Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

Guys

Today I had a problem running the auger on my Ariens 7524 that I just got a couple weeks ago. I started it up and the first time I ran the auger the engine died. I restarted it and when I ran the auger this time it kind of screamed and I immediately shut off the engine. Both times the auger was not under load and the machine was stationary.

I pulled the spark plug, used the shovel to clear as much snow from the shovel housing and impeller area as I could, then banged it up and down a few times. The auger ran with no complaint this time. I'm still not sure what the problem was other than there was quite a bit of impacted snow inside the shovel housing and after I cleaned that it ran fine. Would the shaft or the impeller itself have been frozen?

When anyone encounters an unmoveable auger what do you do? I don't have the option to move it into a warm area. Is it safe to throw warm water into the impeller area or are you just compounding the problem? I have been running the impeller for 20 or 30 seconds before shutdown but today I followed the letter of the law and ran the auger for almost 3 minites. I also cleaned as much snow out of there as possible before I stored it. Is this an effective preventative for a frozen/stuck auger/impeller? I'm hoping this isn't a common problem for Ariens and/or the Ariens compact series. Thanks for any advice.