A little more than a year ago I caught the snow making bug. My first snow maker was "tee" gun spitting device I built with 1/2" pipe fittings I already had on hand. Thinking the velocity was too slow through the 1/2" pipe I miniaturized by building a brass "Tee" gun using 1/8" fittings. It made as little snow as the previous version but was a little easier to operate. The next change was to remove the pipe between the T and the nozzle. This made a huge improvement in reduced spitting.

It makes me wonder why the extra pipe was ever used! The longer pipes allow water time to travel to the bottom of the pipe and turn into waves that wash over the nozzle opening causing "spit". Anyway, I removed this extra piece of pipe by my fourth snowmaking night and it is all part of learning.

By the end of last year's winter season I built a third snow gun out of 1/4" brass and this is now my preferred size to play with. I replaced the round hole nozzle with a 30 degree flat spray nozzle (Bete 1530 I think). The nozzle change reduced spitting even further to the point where it is rather hard to distinguish the transition from wet to water.

Not having a pressure washer or pressure boosting pump I looked for other ways to make more snow than a standard "t" gun (Our city water pressure measures 52 PSI at the faucet). My solution was to mount Hago misting nozzles above the nucleate stream from the "t" gun. The various misting nozzles that seemed to work well were the M3, M4, and M5 sizes. The M10 droplet size is boarderline too big and the smaller nozzles do not add enough water flow to justify the addition. Using a flowmeter and Bete NF3050 for the "t" gun nozzle I was able to measure 54 GPH or .9 GPM.

I know .9 GPM is not huge but for a low pressure contraption it shure beats staying outside for hours just to turn a small patch of ground white.

Perhaps I will add a picture and build details for others interested in this snow maker and post it in the beginner or advanced section.

Thanks for the site for us snowheads to hang out!

Welcome back.

You could most liekly get the best feedback under the Other/Experimental Guns section of the forum.

Several people are working on low pressure guns there and getting good results.

Just joined last night and all I can say is Wow!
What a wealth of information and resources!
Building a system to get my Winter started right now instead of waiting for natural. My kids deserve more outside snow time than what we've had already earlier in the year.
Found the power source for my rope tow for our 'sports hill' out in the barn today and am ordering pieces and parts to assemble a SM system this week. Can't wait to report in!

Now you have done it, there's NO turning back now
Welcome Brant

quote:

Originally posted by Brant S. Fagan:
Just joined last night and all I can say is Wow!
What a wealth of information and resources!
Building a system to get my Winter started right now instead of waiting for natural. My kids deserve more outside snow time than what we've had already earlier in the year.
Found the power source for my rope tow for our 'sports hill' out in the barn today and am ordering pieces and parts to assemble a SM system this week. Can't wait to report in!

quote:

Originally posted by Brant S. Fagan:
Just joined last night and all I can say is Wow!
What a wealth of information and resources!
Building a system to get my Winter started right now instead of waiting for natural. My kids deserve more outside snow time than what we've had already earlier in the year.
Found the power source for my rope tow for our 'sports hill' out in the barn today and am ordering pieces and parts to assemble a SM system this week. Can't wait to report in!

Welcome to the addiction that is snowmaking, we look forward to seeing what you come up with

Hi Brant,

Welcome! Don't skimp on your air hose! Larger (diameter) is better.

OK, read about that as well. What do you use and recommend? I have a good collection of 3/8" hose from my house/ barn restoration project and small machine shop.

Here's a look at how we like to party out back at my NH place....Note start ramp with grill service!

Your 3/8" air hose is nfg if your running more than 10-25', freeze ups will accure at the connections to the gun. Your better off using 1" rubber garden hose w/ fittings to fit your gun & comp

quote:

Originally posted by Brant S. Fagan:
OK, read about that as well. What do you use and recommend? I have a good collection of 3/8" hose from my house/ barn restoration project and small machine shop.

quote:

OK, read about that as well. What do you use and recommend? I have a good collection of 3/8" hose from my house/ barn restoration project and small machine shop.

Last winter I was playing with Tee guns. My compressor was in my basement and I was using 3/8" air hose. My freezing occured where the hose exited the house and hit the cold air. I could extend my run time by keeping the coil of excess hose inside and pull out an extra foot every 30 minutes or so. That worked as long as I had hose left to pull out! Since I only ran for up to 4 hours at a time it was (barely) ok. This year I started with 5/8 garden hose. It works ok as long as you make sure to thaw and remove all the water before starting up again. My latest run was running my new compressor outside and using a short 10' 3/8" hose to my snow maker. I didn't see any frost inside after running for five hours.

You may want to slide a piece of armaflex insulation over the couplings. It keeps the metal a bit warmer and helps to avoid freeze ups.

So what you guys are saying is that I have to make adapters that attach my compressor 'air output' fitting to 'garden hose' fitting and that's the fitting to use on the gun input, right?

Are there other fittings that you have tried and approved? Threads and ice just don't seem to make sense to me.

I used the brass garden hose to 1/4 NPT rigid adapter from McMaster Carr. The catalog number is 73605T59 and they come in packs of two. A standard air hose quick connect with 1/4 female threads attaches to the adapter. You can leave the adapter assembly attached to your garden hose and use your garden hose just like you have been using your air line.
I don't use quick connects at my snow maker because they freeze too easily. Presumably your equipment is stored in a warm place after each use to allow frost, ice, and water to exit your equipment befor the next snowmaking session so I have not had any problems with ice and threads.

OK. Went out and got this off CL and now need to plumb those hoses into my air system.

Anyone know what the threads are on 1" fire hose? We talking 1" NPT here or something special for fire fighting gear?

I guess Cam Locks from FloPro are in order but need to know what thread to work with.