In Brief: What is a single-stage snow blower?
The number of stages refers to how snow and ice and drawn in and discharged by the snowblower.
Single-stage snowblowers, also known as snow throwers, deal with snow in a single step: the auger pulls snow in, and its rotational force and speed force the snow through the discharge chute.
A first-time buyer might be confused as to what these stages mean and which is best for their home during winter.
Essentially, the number of stages refers to how many steps snow is processed by the machine before being discarded through the chute.
A single-stage snow blower, as its name suggests, swallows and discharges snow in a single step.
The speed and force of the spinning auger draw snow in and fling it out through the discharge chute several feet away.
Single-stage snow blowers are also referred to as snow throwers by how it throws snow in a single motion.
Snow isn’t chopped up and shot out by an impeller fan as it is in a two- and three-stage snow blower, and a snow thrower does not have an accelerator that crushes ice and compacted snow to easily-discharged fragments like in a three-stager.
So, with what we know about single-stage snow blowers, should you get one?
Well, it depends on how much snowfall your city experiences or how much you allow snow to accumulate before getting rid of it.
Single-stage snowblowers also come with tinier motors and gearboxes that chomp up smaller and shorter snow mounds per pass.
They’re mainly used to tackle 8 to 12-inch snow mounds, though anything more than 10 inches is usually too much for many single-stagers to handle.
Here is Toro Single stage snow blower in action –