Snowmaking
Making Snow | Styles Of Making Snow | Weather | Water | Air | Computers | Power | Cost | Future | Snowmaking Homepage
There are three different styles of snowmaking guns that PATS PEAK uses:
Air/Water Guns:
The air/water guns are mobile ground guns. They are small and can be carried by hand to areas that are hard to reach (i.e. Hurricane run out is too narrow for tower guns). They are conventional air water guns where two hoses connect to the piping network and bring together a stream of high-pressure water and a stream of high-pressure air – internally – in a mixing chamber. The water is atomized by the air stream and is blasted into the atmosphere using the energy of both the compressed air and pressurized water to propel snow out of the gun.
They use much less water then the HKDs, thus the reason they make less snow. Mobile guns are loud due to the fact that they use about 5 times the amount of air. The high volume of air causes the water particles to freeze faster and increases the drop time thus creating beautiful little piles of snow. These mobile guns can make snow at warmer temperatures, about 26 degrees and above. They require constant adjustments to the water to change the air/water ratio to make the perfect snow. As temps/humidity rise and fall, so will the ratio adjustments to the water. Unlike tower guns that require no adjustments, you must baby-sit these small guns all night long. At warmer temperatures these are the preferred guns as they make a higher quality snow. They do however require a lot more horsepower to operate Air compressors are rated in CFM, which are Cubic Feet per Minute. A general rule of thumb is that 1HP = 4 CFM. If an air water gun is using 400 CFM of air then it’s also using 100 HP worth of air compressors to make snow.
HKD Tower Gun:
Stick or Tower Guns: These fixed guns are tall tower guns or HKD’s guns. This method uses a long aluminum neck where two hoses connect to the piping network and bring together at the gun a stream of high pressure water and a stream of high pressure air – externally – outside of the snow gun. .
The water is atomized by the air stream and is blasted into the atmosphere using the energy of both the compressed air and pressurized water to propel it out of the gun. The towers or HKD’s are spaced approximately 85 feet apart. HKDs can make massive amounts of snow in just one night. They can be turned on at 26 degrees with the right conditions such as humidity. The ideal temperature for these guns to run is between 10 and 15 degrees with little or no wind and low humidity. With the right conditions, you can make a pile of snow 18 feet high in just one night. This type of gun uses approximately 25 HP worth of air compressors or 100 CFM. They are more energy efficient then air/water guns but can only make snow when it is colder.
Fan Guns:
A third way to make snow is with "fan" guns. Fan guns are great for different reason. It is basically a HUGE house fan that blows the water particles into the air, which gives them enough lift to fall slowly to the ground and freeze on the way making snow. These guns can also make snow at warmer temperatures, the colder it gets, the more water they use. On a very cold night 5 to 10 degrees these fan guns can make MASSIVE amounts of snow. With this pleasure comes a price though, they are very expensive and they are very fixed, meaning wherever we put them, they stay.
The "fan" gun consists of a large electric motor (15-25 HP) which drives a fan pushing an air stream in a large metal tube about 3 feet long and 2 feet in diameter. Small water particles are fed into the air stream by nozzles around the outlet rim of the tube. The air stream carries them out 50 to 150 feet onto the trail, which freeze into snow particles before they land. A disadvantage of these guns is that they are hard to move around and cost.
The ski area has placed many of its snowmaking guns on fixed towers to lift them a few feet off the ground. This will give the water particles more "hang time" in the air to freeze, thereby producing more snow by allowing more water to be added to the air-water mixture.
Aside from the type of gun a ski area uses there are other variables that also come into play when making snow. In order of importance they are: Weather, Water, Air, Computers, Power, and last Money.
