DIY Snow Maker Build
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- Опубликовано: 30 сен 2024
- Hey RUclips, welcome back to Plan Build Play.
In this video I got a bit bored one day and was surprised with how little snow we had that winter so decided to attempt to build a miniature snow maker. These are usually something you see at a ski resort to be able to make snow if there isn't enough to cover the ski/snowboard slopes. Obviously a full sized one would be a bit overkill for my backyard but was going to try build a smaller version and use mostly parts I already had around the shop. This didn't really work as well as I was hoping for but was a fun to play around with. It seems the commercial versions of these are a bit more complicated and are able to be adjusted based on outside humidity, temperature, and incoming water temperature. Also using a much more powerful fan would help as well. Maybe Ill have to try to build and upgraded version at some point. Toss your suggestions in the comments on how this design can be improved.
Contain SLANT 4000 CFM Air Mover amzn.to/3e5nPSW
Misting nozzles complete kit amzn.to/3wNTAsm
Water Pump #1 880 gallon/hour amzn.to/3mMIOOy
Water Pump #2 3566 gallon/hour amzn.to/2Q5Zg0h
Harbor Freight 1380/1590 CFM Air Mover
www.harborfrei...
Various plumbing fittings for water pumps from Home Depot
You're making this way too complicated.... Then one right on the inside it's a compressed air water mixture...that's it... Outside air temperature needs to be 28 degrees or lower... The dryer the air outside the better..
Really to make snow your are gonna need a nuclear or nozzle. It’s a air and water mixture. With our that nothing is really gonna happen. Also the most need to be a lot finer and at higher pressure. This is a great start, just need a little work.
Also. Put the nozzles on the end of the funnel so they come into the stream of air not into the air and land on the funnel
Thanks for the ideas, maybe Ill have to give this another try this winter.
@@herobrien062 you need a nucleation box with a nucleator and yes nozzles need to be pointed inwards at roughly a 35 degree angle and if using a nucleator it needs to be pointed into the water stream from nozzles at 20 degrees. You can use nucleation nozzles from like an HKD pole gun but the problem comes with home built fan snow guns is most home owners can't move enough enough water at a high enough pressure to atomize the water droplets and they make ice unless it is well below freezing. I built a few full size fan snow makers at Windham Mtn in NY back in the late 80s early 90s. If you can find one a snow maker company by the name of Hedco made a mini fan that had a cone ring wth 3 rows of nozzles of different sizes for different temps that was only 8-12 inches diameter that does work as a home snowmaker if you have a water booster pump to bring pressure up to around 150psi and can supply around 15 gallons per minute there was at one time alot of the Hedco minis floating around many ski areas and backyards around ski areas they were cheap and worked and some resorts use to sell them out of their ski shop as a backyard snowmaker. Alot of times if you come across a private owned ski resort there is a boneyard and most of the time if you can track down the manager or owner or who is in charge they will sell you stuff from the boneyard if it's no longer used some times even give it to you if its something small. I have managed to amass almost a mountain's worth of old snow guns like ratniks and ratnik quads and old Dendrites and a few old fan guns and Hedco diesels and water pumps and air compressors all out of resort boneyards and from a local mountain that closed in the 80s and sat till 2018 and a guy bought the falling in resort and just wanted everything gone and I went in and moved everything snowmaking wise out of it and may possibly get lifts at a later date when the new owner decides what he is doing or if he can get investors to develop it. Just putting it out there you can find old snowmaking equipment and adapt it to back yard for cheap if you do some digging usually corporate or state owned resorts you can't buy anything even though there is still boneyards at them and if you can buy from them there is usually so much red tape it's not worth it. I have a 100ft so called bunny slope or sled slope I make snow on every year and all I have there is an old 8hp gas fire pump and an old portable tow behind 100cfm compressor and snowguns made from 1 1/2 inch galvanized pipe scraps and a bunch of old 1 inches fire hose that I got from local fire depts from brush trucks I think in total I have $800 invested which was pump and compressor and if temps around 25-30 degrees I can make a foot to a foot and a half on the trail the full 100ft of it and full width of trail which is around 30ft and I can go longer if I move guns from there posts to either another post or something solid. Air/water is the way to go because of the simplicity air shot into water stream for atomization no electric but need enough water pressure to carry it. fan guns run optimally at lower temps and most have very little adjustibility air/water is for higher temps and have more adjustibility lower temps more water less air higher temps less water more air
I built a Snowmaker of my own I think you're idea is very creative but you're overthinking it, all you need is a air compressor and a pressure washer into a snow gun. But I like your thinking so far, keep it up and don't give up trying. I think you just need more pressure and maybe to do a different design like a air/water gun and you need a nucliation nozzle to put out a mix of compressed air and pressurized water to freeze and go into the bulk mist and stick together and create snow! keep up your creativity nice job!
Yes, as many have metioned, the key to snow making is a nucleator. Without it, all you have is a fancy skating rink flooder. Its easy enough to make a nucleator nozzle, but you are going to need an air compressor, and not just any old compressor. You need one that can run full time aka 100% duty cycle.
Man, making snow!! Building a machine like that takes a lot of snow making knowledgeable.
As I type, my yard is turning white from the system I built.
Your system is on the right track.
But you need to have a water pump that will really move the water at a high rate of speed. Like a pressure washer.
The blowing machine, once. I used a 15 gallon drum, a squirrel fan, Polly and spray nozzles from a car wash. And then I use an air compressor and a pressure washer to move my water a lot quicker, to break the water down in the snow when it left the end of the machine.
Through a block of dry ice in the coil it hook up a glycol chiller
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great !
2 tips #1 get a damn pressure washer run the water line from the pressure washer to your little nozzles!
#2 get a damn air compressor! Buy some fittings
Love this! I would recommend getting a stronger pump to have finer mist, or you could also just run it from a hose instead because you can now make unlimited snow and finer mist. I have made a snow gun and I used brass 3/8 which was big enough to not freeze. Lastly, use compressed air instead of a fan, you need a nucleator to make snow which utilizes compressed air. Here is a link to some snow gun plans which also describes the process of making snow: www.snowathome.com/free_plans/SAH-SG2-combo_internal_mix.php
Hope this helps!
Thanks for the ideas for improvements and link to plans. Maybe I'll have to try to setup an upgraded version this winter.