Commercial Snow Blowers

What is a choke used for on a gas snowblower?

Im new to using a snowblower so i wanted to know what is a choke used for and how would i know how to adjust it?

Public Comments

1. When the motor is cold, the choke helps it to start. It works by closing down the air intake so the fuel mixture is richer, meaning it has more gas per unit air. Generally, you would put the choke on full to start a cold motor on a cold day. With some motors you would turn the choke off as soon as the motor starts but with others you gradually decrease the amount of choke as the motor warms up. Whatever keeps it running smoothly is right. You don't want to have any choke on after the motor is warm - if you do it won't run smoothly and will use more fuel than necessary. Too much choke can cause flooding. I remember when cars had manual chokes!
2. kanax's answer is dead on in my book, if it's a relatively new snow blower you should only need the choke for start and warmup times, I have a tiller, chain saws, and mowers that operate the same. Hey, kanax, I also had a 78 and 79 trans am s in high school, definitely some manual choke action there, ha ha