Noise pollution . . .

[Ray]

As I write these words, directly across my street, two heavy-duty gas-powered leaf-blowers, and one leaf vaccuum are going full blast -- and it is about to blast me out of my house. Although this is the worst example, not a day passes that I don't have to endure such noise.

For the life of me, I can't understand why the city and state requires mufflers on cars, yet lets these monster machines make life intolerable for anyone in earshot.

If anyone knows of an organization whose purpose is to bring pressure on manufacturers to muffle lawn-equipment, please let me know. If no such organization exists, I'd consider leading the charge to establish one.

Congressional action would be the best approach, but that's not likely. However, if city councils can start to agitate by passing noise-control ordinances, sooner or later the manufacturers would get the message.

I'd welcome any comments/discussion.

[HeyBub]

Earplugs. Fifty cents.

Noise is part of the price you pay for living in an upscale neighborhood in a dynamic city.

[JoeSpareBedroom]

Those stupid toys have mufflers of some sort, believe it or not. I discovered this when my neighbor dropped his stupid toy on the driveway, breaking off the muffler. Now, the stupid toy is 10 times louder than before and he thinks it's funny. This guy's an idiot. He'll chase 5 leaves around the yard for two hours. He's in good shape. He could use a rake, but he doesn't. This seems typical of many who use leaf blowers. I think they buy them because somehow, they got the idea that they were supposed to.

Get used to it. 54% of the population is hopelessly stupid. The best you can hope for is that they somehow kill themselves while using dangerous yard equipment.

By the way, your town most likely has noise ordinances, but they probably kick in at night. In my town, the only daytime rule is that organized events including loud music must have a permit. You probably don't have a prayer of getting any new laws passed, because they would also affect lawnmowers (including yours), and chain saws (which tree service people need to do their jobs).

I'm able to reason with one of my neighbors, who has an industrial strength leaf blower on wheels. He used to blow some leaves, stop & read a magazine, blow some more leaves, have a little lunch, blow some leaves, check his car's oil....there was noise all day. I asked him if he could compress the noise into one session so the whole day wasn't polluted. He's cool. He did it.

Meanwhile, I can rake 1/4 acre of leaves and bag them in about 90 minutes, which is much faster than some of these putzes with leaf blowers.

[Ray]

But what's wrong with putting mufflers on the machines to improve the quality of life in our city?

No one would consider any city which did not require automobile mufflers to be "dynamic."

[Norminn]

I've thought about the issue a good deal. Even wondered how a zoning ordinance would work which limits use in a given area to certain days of the week. Wouldn't work here, probably, because the same contractors work on a lot of the neighborhood homes. We have trash pickup two times a week, next-door neighbor two days but different trash hauler. They back into the parking lot, hoist the dumpster. Another truck to pick up the recycling barrels, hoist them and dump them. There is a lot that can be gained by changing landscaping to stuff that doesn't require a lot of maintenance, but folks love their grass. I get crazy when I see posts about people who want to kill the ants crawling in their yards or on their trees. A tax advantage for enviro-friendly landscape practices might work. I'm not on a rant about folks who use grassy yards or who are getting eaten up by fire ants and want to get rid of them. There is just a huge amount of needless use of chemicals. I read recently that Florida - I don't recall which agency - is trying to eliminate ALL WILD BEE HIVES. Africanized bees are in Florida, so I guess that is the justification. I rarely see a bee and always wonder if it will be the last one. I used to do nature photography, looking for spots that are free of signs of humanity. There is so much trash in the water that I can't find those places. When I used to go shelling, I would brink two bags, one for shells to pick up on the way out, and one to pick up trash on the way back. I have found clothing, furniture, false teeth, hundreds of plastic bags and bottles, wallets, etc. Folks toss bottles out the window of vehicles all over the place. Just amazing.

[dpb]

Every gasoline engine on every item I own _has_ a muffler--I expect these do as well...

Why aren't you at work? :)

[Cheri]

I rake my own leaves as well, and bag them. No piles in front of my house, due to high school kids running over them. It's a chore, but I hate leaf blowers too, and what I really hate is those idiots that blow them from one yard into your yard or your driveway. I do have a drummer that lives across the street from me...now, that's annoying.

Cheri

[Ray]

I'm not at work because I'm retired. The owner of the house is at work as a fatcat lawyer, and he doesn't have to hear the grief he is inflicting on his neighbors who are trying to enjoy some peace in their own homes.

You can bet you last dollar that if there were an equivalent level of noise outside his office window, he'd be calling the police.

[JoeSpareBedroom]

Maybe that could be arranged. Heh. Get evil.

[trader4]

Big deal, 2 leaf blowers and a leaf vacuum to bitch about. Instead of complaining, you should be happy that you have a neighbor who takes care of his property. How long does this leaf blowing take? Around here pro's like that are done in an hour and come back 2 weeks later. They do it about 3 times in the Fall. And yeah, they may use

1 leaf blower to clean up after cutting the lawn during the other 6 months, but that takes all of 5 minutes.

[JoeSpareBedroom]

Around here, the pros ARE done quickly. But, I have a couple of neighbors who go at it all day long for some reason. I'm not kidding. All day long.

[HeyBub]

Wouldn't work. Did you know small aircraft don't have mufflers?

It's because a muffler reduces the power output of the engine by a significant percent. In the case of airplanes, they would need a larger engine to compensate for the reduced power. That means more weight, etc.

In the case of a leaf-blower, the larger engine would increase the cost and no one would buy the thing.

There is a bright side, however. In my neighborhood, Home Depot is giving away a free Messican with the purchase of each new leaf blower. This is not a one-time special either; evidently there is an endless supply of Messicans.

[Oren]

I walked into an office one day at work, years ago. Two guys were joking around. One Mexican, the other Black. They were commenting about a local neighborhood and about each others ethnicity. The Mexican said; If they see a bunch of us riding in a car, they know we are landscapers. The Black guy said; If they see a bunch of us riding in a car, they called it Grand Theft Auto.

Yes it happened :-/

[mike]

Blowing or raking leaves is silly. It's much easier to mow them up and dump the bag where you need weed control.

More to your issue: Plenty of cities have ordinances against leaf blowers and/or noise. Most lawmakers are just itching to make more laws, so hit 'em up.

[dadiOH]

Uhhh...my problem is airboats. Specifically, one airboat. And they/it are too loud for earplugs.

[Caesar Romano]

On Tue, 20 Nov 2007 11:38:24 -0800 (PST), [e-mail] wrote Re Re: Noise pollution . . .:

Well said.

[HeyBub]

Noise is part of the price you pay for living in an upscale neighborhood in a dynamic city.

[Oren]

Not from the driver's seat :-)) Out all night gigging frogs, until daylight.

[Malcolm Hoar]

Quite a few cities have enacted such ordinances. I haven't studied the issue but the anecdotal reports I've seen suggest these laws have been considered rather successful.

[willshak]

on 11/20/2007 12:33 PM Ray said the following:

It's not the lack of mufflers. It's the whine of the fan that blows the leaves.