Fixing the Snowman Evaporative Snow Machine

Here in Southern California if your not in the high mountains you don’t get snow for Christmas.  So when ‘Snowmasters’ aka ‘Global Special Effects’ came out with “The Snowman” evaporative snow Machine my mom quickly swooped one up.  It was great to see kids watch as the Snowman blew snow And every year people would come to see the Snowman make snow it was well worth her investment. 

This year I got my mom's old Snowman out and it wouldn’t start.  So I checked and found the fuse had blown it takes a 10A fuse you can pick some up at Radio Shack for less than $4.  But the troubles weren’t over.  As soon as we fired him up it wouldn’t blow any snow though the air pump was working.  A quick look up the back revealed that the thin flexible plastic hose had broken in two places rendering the snowman inoperative.

So I got to work to figure out what I could do to fix my Mom's Snowman and save Christmas.

Here is a step by step instructions on How to fix your “ The Snowman” or your “Amazing Snowman” for just a few buck in parts from your Home Depot.

Tools needed:

Phillips screwdrivers
A hot glue gun and glue sticks
Miter box and saw (hack saw)
7 inches of 1/4 inch thick and ½ inch wide foam insulation tape
Sharpe Marker

Replacement parts:

2 feet of 1½ inch Flex Pipe used for bilge pumps
6 - 1½ inch hose clamps
3 - 1 inch PVC elbows

Pull back the sweater and white felt cloth cover from the back half of your Snowman.  Using the phillips screwdriver remove the screws to separate the back half from the front half. 

Once separated you can easily pull the broken hose off the exit port and using a small phillips screwdriver remove the 3 screws mounting the broken hose to the air pump outlet.

Right away you will notice that the air pump outlet is smaller that the exit port of the snow man.  It is not a problem I used a 7 inch piece of foam insulation tape to encircle the air pump outlet to make it large enough for the 1 ½ inch flex pipe to slip over and fit snug.

Measure and cut a 3 inch piece of flex hose to fit the external exit port of your Snowman. This hose can be cut using a miter saw as pictured or a hacksaw.  Slip on and slide in one of the elbows and line it up parallel to your Snowman’s inner body.

Cut another piece of flex hose about 5 inches in length and attach to the elbow go up towards the head.  Insert another elbow.

Cut another piece about 6 inches to fit over the air pump outlet that you put the Foam insulation tape around and tighten a clap to hold it in place

Then Cut your final piece of flex hose about 4 inches to connect the hoses all together.  And tighten down all the clamps. (Though I have three clamps shown, three more were added later as I was out of stock in my mom's garage).

Reassemble your Snowman.  Hot glue the clothing back in place and test.

Christmas was saved as my mom's Snowman once again was blowing snow for all the little kids to play and watch.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!!