the norm on mowers? So
Once you're used to it it's not a problem. I use my mower on a steep-ish gr adient at one point; it's nice to know that if it slips and falls over and takes me with it, I'm not going to land on a spinning blade!
But that?s the exception rather than the norm. My mower doesn?t go anywhere without me pushing it.
Tim
When introduced, I don't know. When I bought the current mower a few years ago, I thought it would irritate me, but I soon got used to it, and don't even think about it now. Same with the self propel control, which is easy to use along the length of the lawns, but just as easy to release when turning, the fiddly bits, when the dog gets in the way etc.
Maybe when it's brand new. Once you've used it a few times, the damn thing never fires properly and it needs a lot of hard tugs. No such problems with an electric motor - no serviceable parts.
Dunno what make it is, but the last petrol mower I used (my neighbour's sister's) looked fairly new, large, and quite expensive. Yet it made no attempt to speed up if it hit thicker grass. I had to turn off the self propelled part and move it more slowly.
Petrol mowers need maintainence. If like me you know nothing about engines, you can't do that. I bought a petrol leaf blower from B&Q. It worked once. I put it away, then tried to use it 3 months later. It refused to go no matter what I did with it. I put it on Ebay advertised as "almost new, probably works if you know about engines" and someone bought it for 15% off the new price.
easily disabled, if you feel you would like to be ;(
-
Another one of the 1,000,001 uses for cable ties (at least on my electric hedge trimmers).
Keep up at the back. Pretty sure elsewhere in this Subject: perhaps even in this trhead I've mentioned it's age. Probably about 17 years old.
I've changed the oil once. Other than that the only maintenance is cleaning the underside of the deck to get rid of any compacted grass, brush out the collection box, something that all mowers require.
It's had a few repairs but that's not maintenance, all things wear out or break due to use. Of course if you have no pratical abilty you're stuck with having to dump the broken and buy new rather than do a repair.
My previous, electric mower (about 15 years old) has one. I had to replace it last year when it snapped during the first cut of the year.
SteveW
In my case, I can only do it at weekends. Recently it hadn't been mown for a fortnight, then I was unable to mow it due to rain. The following weekend I was rushing around buying a new suit, shoes, etc. and had no time. The weekend after, I was in Ireland for a wedding. The next one I just thought sod it, I'm being given the petrol mower next weekend. So by last weekend, it was pretty long!
Fortunately, it cut it with ease.
SteveW
I ran mine over the last remnants of the daffodils in knee high grass today and I reckon that you must have to be deaf not to notice the change in engine note, grass flying out the side and behind when the outlet to the collection bag fills up. Ignoring these warning signs will eventually stall the mower when the underdeck is filled with grass pate.
To stall a petrol mower requires a total lack of mechanical sympathy.
The collection bag on my mower inflates slightly in use so when I see it start to collapse I know the bag's getting full, or there's clogging somewhere.
One thing I do with long or damp grass is, rather than charge headlong into the undergrowth, attack it using only half the width of the mower; I figure that puts less stress on the thing.
There's an area of grass that I don't collect but just let it shoot out the back. When it's a bit long I set the mower to 6 at the front (highest) and 4 at the rear (usual for that area) so that the cut is in 2 goes, effectively. Some grass is done at 3 - 2 as more will go into the bag and it's less likily to clog, but most I do at 6 as it leaves a lot of liitle plants and doesn't touch the bees' burrows.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.