Leaf Blower engine seized

[Dean Hoffman]

Mazda has a new vehicle coming in a couple years.

You might run out of charge but won't have to hoof it.

[Dan Espen]

Right now, electric leaf blowers can't match the power you get from a 2 cycle blower. I have a lot of leaf producing trees and I normally use a high end back pack blower to deal with the leaves.

But this year I got a self propelled battery powered lawn mower. So far, instead of blowing the leaves I just run the mower over the leaves and they are gone. I'm not sure how much more leaf fall I'll be able to handle this way but it's definitely quicker to just run the mower. I'm able to do both the front and back on one charge.

I could always buy another battery if I had more lawn to mow and didn't want to wait.

[trader_4]

That's what I do too, insitu mulching. I probably can get rid of 25% of the total leaves that way, at the beginning and then at end by mowing while trimming the lawn. At least here I can blow them into the street where the township picks them up or into the woods. Some poor bastards in nearby towns have to put them in bags for pickup.

[invalid unparseable]

I preferred corded electric as they are more powerful than the battery types and you don't have to worry about burned out batteries. Also when I can use corded stuff in place of gasoline powered I do not have problems like op faced or having to change my clothes and shower after using the gasoline engine.

Years ago I bought a combo hedge clipper weed trimmer set for $100 with

2 batteries and charger. Great for small jobs. Then both batteries gave out, were no longer available, and I had to toss the lot.

[Clare Snyder]

My new Toro electric blower has more power than my old gas powered Baracuda blower ever had and it starts every time. I blew my leaves into a pile and fired up my old toro 194cc mower and chopped them all up. The pile started out about 15X7 feet and a good foot high and they were not dry. Made the mower work, but that looked after the maple leaves in the back yard.(chopped up to about 1/4" square chunks) In the front yard I just blew the smaller amount of maple leaves and all the honey locust leaves and "strings" out onto the street for municipal leaf pickup because the locust doesn't compost down well and the "strings"are a royal pain to rake and don't mulch. When the red maple drops the rest I'll mulch them too, and hopefully the boulevard maples down the side drop before we get snowed under so I can look after them too. They are still green and hardly starting to drop yet - the back sugar maple has dropped almost all it's gold coloured leaves,andthe front Crimson King has dropped better than half.

[gfretwell]

I have a 12 amp corded plower that gets the stuff moving and I don't have the charge problem. OTOH I also have power everywhere so I am not dragging a 100' cord around.

It might not be practical in your "one" NEC required receptacle (until recently) was in the back. ;)

[Ralph Mowery]

I have an electric pole saw. Chain saw on a stick. If I run out of my

100 foot dropcord, I have one of the harbor freight small generators , think it may be a 700 watt unit. That thing is hard to start,but a shot of starting fluid (either ? ) will get it goin on one or two pulls. Not too heavy to carry to where I want the power. I sometimes put it in a small cart so I can move the saw and generator at the same time to where I want them.

[gfretwell]

I have a bunch of live oaks that drop stuff all the time. I blow it into a pile in the yard and run over it with the lawn mower a few times. They get recycled into the soil.

[Tekkie©]

On Sun, 18 Oct 2020 23:04:11 -0400, Clare Snyder posted for all of us to digest...

To the OP "J" I would have to agree with Clare's post. By the time you figure it out by yourself or others and get parts $$$ it is mostly likely *junk*. Sorry to say. I am even slower than you and have done similar "life lessons". You might be at the stage of life (I am) to have a landscaper do it. I have found it to be cheaper. No buying mowers or other equipment on a 3 year cycle, etc. Plus I couldn't do it if I wanted to. Ah, the smell of fresh cut grass every other Monday.

[Clare Snyder]

Still using my Yazoo Pro built in 1961 (or most of it, anyway - replaced the original Briggs and Straton engine with a Chonda about 8 years ago and rebuilt the deck with a sheet of stainless steel countertop) I picked up a little Toro on the curb a few years ago that I use in the fall to mulch leaves (Mid eighties)

[Tekkie©]

On Tue, 20 Oct 2020 07:08:41 -0700 (PDT), J posted for all of us to digest...

on a charge (and not much less in the winter) - and that number seems more accurate (based on estimated mileage and charge remaining - I've never run it out of charge or below about 1/4 charge). Right now it seems a lot more expensive for an electric leaf blower that would require several charges to do our yard - and unlike a gas blower that you can refill in a minute, recharging the electric will take a while. But I look forward to the near future where electric is the standard for this tool. It's tough (and expensive) to be an early-adopter - you often pay a lot of money for something that doesn't live up to the hype. For most of us, waiting a few years is the way to go. For electric cars, we definitely were on the early side, but we leased instead of bought, knowing that major improvements were likely coming. The electric car still has some limitations, but for most driving applications, I think it's there. :-)

When you make your decision, let us know. Maybe you could use an inverter off your car... Just kidding

[Tekkie©]

On Wed, 21 Oct 2020 20:36:49 -0400, Clare Snyder posted for all of us to digest...

We had a Gilson - Cheap price but built very well. The tranny lost it's bearings after 8 years due to rough terrain. Got a Simplicity which managed to burn (actually catch fire) up after 6 years (of dealer service every year) Got a John Deere which lasted until my wife couldn't do it any more. Donated it a church and as far as I know still use it. Assorted trimmers and leaf blowers which it seems my neighbor ended up with...

[J]

Thanks for all the replies, especially Bob F. After hitting the "post message" button on my previous reply where I said I used to own a Nissan Leaf, I thought - now there's a missed opportunity for some good puns on this thread ;-)

I like the idea of a corded model, but even a 100' cord is not long enough to get to the perimeter of our yard. We definitely do not live in a suburban subdivision. And carrying around a generator... Doesn't that defeat the purpose of going electric? When I was a teenager (eons ago), we had a corded lawn mower - which was great for our tiny yard. Also, you could flip the push handle over to the other side and push it in the other direction instead of turning it around. That kind of thing wouldn't fly with my current yard. I'm not even sure "yard" is the best word, more of a cleared undulating grassy area in the woods.

I have reached that age (and back health) where I have relegated most of the yard work to a hired service. However, the past couple of years we've had early snow and cold weather. I was waiting for the leaves to all drop and have it done all at once, but the result was the leaves got covered by snow and weren't taken care of until spring. It get's expensive to have those guys come multiple times and do this work, and then in the spring it was hella expensive because it took a long time for them to blow the leaves that had been compressed into the ground.

I gave up on the old gas blower. I actually did get an electric model (an EGO), and as expected, it's too underpowered and has too limited a battery charge to do the lawn in one go (or even two). But I'm going to rationalize that as a positive as it will prevent me from doing this activity for too long a period of time all at once - and maybe saving my back from harm. I'm like that stereotypical guy who will keep going until it's all done instead of stopping when my body tells me I should.

Cheers everyone.

[invalid unparseable]

I have a bigger lot too and 100 ft does not go to far but only tree that gives me a problem is one in the front yard within 100 ft reach. I used to work on back yard but quit and find leaves are not a big problem.

I have a friend that started on leaves a couple of weeks ago and they have not begun fully fallen. Told him if I lived there I would remove several trees. You also don't want hundred ft trees next to your house. He's had neighbors with houses and cars severely damaged by trees coming down in a storm.