# Advice on a Walk Behind Power Brush



## crispian

I am the building manager of a large church just north of NYC. While we have a landscaper who plows our parking lot we take up most of an entire block and also have other property across the street as well as internal sidewalks on the property, this means there is almost a mile of sidewalk I have to clear when it snows. Some of the sidewalks are concrete, but much is bluestone slabs that have become broken and uneven over the years.

One of the problems I have is that as we have a nursery school on the premises, or especially on Sunday morning, if we get an inch or two that most people would leave to melt on its own I have to get out and clear it before school or church services start as we have children and old people using the sidewalks.

I have a commercial 28" snowblower, but this leaves a thin layer of snow behind (and more on the uneven sections!), so I usually have to do three passes- once with the snowblower, once with a handshovel and then a last with ice-melter to finish up.

I am hoping to persuade the church to buy me a power broom such as this MB or this Ariens as I feel that it would do a much better job in one pass on the sidewalks than the snowblower does- especially on those pesky quick snowfalls. Of course, with a deep, 4"+ snowfall nothing beats a good snowblower, but for lighter snowfalls, or to follow up after the snowblower for heavier ones this should be just the job.

I also feel that as a broom should leave a cleaner sidewalk than the blower I should be able to use much less ice-melt (better for the church bank account and the environment). And when we replace the broken sidewalks, either with new concrete or brick or clay pavers, a broom should be gentler on them and they will last longer.

So....what I am asking for is a testimonial or advice from anyone who has used a power bush for snow clearing who can back me up on any of those points that I can pass on to the church board. Plus of course any other advice you may have on which might be the best to get, bearing in mind the limited church budget.

Thanks in advance!


----------



## LON

Here's another one to look at - http://www.yorkmodern.com/catalog/-c-22_35.html?osCsid=1e6bf3007a0d9f38cc61cd0b540fc4c9
I'm a York dealer here in PA and could get you pricing if you'd like.


----------



## crispian

That looks great, but it's a little out of our price range- I don't think we can go much higher than $1500. The Ariens would be a stretch, but I'd have to give them some pretty good reasons why we'd spend the extra money for that over the other one for only 4 more inches of width.

But as a dealer, can you confirm that one of these would actually do what I want it to? Have you had good feedback from those you've sold them to?

I'm pleased that the church is considering buying me extra tools to get the job done (I'm not getting any younger and the winters seem to be getting worse), but want to make sure that this won't be wasted money and that it will actually be helpful and will make my job easier. So ANY comments or information from anyone who has any knowlwdge of how well these things work for snow removal will be hugely helpful!


----------



## LON

To be honest I have not sold one. Have only heard how nice they thatch grass. I would believe that it would have to be a 50/50 poly/wire mix to do a decent job on sidewalk snow.


----------



## leolkfrm

the are a lot of liquid deicers that would melt snow and ice without damage ie bare ground


----------



## crispian

I have tried liquid de-icers in the past, and though they work OK it still means doing 2 passes- once with the snowblower to remove the bulk of the snow, and then again with the de-icer.

Also, one of the main reasons we are considering the power brush is to hopefully avoid the use of chemicals as much as possible. While I know I'm not going to be able to completely eliminate ice-melter, I'd like to use as little as possible- both to be more environmentally friendly, and to save money on buying it.


----------

