Introduction

I love snow. I grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina, which typically gets snow once a year. When it snowed, it usually meant a day (or multiple) off of school and lots of fun outside. My dad would even cross country ski around the neighborhood, getting some weird looks in the process. We are supposed to get snow every year, but it doesn’t seem to happen that often anymore. Last year, I was fed up with our lack of snow and decided to take matters into my own hands.

Snowmaking

You might already have most of the stuff you need to make snow. All you need is an air compressor, pressure washer, pressure washer nozzles, and some basic pipe and fittings. You need a decent air compressor, (4+ SCFM @45psi). If you want to create a good amount of snow, you’ll also need a good pressure washer. The more GPM, the better. I had originally planned to use a free gas pressure washer from craigslist that started right up after I cleaned the carburetor, but it ended up having issues. Instead, I used our basic electric 1.1 GPM pressure washer, which worked alright.

The Build

There are several websites explaining how to build a basic snow gun online, so I won’t explain here. The site that I used was snsnowmaking.com. I got the pressure washer nozzles and odd bits from Amazon and Northern Tool. I got the piping at Home Depot.

Success

Last year, I got a nice dusting of snow. I tried it again this year, and it might have actually been too cold. The gun froze up at the air inlet, stopping nucleation, and creating ice, not snow. I hear online that this can be fixed by adding a heating element at the air inlet, so I might try this next year.