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Monday, March 12 2012

You wouldn’t expect to run a 10-mile race after spending all winter on the couch drinking beer and eating potato chips. Likewise, too many of us neglect the health of our gas-powered lawn mowers then curse them come spring when they just say no. Here are six ways guaranteed to shorten the life of your mower from Consumer Reports' mowing expert Peter Sawchuk who is just back from conducting our mower tests in Florida.

Consider your mower’s fuel tank the perfect place to store old gasoline. Even without additives, stabilized gasoline will eventually gum up, clog fuel lines, and ruin your carburetor. And gas containing ethanol ages even more quickly. “It’s not so much the ethanol but that it absorbs a lot of water,” says Kris Kiser, president and CEO of the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute, a trade group. “Water in the engine is a killer.”
Smart move: At the end of the season, take 10 minutes to drain the tank or run the engine dry.

Never change or add oil. Moving metal parts need oil, and an engine that’s denied clean oil, and enough of it, will overheat for sure.
Smart move: The best time to do change the oil in a walk-behind mower is when it’s drained of gas—since you’ll need to flip the mower to remove the old oil.

The blades still turn, so forget about sharpening them. Ideally, you should sharpen your mower’s blades monthly—and even more often in the fall if you mulch leaves using your mower. This keeps the engine from working harder and less efficiently than it needs to, which affects its lifespan. But if you indeed forget, the brown-tipped grass will remind you before it dies altogether.
Smart move: You’ll need: A piece of 2x4 to wedge in the blade to keep it from turning (shown in photo) as you remove it. Sharpening costs about $10 if you don’t do it yourself.

Leave in your original air filter year after year. An engine’s carburetor needs to mix the gasoline with filtered air for smooth running, but the bigger hazard in not cleaning or replacing the filter annually is that a dirty or torn filter can allow dirt into the engine, which will accelerate wear and shorten its life.
Smart move: It costs about five dollars for the part and 30 seconds to put it in.

Ignore the engine’s cooling fins, even if they’re clogged with clippings. The cooling fins help distribute heat from the engine, which matters most on hot days. Let grass clippings and dust accumulate on them, and the engine could overheat.
Smart move: Running a whisk broom back and forth over the fins for a few seconds.

Don’t check the lawn for stationary hazards before mowing. Even if you know the location of every metal stake, sprinkler head, or tree stump, you could come upon a thick branch or jutting rock suddenly and hit it with the mower. Doing this with a walk-behind mower can bend the crankshaft. “If you bend the shaft, typically because of the price point of the product, it’s dead," says Kiser. “You’re just not going to get it repaired.”
Smart move: Take short walk and make a visual inspection before you mow.

There’s a seventh way to kill your mower as shown by Milwaukee homeowner Keith Walendowski when he took his shotgun to his Lawn-Boy a few years ago. But technically the mower was already gone—or at least needed a little TLC.

Source: http://news.consumerreports.org/home/2012/03/six-ways-to-kill-a-mower-and-what-to-do-instead.html

Posted by: Rolando Trentini AT 01:11 pm   |  Permalink   |  Email
Monday, March 12 2012

You wouldn’t expect to run a 10-mile race after spending all winter on the couch drinking beer and eating potato chips. Likewise, too many of us neglect the health of our gas-powered lawn mowers then curse them come spring when they just say no. Here are six ways guaranteed to shorten the life of your mower from Consumer Reports' mowing expert Peter Sawchuk who is just back from conducting our mower tests in Florida.

Consider your mower’s fuel tank the perfect place to store old gasoline. Even without additives, stabilized gasoline will eventually gum up, clog fuel lines, and ruin your carburetor. And gas containing ethanol ages even more quickly. “It’s not so much the ethanol but that it absorbs a lot of water,” says Kris Kiser, president and CEO of the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute, a trade group. “Water in the engine is a killer.”
Smart move: At the end of the season, take 10 minutes to drain the tank or run the engine dry.

Never change or add oil. Moving metal parts need oil, and an engine that’s denied clean oil, and enough of it, will overheat for sure.
Smart move: The best time to do change the oil in a walk-behind mower is when it’s drained of gas—since you’ll need to flip the mower to remove the old oil.

The blades still turn, so forget about sharpening them. Ideally, you should sharpen your mower’s blades monthly—and even more often in the fall if you mulch leaves using your mower. This keeps the engine from working harder and less efficiently than it needs to, which affects its lifespan. But if you indeed forget, the brown-tipped grass will remind you before it dies altogether.
Smart move: You’ll need: A piece of 2x4 to wedge in the blade to keep it from turning (shown in photo) as you remove it. Sharpening costs about $10 if you don’t do it yourself.

Leave in your original air filter year after year. An engine’s carburetor needs to mix the gasoline with filtered air for smooth running, but the bigger hazard in not cleaning or replacing the filter annually is that a dirty or torn filter can allow dirt into the engine, which will accelerate wear and shorten its life.
Smart move: It costs about five dollars for the part and 30 seconds to put it in.

Ignore the engine’s cooling fins, even if they’re clogged with clippings. The cooling fins help distribute heat from the engine, which matters most on hot days. Let grass clippings and dust accumulate on them, and the engine could overheat.
Smart move: Running a whisk broom back and forth over the fins for a few seconds.

Don’t check the lawn for stationary hazards before mowing. Even if you know the location of every metal stake, sprinkler head, or tree stump, you could come upon a thick branch or jutting rock suddenly and hit it with the mower. Doing this with a walk-behind mower can bend the crankshaft. “If you bend the shaft, typically because of the price point of the product, it’s dead," says Kiser. “You’re just not going to get it repaired.”
Smart move: Take short walk and make a visual inspection before you mow.

There’s a seventh way to kill your mower as shown by Milwaukee homeowner Keith Walendowski when he took his shotgun to his Lawn-Boy a few years ago. But technically the mower was already gone—or at least needed a little TLC.

Source: http://news.consumerreports.org/home/2012/03/six-ways-to-kill-a-mower-and-what-to-do-instead.html

Posted by: Rolando Trentini AT 08:01 am   |  Permalink   |  0 Comments  |  Email
Wednesday, April 13 2011

Just in time for the warm weather and green grass, the latest issue of Consumer Reports features ratings of more than 100 mowers and tractors.

Consumer Reports testers mowed 19.2 acres and identified more than 30 top-scoring models, including three models from Honda and Toro that retail for $400 or less.

Among the top performers is the Black & Decker SPCM1936, $450, one of the few cordless electric mowers with self-propelling wheels, a feature more typically found on gas models.

Tests also found more lawn tractors that can maneuver around trees and posts nearly as well as zero-turn-radius riders. The new Craftsman 28856, a CR Best Buy at $1,600, offers added agility plus impressive mowing for about $1,000 less than many zero-turn riders and $2,000 less than the four-wheel-steer John Deere X304 tractor. At $500 each, the Toro Super Recycler 20092 and Honda HRR216K7VXA cost $200 less than the top Honda self-propelled gas model and mow comparably.

On some models, features trumped performance. Lawn Boy’s 10605 one-speed mower includes a work-saving clutch for just $300, but it was only mediocre at bagging and side-discharging clippings. The Cub Cadet’s Z Force S 46 17AF5BHH is tops among zero-turn-radius riders and noteworthy for its tractor-like steering wheel and steerable front wheels for better control down slopes, but it was among the more repair-prone tractor brands and was repair-prone among zero-turn riders.

“Shoppers will find feature-laden mowers for less and tractors that cost about the same as smaller riding mowers,” said Peter Sawchuk, Project Leader at Consumer Reports. “But our tests of more than 100 models show that some models put features before performance and could leave many consumers stuck in the weeds.”

How to choose

Consider a self-propelled mower for hills and save cordless models for small lawns that can be mowed within 30- to 45-minutes. For larger lawns with slopes, choose a tractor with front-steering wheels over a lever-steer, zero-turn-radius rider, which is harder to control on hills. Here are additional tips Consumer Reports recommends keeping in mind:

  • Choose the right mode. All tractors and riders can side-discharge clippings, essential when grass is too high to mulch or bag. Choose a model that did well in the mode preferred. For riders, expect to pay about $50 extra for a mulch kit and $500 for the bagging system.
  • Know what you’re getting. Many brands are made by more than one manufacturer, so know the mower’s model number when replacing blades and other parts, rather than just the make and blade size.
  • Think twice about high wheels. For walk-behind mowers, engines mounted farther up front make most of those mowers harder to tilt back when making U-turns at the end of a row.
  • Play it safe. Check for rocks and other debris before mowing. Keep people and pets away from the area. Always wear long pants, sturdy shoes, and hearing protection. And look behind whenever backing up a riding machine.

How Americans really feel about mowing

Purchasing the right mower is only half the battle, mowing the lawn is the other. According to the latest nationwide lawn care poll from Consumer Reports, some 32% of respondents found mowing relaxing, good exercise, or nice private time. But most would trade part of their lawn for something else, including fake grass (12%), with only 5% actually wanting to enlarge their lawn. And distracted driving isn’t limited to the car, texting and talking on the phone (4%), in addition to boozing (8%) are a few activities that come into play while mowing.

Lawn care is an activity that one must dress for, but according to poll results, many were dressed to kill, or at least injure themselves. Over three-quarters of respondents (77%) didn’t wear hearing protection, and over half (54%) wore shorts. Having close-toed shoes are also not a concern for 14% of Americans.

Source: Consumer Reports



Read more: http://www.houselogic.com/news/articles/top-lawn-mowers-and-tractors-make-consumer-reports-cut/#ixzz1J3HLiqJn
Posted by: Rolando Trentini AT 08:00 am   |  Permalink   |  Email
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The Trentini Team
F.C. Tucker EMGE REALTORS®
7820 Eagle Crest Bvd., Suite 200
Evansville, IN 47715
Office: (812) 479-0801
Cell: (812) 499-9234
Email: Rolando@RolandoTrentini.com


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