Lots of hours, and very little sleep. That’s how people who fix our snowblowers describe their January — one of the snowiest in years.
Snowblowers across the Lehigh Valley have been working overtime this winter, and so are the people who fix them.
“This is the busiest we’ve been since we started in 2013,” said Dan Froehlich, the owner of Froehlich’s Repair Center in Hellertown.
Froehlich says calls started coming in like snowflakes last Monday, straight through the storm on Sunday.
“We finished between Monday and Saturday, about 62 snowblowers, and we had them all back before the storm,” Froehlich said.
Nate Boslet says he feels like he hasn’t left the basement of Cantelmi Hardware Store since the fall. He’s working on ten snowblowers and sees one mistake people make over and over.
“Almost every tool that gets left with gas in it from years or the year before, that will have trouble starting,” said Boslet.
Third-Generation Hardware Store owner Rick Cantelmi says the snow we’re piling up right now, could lead to more breakdowns.
“What’s happening in the last couple days is the snow is starting to get hard-packed now on the top and it’s starting to be more difficult for the snowblowers to cut through it. Initially this was a perfect snow for snowblowers. But it’s getting pretty stiff right now out there,” Cantelmi said.
Both repair shops agree that about 80 percent of their repairs are carburetors, where the gas has been sitting too long. The rest are broken belts or pins.
Rick Cantelmi says battery powered snow blowers are great if you just have one driveway.