Autumn Begins

With the emergence of fall you will find some of your outdoor power equipment will become less necessary to use.  Leaves fall, they block the sun.  Grass, weeds, and even flowers will begin growing slower.  Certain items such as weed eaters, edgers, and hedge trimmers may be ready to begin their winter hibernation.  If you plan on pulling these items out next spring and starting them right up, then there are a couple things you need to do before you store them for the Fall and Winter seasons.  


Why is this important?  Read on to get the full scoop!

I'm sure a few a people are wondering why this would be important in the first place.  The simple answer is Ethanol.  Ethanol is an alcohol product created from corn.  It is used in fuel to make fuel burn cleaner and help product our planet. The downside?  Outdoor equipment isn't made to properly withstand the 10% of ethanol that the fuel contains.  The alcohol will over time begin to eat at the plastic and rubber pieces of your equipment.  This can effect your fuel lines, carburetor parts, and a few other items.  Once the damage is done, it's done and will need to be repaired.  Here's how to stop that from taking place.  You have two options.

Option 1 (my preferred option)
Empty the fuel from your equipment completely.  You can pump it out, or siphon it out or unhook one end of your fuel line and gravity drain the contents into a gas can.  You may also let the equipment run until it is completely emptied of fuel.  This is the simplest way to guarantee all the fuel has been removed.  Many people use random household items to hold the triggers, and handles down until the gas it out.  Once your machine stalls double check to be sure it is free of all fuel.

Option 2 (the easy route)
You can buy a fuel treatment or stabilizer to add to your fuel.  Follow the directions very carefully otherwise taking this route will be completely useless and the outcome will most likely be that in the spring you'll realize your equipment won't start, your fuel lines have disintegrated into practically nothing.  We personally put fuel treatment in every piece of equipment we work on.  

These option work on lawn mower, pressure washers, generators and most all other outdoor power equipment.  At the end of the day option one is more guaranteed to  give you an easy, quick start in the Spring when the time comes.

Snow Blower or Snow Thrower