Nozzles

It's that time of year again. People are starting to build their snowmakers for this winter from our snowmaking plans found on our products page and also in our snowmaking guide (also found on the products page).

The last few weeks we have been receiving several calls and emails regarding which nozzles to use. Ultimately it comes down to which snowmaker you are building.

If you are making the design that uses a garden hose and an air compressor to make snow, you have two options. First you can buy a custom stainless steel snowmaking nozzle from us on the Parts and Accessories page. This nozzle ($15) sprays out the mixed air and water (nuc) in a 40º spray pattern. This helps spread the coverage over a larger area. The nozzle also eliminates the sputtering that arises out of a homemade nozzle for this snowmaker design.

If you rather construct your own nozzle out of a pipe cap for this design you must have the CORRECT size hole drilled in the cap, or you won't make snow. The best thing to do is purchase several pipe caps and experiment which size hole works best for your compressor. Remember this design calls for matching your air pressure to your water pressure. If you water pressure is 60 PSI, your air pressure should be 60 PSI also. This means your compressor MUST be able to maintain 60 PSI of air in the tank. If not, the hole you drilled is too big and once the pressure drops below the water pressure you will no longer make snow, and could cause the water to over power the air, causing back flow to your compressor.

If you’re making a homemade nozzle from a pipe cap here are the recommended sizes to use based on your compressors CFM:

4CFM@90PSI- single 1-16" hole drilled in center of pipe cap

6CFM@90PSI- single 3/32" hold drilled in center of pipe cap

10CFM+@90PSI- single 7/64" hole drilled in center of pipe cap

OVER 20CFM@90PSI- single 1/8" hole drilled in center of pipe cap

Some people find it best to use two small holes drilled in the pipe cap. Again, the best thing to do is experiment with which size hole works best with your compressor. What might work for your compressor might not work on someone else’s. We personally find it best to use a single hole drilled in the center of the cap.

Make sure that when you run the snowgun with both air and water, both air and water come out of the nozzle. If not the hole is too small, or your air/water is over powering the other.

For the design that uses a pressure washer you MUST purchase the nozzle kit ($25) from us. You cannot make these nozzles at home and cannot find them in stores. The high pressure water needs the special nozzles to properly atomize the water into smaller droplets. If you try and make nozzles for the pressure washer design out of strictly pipe caps, you will only make ice. You can however use a pipe cap for the bottom nozzle (nucleation nozzle) instead of the special nozzle in the nozzle kit. We don't recommend it because a better nozzle comes in the nozzle kit. If you rather use a pipe cap, you can find the size hole to drill in the pipe cap above.

NOTE: If you purchase one of our kits, the special nozzles are included. This is just to help those people who are making their own snowmaker based on the plans found on our site and in our snowmaking guide.

To order nozzles from us go to the Parts and Accessories page on our site. To order snowmaking kits, plans, or the snowmaking guide, visit our Products page.

http://www.snowstormsnowmaking.com/

Snowmaking and Droughts

We know that every customer that orders from us enjoys snow, so much that they even have to make it themselves when Mother Nature lacks. One of the main requirements for making snow is water. Whether you are using a pressure washer or garden hose to make snow, you will be using lots of water to make snow.

For several areas of the United States rain was lacking in several areas this year. This has since caused droughts throughout the country and in some locations restrictions on water use.

SnowStorm Snowmaking highly encourages its customers living in a drought area to be cautious in making snow this winter. If your area is under a drought watch or warning we recommend not making snow at all to conserve water. If you decide to still make snow and you are in a dry location from the lack of rainfall, we recommend making sure there are no restrictions on water use before you make snow.

We also encourage customers to refrain from making snow if they know the weather will be warming up right after they make snow. If the weather gets warm it will melt your snow and waste all the water you used. Although this water will eventually trickle back down into the water table, it will take awhile. Some of melted snow will also evaporate and may not return as precipitation in your area.

We appreciate your effort in helping conserve water if your area is under a drought watch or warning this winter.

http://www.snowstormsnowmaking.com/

Summer is almost over!

As summer begins to wind down now is the time to start preparing for winter and most importantly, making snow in your backyard!

As the hot days of summer slowly change into fall, winter will be here before you know it. Some people will be fortunate enough to begin making snow as early as late September and early October.

Here are some tips to prepare for making snow:

Make sure all of your equipment is working properly
If you made your own snowmaker, check and make sure that there are no leaks coming from the snowgun
Inspect hoses and replace them if they are worn or damaged
Check and make sure your water spigot is working properly

Remember it is always better to discover a problem early and fix it, then to find out about it the night you can make snow!

When you finally get to make snow this season be sure to send us your pictures so we can post them here on our blog and also our website. Send these pictures to contact@snowstormsnowmaking.com or mail them to us.

http://www.snowstormsnowmaking.com/

Snowmaking Guide

A few weeks ago SnowStorm Snowmaking released our newest item, our home snowmaking guide. The guide in addition to providing information on making snow also includes our plans so you can make your own snowmaker out of common plumbing fittings.

The guide is 16 pages in length and covers the following topics:

Buying an air compressor
Buying a pressure washer
Weather and snowmaking
Types of snowguns
Common plumbing fittings used in making a homemade snowmaker (from our plans)
Snowmaking nozzles (both homemade and custom snowmaking nozzles)
Plans to build a snowmaker that runs off an air compressor and garden hose
Plans to build a snowmaker that runs off an air compressor and pressure washer
Tips for making snow
An overview of SnowStorm Snowmaking's products

The guide can be emailed to you and be opened with Microsoft Word or another similar word processing program.

The price for the guide is $14.99 and can be found on our products page.

http://www.snowstormsnowmaking.com/