OT: Petrol Leaf blower recommendation

[Colin]

Hi,

Any one got any recommendations as to what to look out for when buying a petrol leaf blower. Any suggestions as to make or model?

TIA Colin

[Bob]

Yeah, leave it in the shop and spend your money on a rake, or something else that won't annoy everyone living within 200yds everytime you use it.

Bob

[Colin]

I am not sure how it is going to help me if I leave it in the shop? The only people within 200yds are buried in the graveyard. They have never complained about the noise before... I don't fancy asking them either ;-)

Colin

[Bob]

Well if you're miles from anyone, I don't suppose it will hurt (although the wildlife might want to move somewhere else!) I just don't want to see these things becoming popular in this country, because I remember what it was like in Los Angeles with the damn things buzzing away all the time (in fact, people got so fed up, the city banned them!)

Unlike petrol mowers, leaf blowers run at quite high revs, and are a hell of a lot louder. You'd be well advised to wear ear protection if using one. Most that I've seen in action also produce a nice cloud of blue smoke.

Bob

[TonyK]

I bought a cheapie from Focus (spit!!) on a whim (I have a 100m of drive with 5 acres of surrounding decidious (sp!) woods to clear).

So far,so good. The vacuum is a waste of time and it won't blow leaves when they're 4 foot deep but thats to be expected :-)

Tony

[Tim (Remove NOSPAM.]

Stihl LG 85. Or you can buy the 55 model abit cheaper and remove the restrictor nozzle in the exhaust for 85 performance. Have a look at it in the shop and you'll see what I mean.

Don't bother with the cheap ones.

Oh and they're all useless in hoover mode.

Tim..

[The Natural Philosopher]

Burglar proof shed :-(

[geoff]

In message , Colin writes

Yeah forget it

saturday you blow the leaves away, Sunday your neighbour blows them back, monday you blow them back again, tuesday, the wind evenly distributes the leaves between you and your neighbour

You're not actually getting rid of a problem, just moving it around

[geoff]

In message , TonyK writes

As one would expect, vacuums aren't well known for being good at blowing

[The Natural Philosopher]

Just wit for the worms to eat them, or gales to blow them into London.

[Ian Stirling]

All you need to do is to add a small petrol feed into the airstream, and you can get rid of those pesky leaves much faster.

[Paul Mc Cann]

We had one but gave up on it and got a wheeled petrol engined vacuum cleaner instead. It does a wonderful job of gathering up all the leaves in the autumn even if they are damp.

This time of the year when the birds are rifling the bark chips and scattering them over the tarmac on the drive it is also handy for collecting it up before re-applying it.

Paul Mc Cann

[Colin]

I was going to use it for clearing up the tarmac drive (leaves and loose gravel).

I borrowed an electric one a few weeks ago and it worked a treat.

Would a petrol blower be as powerful?

Colin

[PJ]

Don't be silly. The idea is that you blow then all into one place (e.g. a corner) and pick them up. Yes, they are well worth it. I have a Ryobi one bought three yrs ago and it works fine. Forget using them in suction mode though because they're crap at that. I actually chucked the tubes and bag and just use the motor head as a blower. It probably saves me two hours work each time i clean up leaves. Great for getting leaves from around rockeries, bushes etc.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Blimey. Er Indoors uses a 15 quid leaf rake for that.

>

[Colin Brook]

In message on Thu, 1 Apr

2004, Bob wrote

As I understand it, they are banned in many areas of the USA now because of the overall environmental dis-benefit they provide.

Colin

[Chris Selwyn-Smith]

The Natural Philosopher wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@b.c:

The one I use is a stihl and I can't recomend it highly enough the big thing I find with a blower is that it must start really easily as you will be doing this all the time and a reluctant starter is a real pain.

I use mine in my job as a gardener and is a handheld model rather than the backpack type though one of those would be really nice.

I hardly use a broom these days. you have to treat blowing leaves in the same way as hearding sheep, given the oppurtunity they will break free so you need to heard them into an appropriate corner and the gather them up in a bag /barrow .

The vacume attachment in my opinion is not worth bothering with the changing from blower to vacuume is much to fiddly and in my experience clogs up all the time.

I have had a Weed Eater and a Ryobi in my time the weed eater was OK but the ryobi eat ate its reed valve and self destructed fortunatly while under warrenty but was never the same again.

Chris

[Tim (Remove NOSPAM.]

Errr no, the idea is you blow afew leaves to a point in the garden where u can safely light a fire with them. Then as its burning you blow more leaves to it and they burn. If its abit damp- the blower makes a *very* good bellows! lol.

Tim..

[Huge]

Jesus. What a waste.

[Colin]

[Strikes me that this group is divided between those who have lots of trees and those who don't...]

Has anyone tried the blower in screwfix (£100)?

Colin