Ducar Snow Blowers Canada

Ducar is the gas side of this store. Fourteen two stage machines from 21 to 42 inches, including tracked models and a stand on unit, at prices well below the brands you see on a big box floor. If you have a long driveway, gravel, or a plow ridge to fight, this is the range built for it.

Who a Ducar snow blower suits

Almost every Ducar snow blower is a gas two stage, which tells you most of what you need to know. A Ducar snow blower is for the driveway that defeats a light electric machine: long, unpaved, sloped, or sealed by the municipal plow after every storm.

Two stage means a separate auger and impeller, with the auger riding clear of the ground on adjustable skid shoes. That is what makes these machines safe on gravel, dirt and loose interlocking stone, where no single stage machine belongs. It is also what lets them take depth that would simply stop a lighter machine.

Gas means no runtime ceiling. Refuelling takes a minute and can be repeated all day, which matters when a storm needs two hours of clearing rather than twenty minutes. That is the one thing no battery platform can currently match, and it is why this range exists alongside the cordless machines.

If your driveway is short and paved, this is more machine than you need. Look at single stage or battery instead, and spend the difference on something else.

The Ducar snow blower range, by size

• 21 inch. The entry point, in both a 196 cc single stage and a 212 cc two stage. The smallest sensible gas machine for a two car driveway.
• 24 and 26 inch. 212 to 252 cc. The most common Canadian choice, balancing pass width against manoeuvrability.
• 28 and 30 inch. 252 to 302 cc. Three and four car driveways, and the point at which heated grips and electric start stop being luxuries.
• 34 inch. 375 to 420 cc, wheeled or tracked. Long driveways and heavy snowfall belts.
• 42 inch stand on. 420 cc, tracked. Acreage and commercial clearing.
• 32 inch brush and blower combination. A 212 cc two in one machine that sweeps as well as throws.

There is also a 40 inch attachment for a two wheel tractor, listed under tractor snow blowers for anyone who already owns the power unit.

Engines and what the cc figures mean

Displacement is a fair proxy for how hard a machine pushes before it bogs down in dense snow, and this range spans a wide spread of it.

Displacement is not the only number that matters. Impeller diameter drives throwing distance more directly than engine size does, and intake height decides how deep a bite you can take without stopping to clear the chute. Both figures appear on every listing here.

Note that one 21 inch machine in this range is single stage rather than two stage. It is the 196 cc model, and it is the only one that should not go near gravel. Everything else is two stage.

The tracked Ducar snow blower models

Four Ducar snow blower models run tracks rather than wheels, at 26, 30, 34 and 42 inches. Tracks change what a machine can do rather than simply improving it.

On a slope, tracks hold their grip where wheels spin. On gravel or dirt they float rather than dig. And when you push into a compacted plow ridge, tracks let you lean the machine into the work instead of watching the drive wheels spin uselessly on ice.

The cost is manoeuvrability. A tracked machine turns less willingly, so on a small flat paved pad it feels like hard work. Choose tracks for a sloped driveway, an unpaved surface, or genuinely deep accumulation. Choose wheels for a flat paved driveway of ordinary size. More on the trade in two stage snow blowers.

The 42 inch stand on machine

The largest Ducar snow blower is a different class of tool. A 42 inch tracked stand on unit with a 420 cc engine and 12V electric start, it is built for acreage, long rural laneways and commercial clearing rather than a residential driveway.

You ride it rather than walk behind it, which changes the arithmetic entirely on a large property. Clearing that would take an hour of walking behind a 28 inch machine becomes considerably faster and far less tiring. If you are clearing several properties, or a laneway measured in hundreds of metres, this is the machine that makes it practical.

It is genuinely overkill for a suburban driveway, and we would rather say so than sell you one.

Features that come as standard

What stands out across the Ducar snow blower range is how much is included at the price, rather than sold as an upgrade.

• Electric start on most models, alongside recoil as a backup. This removes the one part of gas ownership people genuinely dislike.
• Heated handgrips across most of the range. Transformative on a long driveway at minus twenty, and frequently a paid option elsewhere.
• LED lighting, which matters because most clearing in this country happens before dawn or after dark.
• Adjustable steel skid shoes, the parts that make gravel use possible and that protect the auger housing.
• Serrated augers on the two stage machines, which cut into crusted and refrozen snow rather than riding over it.

On a 28 inch or wider machine, one handed operation and a chute you can redirect without stopping matter more day to day than any headline specification, and both are standard here.

The value question, answered honestly

A Ducar snow blower costs noticeably less than an equivalent machine from a name you recognise from television advertising. That invites an obvious question, and it deserves a straight answer rather than marketing.

What you are not paying for is brand recognition and a dealer network. What you are getting is a conventional gas two stage machine built around a proven engine layout, with the features above included rather than upsold.

What to weigh against that. The brand is less well known in Canada, so resale is likely to be softer than for a heritage badge, and you will not find one on a big box floor to inspect before buying. The mitigation for both is parts, which is why we stock consumables for the range rather than selling machines and leaving you to find shear pins yourself in January. That is the check we tell every buyer to run, on any brand, in where to buy a snow blower in Canada.

If you want the reassurance of a dealer down the road and you are prepared to pay for it, a heritage brand from a local dealer is a legitimate choice. If you want the most machine for the money and you are comfortable doing basic maintenance yourself, this range is very hard to beat on capability per dollar.

Ducar snow blower maintenance and parts

A Ducar snow blower asks for a short seasonal routine, and skipping it is the reason most machines fail rather than any defect.

• Fresh fuel with stabiliser before summer storage. Petrol older than about 30 days varnishes and causes the overwhelming majority of no start calls every season.
• Annual oil change. Cheap, quick, and the single biggest factor in engine life. Note that gas machines almost never ship with oil in the engine, and starting one dry destroys it.
• Shear pins checked before every storm. They are designed to break and protect the gearbox, so keep spares on the shelf.
• Belts inspected annually. A worn auger belt is the usual reason a machine runs but stops throwing.
• Skid shoes adjusted for your surface, raised on gravel and lowered on pavement.

All of it is stocked in snow blower parts, and the repair guide covers the faults that actually occur. Small engine emissions and fuel standards in Canada are set out by Environment and Climate Change Canada and Natural Resources Canada, and clearing is best timed against ECCC forecasts so you work through a storm rather than after it.

Setting up a new machine for its first season

A Ducar snow blower arrives in a crate rather than ready to work, and the first hour decides how the next ten years go. This applies to any brand, but it is worth spelling out because the mistakes are consistent.

Add oil before the first start. Gas engines ship dry. Starting one without oil destroys it in minutes, and it is not a warranty claim, it is an owner error. Check the manual for the grade and quantity, and check the level on flat ground rather than on the driveway slope.

Fit the handles, assemble the chute and connect the control cables, then check that the auger and drive both engage and disengage cleanly before you need them. Adjust the skid shoes for your surface at this point rather than in the dark during the first storm: raised about a centimetre on gravel, lower on pavement.

Run the engine for a few minutes on fresh fuel and listen to it. A new machine that runs roughly on the driveway in October is a conversation with us in October, not an emergency in January. Buy shear pins and a spare belt at the same time as the machine, because they are inexpensive now and unobtainable during a storm.

Finally, note the model number somewhere you will find it again. Every parts search starts there, and every Ducar snow blower listing on this site carries it.

Common questions

Compare against the cordless ranges in Greenworks and Snow Joe, or browse everything in gas snow blowers.