catenary wrote: ↑ TruFuel and other non-gasoline fuels come in pre-mix and straight varieties. Most stores will carry both. There are a number of brands available, TruFuel, Aspen, Stihl and Husqvarna are common, and I think Princess Auto carries VP.

2kaccordcoupe wrote: ↑ Everyone that had a single stage unit in my neighbourhood struggled to clean up after the dumping the GTA got this week.
In contrast a run of the mill nothing special 2 stage was cleaning with relative ease.

I know property size, storage etc are all considerations to make. I'm just providing a first hand point of reference / data point for others to consider.