salt/sand spreader woes

nwcove

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May 16, 2011
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brand new electric salt/sand spreader issues.....beeps trouble codes and shuts down. first code is for empty hopper.....i know whats happening there....the sand is wet and bridging above the conveyor, the next code is more worrysome.....spinner over current. could it be the sand/salt mix is just to heavy/wet? the unit was installed by a dealer. i did try multiple combinations of spinner speed vs conveyor speed and it seemed to run longer with both at max. any thoughts from the snow plow group?
 

MTboatguy

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Jul 8, 2010
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If the dealer is close, I would be taking it back to them and have them go through the system, if it is running over voltage, then they have tapped the wrong power feed off the engine. Now I have had a spreader for a few years now, and I won't run sand in it, it gets to wet for any of the home owner spreaders out there, I run salt in mine, and I keep it covered before I load the hopper and then the first thing I do, is put the cover on the hopper before I start salting. After all I have been through with my set up, I am ready to buy a commercial unit, that sits on the truck, like the road dept has on their equipment.
 

Bob_VT

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I have had fisher spreaders in that past and they are actually great people to deal over the phone. I am jealous of that poly spreader.

I gave up on spreaders and now only place crushed stone in my plow truck for weight. I try to avoid salt/sand mixes in the truck. I do not do enough to justify a large sander anymore.
 

MTboatguy

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here is the unit in question, nothing like the road crews use here, but its supposed to be contractor gear. http://www.fisherplows.com/fe/showroom/poly-caster

Those are actually pretty highly rated spreaders, so I suspect something was hooked up incorrectly, or perhaps it has a bad motor in it that is causing the over current situation, so I would make sure and call Fisher to see what they suggest.

I am thinking about going bigger because I do have so much to plow, with my neighbor getting hurt this last August, my load has increased a bunch, in fact I have been looking at retired county plow dump truck set ups, Besides being very heavy duty, I can also lease my services to the county and get a good chunk of change over the winter, which would pay the set up off pretty quickly.
 

nwcove

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i may have to bypass the dealer and talk to fisher directly for help....the unit is guaranteed for two seasons and we havent even started winter here yet. as far as going full on contracting with the winter thing, ive thought about it long and hard.....but seeing what has happened to guys that jumped in with purchasing gear based on "last winter".....i personally wont go there! ya can go from hero to zero with one simple breakdown at the wrong time.
 

MTboatguy

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I have lived in my place going on 20 years now and have never had a winter, that I didn't need to plow, it is a given, that we will have snow every single year and living beyond the county maintained road, we still have to take care of our own road, so investment or convenience, it works out for me! As far as hero to zero, for me, it makes no difference, leasing out would be a plus, not a requirement for me.
 
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