The New Petrol (E10)

Germany with ROT13 </shed>

In article snipped-for-privacy@201-92-171-81.dsl.telesp.net.br>, Another John snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com writes

Tried to check wife's car on gov.uk Unfortunately they seem to think Suzuki only do motorbikes.

mmm. How big an area are you cutting? Using a powered one, used to take me3 hours.

Well done that man. Having never heard of (or recalled that I'd heard of) ROT13 I am a wiser man (until I forget) - 'twas bl**dy obscure without a hint.

Small :-) I realise that makes all the difference; but we have people around here with tiny gardens who go a bit mad with the size of their lawnmowers.

I?m sure they have. Not so competitive when it comes to price though. Thousands versus <£100.

Tim

That's not exactly what it tells me

"Suzuki

E10 petrol is cleared for use in all current production models with petrol engines.

For older models: Please refer to Owner's Manual

It'll affect owners of classic cars and four-stroke gardening equipment with carburettors too.

And even worse when you already have the petrol version and it is nowhere near the end of its life.

Our gardens are small (particularly the front), but we have a petrol mower (given to us as no longer needed). The difference it makes to the ease of cutting over-long grass is incredible - and it often gets over-long as we are are near Manchester, on clay soil, so it usually rains again before the ground dries out enough to mow the grass!

They also seem to think that the make and model of my wife's car didn't exist until 2006, despite it being produced and registered in 2005 (Chevrolet Matiz) - the previous Daewoo Matiz being a different engine, in a different shell!

Is that gross generalisation actually true? Is someone in a town more or less likely to use a petrol strimmer or chainsaw (probably 2-smoke *) than an electric one (either mains or battery)?

The problem with 2-stroke engines is that they have to run at silly rpms which makes them sound like a swarm of angry wasps - and that people are forever revving them up and letting them idle rinse-and-repeat ad nauseam, instead of running them at a constant speed which is marginally less annoying for everyone in earshot.

And of course the nasty offensive-smelling burnt-oil exhaust that they emit.

I wonder how long it will be before the government start to ban first the sale and then the use of devices with 2-stroke engines, and insist on

(*) Yes, I do mean "smoke" as well as "stroke" ;-)

At a recent agricultural show there was a ride on (Stiga) that was all electric and I got one on test just to see how it went. Very quiet running but as noisy as petrol when cutting. It lasted 1.5 acres before it needed to be charged up.

I'm tempted...

Silly? It?s the high rpms that give them their good power to weight ration.

You might not like it, but it?s not ?silly?.

Tim

Note sure what you are comparing with what, but like for like they can be competitive when looking at decent quality kit.

I bought a 36V Makita top handle saw earlier in the year. Even if I had bought the full kit with batteries and charger it would have been not much more than the equivalent Makita 2 stroke top handle saw (about £600 vs £500). Battery only it was around £200, so quite reasonable for a top handle saw.

Yes you can buy a budget petrol back handle saw for under £100 - but they tend to be crude and very heavy lumps.

You are arguing fr9om ignorance. The reason why 2 strokes are used is power to weight, they have twice the power strokes per revolution, and to get the power to weight they need to rev. #They need the power to weight because they are HAND tools and they are already damned heavy to operate for any length of time.

Electric cant do the power to weight AND the duration.

NY snipped-for-privacy@privacy.invalid posted

They're more likely to use an electric one, because (a) they tend to have small gardens that don't need petrol-engine tools and (b) they are aware that two-stroke engines are noisy and they tend not to want to disturb their neighbours too much.

It'd be pretty dangerous to use a chainsaw on maximum revs all the time.

Doesn't really matter in a large garden in a rural area.

Eventually the government will ban everything useful. I merely hope they delay it until it doesn't inconvenience me too much.

My car is happy on 95, but I'm switching to super.

I'm not sure I trust the "OK on E10" banner on a 20yo car which is the last of a design going back to 1985...

Andy