Titan Lawnmower ( screwfix)

[aprilsweetheartrose]

Just wondering if anyone has one of these and what they think of it?

I have a largish amount of lawn BUT I am sick and tired of using petrol lawnmowers. They cost a fortune and mostly go wrong after two or three years My current petrol one has lost its self propel and I cant push it easily now. I tried to find a repairer who would collect and return - was willing to pay - as I cannot get it into the car .... too heavy, too big. I already have five defunct petrol drivens about the place, rusting for various reasons - petrol tank leaks, cable pulled out , smoke from engine, b *ggers to start etc.

So, I thought - a larger electric maybe? Has anyone got a Titan who can tell me kif its any good? Or suggest a relatively cheap electric ( not cordless as I doubt they would have the power to do my 0.25 + acre area rear lawn - front one isnt so bad but the back one is a bit big)

Thanks in advance for helpful replies.

[Andrew]

Are there no mobile lawnmower mechanics in your part of the world. With an ageing population this seems a business opportunity. Ditto people who will come and cut your grass for you.

Have you thought of turning the outlying parts into wild flower 'meadows' and simply mowing paths through them ?.

A decent lawnmower should last longer than 2 to 3 years if used and stored correctly.

Petrol lawnmowers need to be stored carefully. Never leave the old petrol in it, especially the latest E5 or E10 stuff. There is some special (expensive) petrol that you can buy for overwintering, but the name escapes me. ESSO Synergy Premium does not have ethanol in it in large parts of the country (check their website) even though the pump handle says E5. Using this reduces the damage to the carburetor internals caused by ethanol.

In your part of the country a dry shed or garage is essential for overwintering anything likely to rust. Clean off all the grass from the cutters etc after every use. After the last cut of the year give it an extra through clean, empty out all the fuel including from the carb and liberally spray all the metal bits with WD40 or furniture polish to protect from winter damp.

[aprilsweetheartrose]

I have not been able to find a mobile repairer. I can find two lawnmower repair workshops but both require me to take the machine to them. I cannot lift it. My car is not big enough anyway, even if I could lift it. As for gardeners. They seem to want small , easy jobs. My lawn is too big I think. These people come and go. I have had them before. They just drop off after a while ( not just my experience by the way. My neighbour spoke of something similar)

Done that but I still have this expanse of field. It really does not lend itself to a wild flower meadow and I dont really like them.. One thought I had was that I might use an electric mower to cut paths through the overgrown grass to make access to the rest of the garden easier. I have electric points both in sheds and outside. They all work.

The lawnmower is working. Its the self propel thats failed and its a large 53 cm cut so it needs a self propel. I cant push it without, I am not strong enough. Like all the others ( with various faults and now defunct, its going to end up taking space as the council charge to dispose of them and again, I cant get it to them. I cant get it to a repair shop.

There is nothing wrong with the engine of my current lawn mower. I just cant get it repaired or serviced. Hence I need to look for an alternative. An electric would at least be lighter for me to lift and store.

[Andrew]

Is there enough space for some sheep or pigs ?. If so, just rent the field out to a farmer and they will provide the electric fence to keep them in. Or buy a Llama.

Failing that, just let mother nature rewild it and stop cutting the grass entirely.

[Mark]

Where about are you located as just about every rural area has a lawn mower collection and repair service

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[charles]

I bought a battery electric one this spring since my Mountfield (Italian made) petrol engine died (6yo). It's a Stiga Swift and I'm very happy with it. Time will tell.

[charles]

I certainly know of 2 in this immediate area (west Surrey)

[maus]

A nearby farmer has, with mu permission, opened a hole in the fence that can divides his fence from my garden, and his sheep graze the garden.

Do not allow pigs in. They are inveterate `rooters' and are difficult to control.

Even with the sheep, the garden needs to be mown about three times a year. An electric mower is light.

Be aware that insurance companies take a dim view of hiring someone young to to do the job.

Do not buy a robot mower.

( To install them, or rather the ones I have seen, you need to put an electic wire (plastic covered of course) at the edge of the area that you want to mow, and connect that into a sort of network, with a little box in which the robot can rest at night and repower. My robot started losing traction after rain, and would get caught in the corner and make pitiful noises, until someone pushed into motion again. They were popular about ten years ago,)

You really have to cut weeds, thistles, nettles, docks, ragworth (Which is somtimes toxic), or the neighbours will complain, and gregging neighbours Is A Bad Idea.

[aprilsweetheartrose]

SE Cornwall.

[Chris Green]

How can ragwort be 'sometimes toxic'? It's toxic, though not immediately toxic, its effects are cumulative.

[Chris Hogg]

Have you tried contacting Cornwall Council about them collecting bulky items for recycling (mattresses, beds etc)? They might take your defunct mowers. There is a charge for it, I believe.

Also, Yellow Rattle is a plant parasitic on grass roots, and limits the grass growth to some extent, meaning you won't have to cut it quite so often, although more suited to meadows and areas of rough grass than a lawn. It's an annual, so you have to let it set seed and not chop off the flower heads before the seeds have dropped. Another reason not to mow too often!

[Vir Campestris]

I bought a petrol mower when we moved here, about 10 years ago. It's working fine. Perhaps because I keep it somewhere dry?

Andy

[alan_m]

A cordless electric mower works best only if the grass is kept short. If you saying that you only cut around 3 times per year it suggests longer grass. A wired electric mower requires a long extension cord which is a PITA and always needs moving out of the way.

I only have approx 60 foot x 12 foot of grass and I have owned both electric (corded) and petrol mowers. The petrol mower is so much easier to use to cut the grass, especially if I have left it to grow above bowling green level. A petrol mower will also cut wet/damp grass that my previous electric mowers struggled with.

A friend owns mid range (£500) cordless mower that I have used but my petrol mower at half the price works much better. After around 4 years the batteries are failing in the cordless mower and the amount of grass that can be cut per charge has decreased drastically.

[alan_m]

+1

I would guess the OP is not removing all the grass cuttings from under the bed once finished cutting the grass. Not only can this lead to rusting of the bed if the grass was wet but also the jamming up of the self propel. You only need a few damp cuts without this user routine maintenance for the grass to become somewhat solid around bearings and in all crevices.

I also use a fuel additive prior to winter storage* to prevent the carburettor etc. gumming up.

• Last year my last cut was late November or early December and the first cut this year in late February. However, I've only cut my grass once in the past six weeks and it looks rather brown at the moment. The only rain worth mentioning in this period was one thunderstorm and one day of rain. Other than that a few 5 /10 minute periods that have immediately dried off in the sun.

[Tim+]

My petrol lawnmower is about 30 years old. I virtually never clean it, never drain the petrol at the end of the year and only top up the oil when it seizes. Okay, the last is a slight exaggeration. I’ve only served it once. ;-). I think I might have bought it a new spark plug once in a mad fit of generosity.

It does have a plastic (? GRP) deck though so rust isn’t an issue. Other than that, it has a boring old B&S 3.5 hp engine that refuses to die and starts every spring, usually on old fuel.

I just don’t see how you can kill a mower in 3 years with neglect when I’ve being trying for 30. ;-)

Tim

[Mark]

try this,

[Michael Chare]

My new Flymo is now 17 years old. It has a Honda engine. Maybe it was last year when it would not start after winter. I spent ages taking the carburetor to pieces as I thought that would be where the fault was. Eventually I found that that spark plug contains a resistor to reduce interference and this had failed. I had an old car sparking plug in my tool box. It was the right length and does not have a resistor, so I used it and the engine started.

My father was very proud of his Hayter grass cutter. I hoped I might end up with it but my mother gave it to her gardener when her house was sold.

[alan_m]

Complete third party carburettors (including fitting gaskets, hardware and p&p) for Briggs & Stratton mower engines can be obtained for around a tenner. This is often less than the service kit and they can be fitted in 10 minutes.

The carburettor on my B&S engined mover is all plastic apart from the jets and maybe a small spring.

[aprilsweetheartrose]

I would normally mow once a fortnight ( weather permitting) but as the lawnmower isnt working, the grass has got long. Since I am struggling to repair it and the prices of new ones is so high, I was looking for a cheaaper ( and easier?) option. Something I can roll over the grass and at least keep a path open until I can afford a new mower or get the ( not so ) old one fixed. It is in the nature of my garden that it has a number of electric points ( one in the summer house for example) and in the outside ( brick built - so dry and the lawnmower is kept dry) store/garage for lawnmower. I can always run an extension lead anyway as I have several . My front garden lawn is smaller - around 50x30 feet so I would expect an electric would do that easily ( my old house had a garden about that size and I ran round that with a flymo). The back, I accept is a bit of a b*gger.

[aprilsweetheartrose]

Firstly, its only the self propel thats gone. The lawnmower is working fine in terms of engine and blade running round. I was mowing the grass from early March and the self propel went last week. I could probably still use it if I had strength enough to push it.

Maybe it is because it was a cheap mower to start with? Its not a brand ( unlike my old mountfield - which was 15 years old before it died of a leaking petrol tank and some other thing but then my OH tried to repair that and now its in pieces . That is why I am determined to get a repair specialist this time. I was told , dismissively by one lawn mower machine shop that my lawn mower was a " cheap Chinese job" and he wasn't interested - but I had to get it there anyway as they has no collection and delivery service. Its called Parkerbrand. It was not expensive like the mountfield was expensive. Having had a " Champion" that blew up after six years and a Mc Culloch that stopped rolling and was always a bar steward to start ( adjusting the spark plug on that was a nightmare) , both of which cost a fair bit of money, I got the cheap one because I was sick of spending small fortunes for machines that were just hard work. I had three on the go at once for back ups and because my husband could help and we could get round the garden on two lawn mowers quicker than me on one. But he doesnt do the lawn at all anymore. He gave up three years ago. So, there you have it in my life story :-)

I did ,look after this lawnmower. I drained the petrol out. I put it away . Itt had the best spot in the garage. Its not my neglect and not my husband tinkering thats caused this one to have a problem. Its the self propel not the engine ( the engine is a Briggs and Stratton)