To Drain or Not to Drain

[Kate]

Do you drain the old gas out of your lawnmower every fall, or do you add stabliizer to it, and leave it in the unit over the winter months?

What about snowblowers? I always add stablizer to the gas/oil mix in the spring, and leave it in the unit all summer long.

Of course, I always run the equipment for about five minutes after adding stablizer.

Thanks.

Kate

[Bob F]

I drain, and run them completely dry.

[Frank]

Drain is always best. One year I drained my snowblower and it ran OK the next but I left stabilized gas in it and it would not start and I needed the carburetor cleaned. Might have been alcohol in gas that caused problem as manual says not to use gas with alcohol or depending on the carburetor there could be evaporation which leaves a clogging residue. I keep stabilized gas in my generator but start it every few months. If you leave gas in anything it is a good idea to start occasionally.

[Steve B]

I leave mine in, but then empty it out at first use, and add fresh gas. Don't know how good this is, but I figure it is better to have something in there than completely empty. Smell like varnish when I dump it, so I usually use it on gopher holes that appear in spring.

Steve

[IGot2P]

I don't do anything special to the mover, tiller, nor any other fair weather gas powered tools and have never had a problem. My gawd, here in SE Iowa they only set unused from mid November to early April (four to five months). Actually, I have let some set for as long as three years and they still started and ran fine. Of course if you want to spend the time and money put some stabilizer in the gas and let it run for a couple of minutes before putting it to bed.

ymmv

[Steve Barker]

if it's for less than a year, just fill the tank and forget it.

steve

[ransley]

I have a 1986 Lawnboy, never had a carb issue and I just put it away recently, I run it dry, I have a few pieces I run dry and all are fine, once I left gas in a sthil trimmer and it needed a carb clean 6 moths later. I guess stabil works but im scared to test it, Stabil costs money, running it dry is free, a carb rebuild is alot of money and driving around.

[Rick Brandt]

My experience as well. The only item I run dry is the backup generator. First use of lawn mower in the spring might take 2 or 3 pulls instead of the usual 1, but otherwise I've never seen an issue with it.

[Ed Pawlowski]

I add stabilizer most of the time, but I've also forgotten and had no problems leaving gas for the opposing season, both summer and winter.

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, Me neither. But I use winter gas in winter. Summer gas iin summer. Same with Propane gas.

[benick]

Ditto...None of my stuff sits more than a 6 months....Some talk like winter lasts for years....LOL...

[Pointer]

I do nothing as well on a mower, tractor and small garden tools. BYW had a great Honda mower for 25 years ... never did anything for the winter ... and it started everytime on a single pull. Finally junked it due to the al deck rotting out.

[Stormin Mormon]

Here comes a lengthy conversation, with all kinds of proofs. I'm waiting for someone to quote Aristotle and that will be the clincher.

I usually run equipment dry, but havn't done a double blind study or anything.

[trader4]

An issue no one has addressed yet is what environment the equipment is stored in. Gas sitting in a relatively cool place is going to degrade a lot slower than gas that's in a mower in a shed that's 100F.

I put stabilizer in the last gas can I get filled near the end of the mowing season. I also put it in my Harley and my boat when I owned it. The snowblower I run dry, because it will sit unused a lot longer and over the hottest months. Also, reading the manual never hurt.

[Kate]

I just got back online after a busy weekend.

Thanks everyone for all of your replies.

My mower sits in my shed from November - April every year. Like I said, I do put stabilizer in it. It gets very cold in there this time of the year.

My snowblower sits in the shed from April - November where it gets very hot during the summer months.

[Jules]

I try to run tanks pretty empty, just in case* (so I don't waste a full tank), but I never add anything, run the thing completely dry etc. and I haven't ever had a problem.

• more worried about things like lines splitting etc.

cheers

Jules

[mike]

I do absolutely nothing to the fuel system and have never had any problems. My owner's manual is silent on the matter, so I doubt it's of great importance.