Thursday, January 30, 2025

The SnowKing

 Built by Tecumseh Power Products, and used on a big MTD Snowflight 826 2-stage Snowblower, it's a monster of an engine!
The first time I heard it fire up and run, I said... "WOW! That thing is loud!"
Maybe because I'm standing right behind the muffler, but I'm pretty sure it's actually really bloody loud. I do like the sound of the engine, and I do like how loud it is... but I can't deny that it's likely at a hearing damage level. I mean, it sounds close to that of a motorcycle.. But not quite.

The 826 means it's a 8 Horsepower engine, with a 26" clearing path. So it's a pretty big snowblower, but I am thinking it might be a little too much snowblower at times! 

It was nice to have, when we got the big dumping of snow recently, and boy did it chew thru the snow! Made short work of the small mound the plow had dumped there.
It's not as bad as one year when we had a near 3 foot tall wall in front of our drive because of a plow.. That was a terrible snowfall! 

Could have done with the big snowblower then, it would have enjoyed that.  I had a single stage snowblower, but it was battery powered. Talk about useless! it would often cut out while clearing snow, and was useless in anything but powder. Add a bit of slush to the mix, nope... wouldn't do anything, just clog.  Add ice, and it would stop.  Heck, it would stop on powder too.  Terrible, was happy when I sold it, as I was done with the Battery Powered experiment, and found it to be lacking a lot.  The lawnmower was junk, and the snowblower could barely blow snow.

This Snowflight snowblower, well, it lives up to its name! It blows snow, and it makes the snow fly away!  

It's hard to believe that it was towards the end of summer that I thought to myself, it's time to get the snowblower ready... and not until October that I actually got around to it.
Sure enough, a quick carb clean and the Snowflight was back in action!

Now funny story.. I was out using it not too long ago, no before the large snowfall, just to get the hang of it, and understand how it works. WELL, the tire chain came off and got sucked up into the chute... Stalled the engine, as expected it would, and the chain got all tangled in the auger. Blah!  I was worried I had sheared the key, so I started it up, and it ran fine... Thank goodness! 
Shut it down, did my best to get the chain off, and out of the auger, but nope... Out came the grinder, and goodbye chain...
I decided to take the other tire chain off, don't need a repeat, and those chains were pretty toast.
Funny, because it has loads of traction! Enough that it does a wheelie when I engage the transmission.

It's a great snowblower, and one I would highly recommend to others.  Sure, it's a Tecumseh engine, but they are really good snowblower engines! The King of Snow, after all...

Alright guys,

Chat soon...

Thursday, January 23, 2025

LEDs. Were We Lied To?

 Many years ago, 10 actually from the writing of this post, I wrote a brief on the cost of LED vs Incandescent Light Bulbs. The odd thing is that LEDs have not been lasting the 25k hours. In fact, some have lasted less than even the Incandescent counterparts.  Energy costs haven't gone anywhere either, in fact, they've increased. Even using LED bulbs, swapping everything to LED, changing to Energy Efficient fixtures, etc. It hasn't really made much of a change in energy costs, and many times it has increased. Especially with the added cost of these being more expensive products overall.

Which begs the question.

Were we lied to?

The short answer is. Yes. Obviously.

But it's a lot deeper than that. They (Energy Minister) suggests that it's the "aging" infrastructure that is to blame, which is adding costs, such as the "delivery" charge, which is what is the portion that is supposed to go towards upkeep, maintenance, and upgrades of the electrical infrastructure. 
And does it? Hard to say, especially when you consider that many times the CEO of these Power Generation companies are making multi-millions, but that's a topic for another discussion.
I find it hard to believe that it's aging infrastructure, more than it's buying into technologies

that are not really all that they've cracked up to be. 
Wind Turbines are great, for the average person to have one, as a sole means of backup energy capture (Electricity Production), so they can power things off grid, reducing their overall cost on Electricity, but as a means of power production for a large mass of people, it's silly.  You're taking a backup means of generation, and attempting to make it the primary means, that's just asking for trouble. Same with Solar. The sun does not always shine, and the wind does not always blow, therefore they should never be considered as main power generation systems. Why would they be? That's basically the same idea of putting the horse behind the carriage. 
It works great on a Porsche, having the engine in the rear, but doesn't help when the horse cannot see where they're going.
And honestly, they're not even really backup power, as they're more along the lines of ... Supplemental Power Generation. Sort of like having batteries in a car. It sounds like a good idea, until it's put into actual practice. Then it makes no sense at all.
Batteries are great as a method of storing generated power when there's low usage, and returning it back to handle any spikes, helping the grid cope when it needs to ramp up power generation. Batteries are also great in small handheld devices, like cell phones, cordless drills, impact drivers, and laptop computers. They also make sense to help clean up DC power production, as you can use a AC/DC inverter, run it thru a battery to help clean the voltage into a steady, true DC voltage, and run DC loads off it, such as electronics, without damaging interference.

If you consider how an AC Sine Wave works, you have a "Positive" voltage, followed by a "Negative" voltage, 60 times a second (or 50 in other parts of the world). This cannot work as a DC voltage, as DC requires constant, direct voltage, in one direction, no spikes, no dips, or you get interference, or outright damage to the electronic components. 
Consider your car, for instance. You have an Alternator, which is a generator, and it recharges the battery. However, it being an alternator, creates an 'alternating' voltage/current, meaning it's creating AC electricity.  By running it thru a couple gates, and capacitors, and you get a DC voltage, however it is not a constant DC voltage, so by running it thru a battery, it's able to remove the voltage sags, and give constant DC voltage.

We're being told this is all for "Green" Net-ZERO, and that it's for the planet, with CO2 reduction in mind. How much CO2 are we reducing? 0.04% of our atmosphere is CO2.. 100 Million years ago there were 5x to 10x the concentration of CO2 in the air, the planet was a lot warmer, meaning there were no polar ice caps, and the largest, most successful animals, existed, and walked the Earth. 
The land was fertile from pole to pole due to the temperature, and CO2 content in the air.
Us paying more, many having to decide whether to buy groceries, or pay rent, feeling like they're in over their heads more, never able to get ahead at all, is not going to reduce any kind of CO2 footprint.

A Conflict of interest?

No, I was a pretty early adopter of Electric Battery powered equipment, such as an E-Bike in 2014, and then we got a Battery Operated Snowblower in 2015, followed by a Battery Powered Lawnmower in 2017, alongside a battery powered weed trimmer, so I have done the whole battery crap already.  The one thing that I think works well as a battery operated tool, is the weed trimmer. It has plenty of power, less vibration, and is overall lighter than a gas powered trimmer.  But, I find that the trimmer line is less robust, as it's often a thinner gauge than on their gas powered counterparts, plus the battery will not last anywhere close to what a gas engine will, when maintained. 

What was your experience with the Battery Powered Lawnmower?

Honestly, I enjoyed using it. I found it to be a great little unit when using it for a small lawn.  My original reason for getting a battery operated lawnmower was because, 1. it was easier to operate for my wife, who enjoyed cutting the lawn, as she enjoyed the sunshine, and 2. The gasoline powered mower I was using, failed. The person I took it to that said he could fix it, simply couldn't. I figured if he couldn't fix it, then who the heck else could? It was before I had started to learn and take an interest in small engines. It was definitely easier to start, tho.

But that's when I started to find the problems with my mower. It wasn't a Greenworks lawnmower, it was a SunJoe, however insert whatever brand you want, and
you'll get a similar result. The body was made of plastic, certain questionable parts were made out of plastic, and many times they were non-serviceable parts.
The blade adapter on the SunJoe mower was entirely non-serviceable, and if it broke, the entire lawnmower is now junk.
The first issue I had, was the body flexed. It surprised me when I saw it the first time. I was mowing along my fence line, and pushed a bit against the fence, which caused the body to flex. That's when I heard the sound of a quickly spinning blade coming into contact with the body of the mower. That surprised me. I shut it off, and inspected the damage. I found a few chunks missing on the underside of the deck, which you can see in this video.
Next was the tiny bagger on it.  It would fill quite quickly, and when that would happen the motor would easily bog down on even slightly tall grass, which no gas mower would even falter. This is where the second issue is that I had with it. Completely lack of power. It would bog down in grass that may have been ignored for a week or two extra, often causing the overload to cut it out of action. How ridiculous is that? 
The benefit that I found, being lightweight enough that my wife used to be the one who enjoyed mowing the lawn, to her complaining it would cut out when she went over slightly longer grass.  She used to use our old Gasoline powered mower, and never had it bog down once going over any grass.

Now EGO is another lawnmower brand out there making grand promises, such as "The First Lawnmower to be as powerful as a gasoline mower!"

Yeah, I could see that, if it has a powerful enough motor, but then will need the battery to match, which can be quite expensive.  And this is where the EGO mower starts to fall flat. Sure, they are powerful, but the batteries are questionable. With batteries actually being the weakest point of these lawnmowers, which begs the question. How green could these mowers actually be? 
Many lawnmowers I come across to repair are in the range of 10-20 years old, with some being older than 40 years old.  The minor little repairs I do, and they're good for another half dozen, or more, seasons, especially if they're maintained.  
Most Battery operated lawnmower batteries often cost several hundred dollars to replace, which can easily be more than the break point on even replacing the battery, which is often what a lot of people do. They sell the mower, as is, without the battery, having bought a new mower with a battery.

How is that environmental? When I find a non-running gasoline powered mower, it's simple to get going, and will often cost someone less than a 1/3rd of a replacement battery.

What other considerations do you have about battery operated equipment?

Battery operated equipment isn't terrible, honestly. For the average person, with the average lawn, they're okay to have.   There is a risk of fire, especially on the cheaper batteries, considering they'll be built to a lower price point.
This should be avoided, but as I said before about rising prices, people will choose the option that doesn't hit the pocket book as much.

What about used battery powered equipment?

I would have to say that Used Battery equipment is a gamble. You often cannot really test the life of the battery, until it's too late. Many times Lithium batteries will work, until they don't, and when they no longer hold a charge, it's quite sudden.
Or the battery could last several years, but then you're still stuck in the same boat. The battery replacement, if it's still available, will be more costly than just buying a new unit, that has more options.
Sound familiar with EV cars?

What is the difference, then, with gasoline powered equipment?

This is where it's interesting. Many of the older parts are actually readily available, as the design sometimes simply hasn't changed. The Briggs Flathead 3hp engine has been basically the same design for, gotta be going on 50 years. It's a solid engine, and well designed,
 however it's no longer manufactured, as they've moved onto OHV engines, due to emissions standards.
Often gasoline powered equipment can easily be repaired, unless there has been catastrophic failure. However the parts could easily be used on a similar model that may need less work to get going again.

Considering all this, what would you suggest?

Honestly, it's hard to say. LEDs are definitely going to be less expensive to operate than their INCANDESCENT counterparts, just on energy consumption alone, and they've become so inexpensive that they're often sold in small packs at the dollar store.
So thru consumerism, they are often less expensive overall, although the bulbs are now filling up the landfills as well, as it's often the drivers that fail on the bulbs, due to inadequate ventilation.
However with gasoline powered equipment, vs battery powered. I would say that older gasoline powered equipment will easily outlast any modern battery operated equipment, hands down, and does not even come close to posing the same fire risk. Sure, gasoline is flammable, but can easily be extinguished, and contained. Lithium Ion fires easily burn far out of control quicker, and more aggressively, with much hotter temperatures.
I would steer clear of buying new in general, and definitely avoid buying battery operated equipment used.  older, well maintained gasoline engines will last a very long time, as they are very simple machines overall.

Moving forward, I can see battery powered lawn equipment becoming more prevalent, with gasoline equipment seeing a drop, for a bit, then a surge as people find the replacement of a battery just isn't worth the cost.

Until next time...

Chat soon

Thursday, January 16, 2025

The Tale of the Two Toros

 First time I've worked on a Toro lawnmower, and this one was mated to a Honda GSV190 engine, and boy what a solid engine it is! I had worked on a GCV160 before, and it was a fairly easy engine to work on, with lots of power, smooth running, quiet, and easy to start.



This mower was no different, other than the fact that it had a slightly larger, and more powerful engine. It was just as quiet, and started with barely a pull.  My father in law (who's 85) could start it without much effort at all, and it brought a smile to his face when he started it.

The only issue with the Honda mower wasn't that it wouldn't start, but that the mowers both had broken wheels. It was annoying, but I found the parts, brand new, at a local Toro dealer.

Thankfully it was a pretty simple repair to get the wheel fixed. It was a broken height adjuster handle. 


However, this isn't about the repair, it's about the Toros.  Although the video centres on the one, it had a twin.
The second Toro was in a bit worse shape, overall.  I fixed the wheel on that one too, which had a similar problem. Even on the exact same side! 
The only difference between the two, was that one had a Mulch plug, and the other had a bag. That's it.

When I listed the first one I had repaired, the person that contacted me asked if I had more than one.
And if I work on them.  So I ended up with 3. He dropped off one for servicing. I tried and tried and tried to get the OEM carb fixed, I ran it thru the Ultrasonic, then blasted it out with carb cleaner, and finally, I just gave up and bought a new carb.

That's when it did something I was waiting for.... It idled.
That was the issue I was having with the original Carb, it wouldn't idle. I cleaned out the pilot circuit several times to try to get it to idle, but it just refused to idle. It would surge, then die. But at full throttle, it ran pretty good.

As for the second non-running Toro I had, well, that was a little different. It just needed a carb clean, and... A new spark plug!  I laughed when it actually needed a spark plug. I regapped it, no effect. 
So I took the spark plug, on a whim, from the customer's mower (I thought I was going to need to replace the carb on the second Toro), and popped it in, pulled it over, and it roared to life.
Dang! It's never the spark plug, but sometimes it is!

It happens from time to time.  In the end, customer was very happy with the transaction, especially when he heard his mower idle.  His words, "Wow! Now that it has never done before..."

So clearly it was in desperate need of attention. Very happy with the experience.

Definitely a mower I'll be on the watch out for!
The Honda GSV190 engine does a good job selling itself, however. The Honda reliability is legendary for a reason.

Anyway guys,

Chat soon!

Friday, January 10, 2025

Winterizing A 2-Stroke

2-Stroke engines, at least smaller ones, require a little bit more work when you're preparing them for winter. As they contain rubber diaphragms, which dislike ethanol, as it dries them out, not to mention the fuel likes break down with the ethanol fuel, faster than using regular fuel, and the UV rays damaging them. If you've ever seen rock hard fuel likes, or ones that fall apart just by looking at them, it likely means that it is Ethanol damaged, unless they're very old.

Opening the fuel cap on a Stihl BG30 Leaf Blower

A simple method to keep that from happening?  Add 2-stroke oil into the fuel tank, and pump it thru the carb.
Adding 2-stroke oil to the fuel tank
By doing this, you're essentially displacing the fuel, and keeping the diaphragm, and fuel lines, well lubricated.
This will help keep them from dying out, and falling apart.
The only thing is that, come summer, when you drain it all out, the first few minutes of run time, it'll likely smoke like a fire pit!  But that's okay, it'll help clear the air of mosquitos, and other biting pests!
When you have the fuel tank filled up, and you start priming the system, you'll notice that it gets quite difficult to get it to pump after a bit, this is because the oil is quite a bit thicker than 2-stroke fuel.
But that's okay, it's worth it in the end. The oil won't break down, it'll help keep the rubber lubricated and protected, and means saving money in the spring, when you get it out to use, and.... find that you can't get it started because the diaphragm has dried out.
It's either your time to fix it, if you're proficient, or your money, if you have to take it to a shop.
And if it's a home owner's model, well, then it'll likely be a "toss/sell" and get a new one, which means... more of your money!

Pumping the oil thru the system

Draining Out The Excess Oil

When you've finished priming the system, you can drain the excess out back into the bottle, or you can leave it in the tank, and pour it out in the spring when you get the machines back into service.

Anyway guys,

Chat soon!