MAKING A SNOW BLOWER!

Cold air seems to be our typical additive to turn rain into snow!

Shoot a fine mist of water out of a pressure washer into air that is less than 32 F and see what you get as a result.

We have ideal conditions in Birmingham, AL!

Somewhat rare, so we want to seize the weather!

Is it just this particular year?

^{We can have one ready by spring} said in a joking way if its a just this year these conditions occur.

HERE'S THE APPARATUS SO FAR.

We have ideal conditions in Birmingham, AL!

Somewhat rare, so we want to seize the weather!

Is it just this particular year? YES

ANYONE KNOW WHAT TO PUT INTO THE WATER STREAM IN ORDER TO HELP IN THE FREEZE PROCESS? IS IT GLYCERIN?

NOT EXACTLY SURE OF THE PHYSICS GOING ON HERE. I SKIPPED THE HIGHERR EDAMACATION. I KNOW THAT GLYCERIN INCREASE THE SURFACE TENSION OF THE WATER. IS THAT WHAT I WANT HERE?

Ovoid glycerine it is anti-freeze. You may select some type of ether but they are very volatile.

Injecting air bubbles into the the water so it leaves the nozzles in a semi atomized fashion will greatly increase its heat transfer so that it will change from liquid to solid faster and in a finer particle size.

The few snow machines I have ever seen used high pressure water sprays being mist injected into high velocity air flows from big fans. I don't think that they use any other chemicals being the total volumes of snow they make are using thousands of gallons of water per hour for each machine.

All is true but I have seen some mention of professionals using an additive that speeds the freeze.

i currently have four normal outlets and one that the compressed air is seperating...l My fingers are frozeeeee from testing.

That's the way I've seen it done.

If you blow teflon powder on your surface you will be able to ski on it all year round with no temperature concerns.

If it was me I would look-up a company that makes snow machines.......make a phone call and ask. All they need to know is your asking mainly for a cost factor estimate. Also they or another company might have something posted on their web page that might say water model only or if a chemical is used model. If that failed to give me a satisfactory answer Id phone a Ski Resort and ask them.

Found it. Strangely enough, it's a bacteria that raises the nucleation temperature.

Sold as Snomax.

P. syringae, more than any mineral or other organism, is responsible for the surface frost damage in plants^[6], exposed to the environment. P. syringae can cause water to freeze at temperatures as high as −1.8°C^[7], but strains causing ice nucleation at lower temperatures (down to −8°C) are more common^[8]. The freezing causes injuries in the epithelia and makes the nutrients in the underlying plant tissues available to the bacteria. Artificial strains of P. syringae known as ice-minus bacteria have been created to reduce frost damage. P. syringae have ina (ice nucleation-active) genes that make Ina proteins which translocate to the outer bacterial cell wall on the surface of the bacteria where the Ina proteins act as nuclei for ice formation^[8].

Of course the basic "additive" is compressed air. Simply spraying water alone the air does not work well. It is the refrigeration effect of compressed air expansion that drives the freezing.

There are lots of info about snow making blowers (home made
and commercial) on the internet. Even made one myself using
copper pipe and fittings. (nozzles)

Google. "How to Build a Snow gun." here's a few pics.
with inputs and valves for the air and water.

It's not cheap - to blow the water and compressed air; and it's
usually damn cold when setting it all up. (Set it up in day time,
and then switch on at night for a better frost.)

The commercial "additive" is particles in suspension - the snow
flakes form around small particles of dust in the atmosphere.
which are substituted for in the additive. (or so I'm told.)

Hope this helps.

jt.

Why is Christmas just like a day at the office ?
You do all the work and the fat guy with the suit gets all the credit.

Here's what i ended up with satuday night. Now that i have learned what didn't work quite right. I need to machine the nozzle that will do what i want it to. oh yeah, and run a bigger compressor with a big fan in the mix.

Fun was had by those involved and at the end of the day... that was enough!

Hey! Whilst trolling around the 'net for something else, I stumbled across...

http://adventure.howstuffworks.com/outdoor-activities/snow-sports/snow-maker.htm

Don't know if you found this one. Pretty cool stuff! (P.I.)

Hey man, cool stuff.

It sent me down a completely different path. sure wish this site would take a pdf.

my thought is mount this on a truck with a big tank and go and charge $100 an hour to blow snow when it gets cold here. folks would eat it up here in alabama!