I have a very large area that I blow the leaves into the woods and it turns into a big time suck and chore in the fall with the insane amount of leaves I get, so I broke down and finally bought this Buffalo turbine PTO blower for my tractor, saving loads of hours compared to using my backpack blowers.. so far, I’m really pleased. Before… After…
Nice toy! I use a Toro plug-in blower. It's sufficient for what I ask of it. It also converts to a be able to mulch into a collection bag.
Had to look it up 12,000 CFM, that’s bonkers. Apparently they are popular for cleaning out chicken barns. I have a handheld that blows 400ish CFM. Very cool, the blower nozzle is controllable too.
Pretty cool toy, er, tool...Ventrac has one like that, it mounts on the front though...in the local parade they always have one with the nozzle pointed straight up and a basketball floating in the vortex, kinda cool. I am fortunate in that I can borrow the neighbors Hustler with bac vac leaf system whenever I want it...my many leaves blow over to him if I don't get them, so he is more eager to give it to me to use than I am to get it! He even provides the fuel! It's nice because it has a 72" deck and can mulch before sucking up...that really reduces the volume, and actually saves time in the long run too...plus it can go on the flower beds/etc, makes cheap mulch. Not my pic...
I figure it will save me about 20 hours a year in backpack fall leaf blowing, which I really appreciate. I still need to use the backpack blower as there’s areas that the turbine can’t get to like a backpack. It will make life easier around here for sure. I built the storage cart the other day, to be able to easily move and store it in the garage as well as position it to install and uninstall it on the tractor. yep 12,000 cfm… blows deep leaves 30 to 40 feet easily… Buffalo makes the turbine blowers for a number of other companies including Ventrac and has been doing so for many years. Good video on YouTube here…his property is very similar to what I’m doing, I just have more of it to do.
That's awesome! Nice to save a stack of time too. Ive been mowing mine in....takes a little more time mowing, but saves much more time from raking, bagging or hauling. This is the third year ive enjoyed doing that. And most of the leaves come from neighbors trees..
Looks like a badass blower! I see a ton of commercial lawn guys using those stand on units like the Scag Windstorm and the Ferris units. The Buffalo Turbine style blowers are a step up from even those! I've used a few different methods over the years to do my leaves. Zero turn bagging system. This video was fun to make! Combination of zero turn and backpack This fall I bought a 8hp Little Wonder walk behind unit. Seems a little more powerful than the big 79cc backpack I have. Not nearly as nimble though. I'd love to make a leaf rake to mount on my zero turn to try and doze the leaves into piles for a waiting person with a blower. Something like this. I guess my next logical step is to mount my Little Wonder to a tractor 3 point hitch
little wonder vacuum here, sucks em up and shreds them fine. I fill the dump trailer and take them to the landscaping center .................
They're wildly popular on golf courses and even airports. They'll clear a fairway of light leaf cover, clippings etc. in minutes, and instantly clean off tee boxes, bunkers, greens, and cart paths. There are even bigger versions that'll make clearing a runway or track a "down 'n back" affair. The self-powered ones you'll see on golf courses are really simple to use, a wireless box to control the chute rotation/throttle and a single pin or ball hook-up to a golf cart. Doesn't tie up a tractor or a front mower for day to day use and is so quick to deploy, gets used daily for smaller clean-up jobs that have to happen fast. For their output, the turbine blowers are quiet too. Combined with how fast they get the job done due to the raw power on tap, this thing is the stealth bomber of debris blowers.
It does indeed resemble a turboshaft engine in "reverse" just optimized for air volume instead of pressure across the turbine stages. And unfortunately, we do the whole fire thingy in some kind of stone-age reciprocating piston engine, but that has it's charms too I guess.
