Menu
Free Shipping | Fast Delivery | 30 Day Returns ON ALL Snow Guns!
Free Shipping | Fast Delivery | 30 Day Returns ON ALL Snow Guns!
Residential snowmaking can be accomplished by replicating the way snow is formed naturally in the atmosphere.
Using a pressure washer, air compressor, and a home snowmaking machine, you can form the proper water droplets that will freeze to form snow.
Although DIY solutions and other home snowmakers exist, a professionally engineered snow gun is more efficient at creating real snow.
Real snowflakes form naturally far above the ground in nature.
When cold water droplets collide with tiny dust particles in the atmosphere, they freeze onto the dust particles in a process called “nucleation”.
The small dust particles act as “nucleation seeds” for these larger droplets.
As the water droplets freeze and fall, they collide with other similar water droplets that freeze onto each other.
By the time the droplets freeze -attach to other droplets- and fall to the ground, you have what we all know as a “snowflake”.
We’ll call this natural occurrence the “nature scenario”. (stick with us here!)
In order to make real snow on our own, we need to use some equipment (and some help from mother nature) to replicate this process close to the ground. There are 3 main items we use to make real snow:
Along with these items, freezing temperatures are essential to making real snow! To make real snowflakes, you’ll need cold temperatures for water droplets to freeze.
The snow gun has 2 main parts.
We’ll call the upper part the “main water spray” and the bottom part the “nucleation spray”.
The main water spray is where most of the water droplets exit the snow gun.
These can be thought of as the water droplets that would be floating around in the air in our “nature scenario”.
These water droplets exit the top nozzles and shoot outwards into the air.
The bottom “nucleation spray” is made up of teeny tiny ice crystals that act as our “nucleation seeds” from the “nature scenario”. These small ice crystals shoot out of the bottom part of the snow gun towards the top main water spray.
As the nucleation spray collides with the main water spray, the same process of “nucleation” occurs, and snowflakes are formed.
Although this happens in a much quicker time period, and closer to the ground, the process is the same and snow is created!
Engineering is important in this process!
Just like in nature, you can have snow, rain, slush, and ice.
If you don’t have nucleation seeds, then water and ice will form instead of snow.
Trust us… we’ve made plenty of ice and slush throughout the years!
Backyard Snowstorm has created an efficient and easy way to use residential snowmakers.
Here are some advantages of Backyard Snowstorm snow guns:
Backyard Snowstorm offers 3 sizes of snowmaking machines to fit the needs of the beginner, standard residential, or small commercial (or extreme home) snowmaker.
If you’re looking for a perfect beginner snow gun that works without a pressure washer, the Little Cloud Snow Gun is your best bet. This snow gun makes snow in a 5’ x 12’ area at a rate of 1”/hr.
The Forecaster Snow Gun is a proven weapon for all homeowners looking to pump out a large amount of snow. This snow gun is designed to work will all pressure washers (or multiple pressure washers) rated from 1 – 6 GPM of water flow. Area coverage for the Forecaster is 15’ x 35’ with a rate of 1-6″/hr (depending on the flow rate).
CAUTION! The Cold Front Snow Gun is only for the extreme homeowner or small commercial snowmaker. This gun is designed to make mountains of snow with a water capacity up to 10 GPM. At full capacity, this snow gun can make nearly 1ft/hr in a 20 ‘ x 70’ area.
In conclusion, residential snowmaking can be accomplished by replicating the way snow is formed naturally in the atmosphere.
Using a pressure washer, air compressor, and a home snowmaking machine, you can form the proper water droplets that will freeze to form snow.
Although DIY solutions and other home snowmakers exist, a professionally engineered snow gun is more efficient at creating real snow.
With 3 options of residential snowmaking machines, Backyard Snowstorm has a snow gun to fit the needs of the beginner, standard residential, and small commercial snowmakers. Learn More HERE!
Our articles are written and reviewed by professional snowmaking engineers who have 20+ years of experience designing Snow Guns.
Our Purpose: We want those who are searching to understand Snowmaking to the best of their ability.
