in the past used to start up the snow blower in october to make sure it was ready to go just in case the snow storm came...then thru the years, just assumed it would fire right up and would leave it tucked where it is stored in the garage...then a few years back had a major storm come thru...couple of feet of snow and took forever for the machine to start...probably forgot to treat the gas before storing it...finally started but remembered how I worried it wasn't going to start and I was going to get stuck shoveling ...finally started and after that, just dumped all the gas out before I store it for the season...now I still worry every time I use it for the first time I say a prayer to please start with no BS, put in fresh gas, hit the start button and luckily my prayers are answered. Did notice a new spark plug might be in order.