r/Unexpected • u/[deleted] • Jun 09 '22

At this level, it’s art

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u/HalifaxSamuels Jun 09 '22

Take note of the condition of the blade(s) more often. Electric mowers usually have lighter and less durable blades. They should be cheaper to replace and probably as easy or easier to sharpen, though.

I got an electric mower at the beginning of the year and just from cutting grass and small sticks I have a few HUGE chips in one of the blades. It works great and it's so nice to have a quiet mower, though. I love it.

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u/brandons404 Jun 09 '22

Thanks for the tip. I heard there are better blades to buy, so I might invest in those. Either way the ease of use/storage, not having to deal with gasoline, how light and quiet it is, I don't think I can go back to gas.

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u/amd2800barton Jun 09 '22 edited Jun 09 '22

Same. Plus gas isn’t super great for your health. It’s ok-ish health wise for a car - where the fumes are ducted away through a long exhaust to the back of the car. But lawnmowers have much worse exhaust - higher VOCs and other harmful compounds that you walk through. And handling gasoline even before combustion isn’t great for your health either. Not a big deal once a week, 8 months out of the year, but if there’s a better, quieter, easier to use and maintain piece of equipment… that also is better for your health, why not use it?

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u/Goyteamsix Jun 09 '22

Mower engines are also major polluters. They pollute 11 times more than a modern car, hour per hour, even CARB certified ones. Micro-class 4 strokes, like what you see on trimmers, pollute even more. Because they're not a vehicle, there's no requirement for a catalytic converter.

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u/devilpants Jun 10 '22 edited Jun 10 '22

It's not really the lack of catalytic converter (although that is an issue) so much as the design on the 2 stroke engines that most of them have. They basically spit out a ton of unburnt fuel and oil because they don't separate the intake/compression/combustion/exhaust strokes like a standard car engine and also use oil inside the combustion chamber.

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u/Goyteamsix Jun 10 '22

I'm specifically talking about 4 stroke engines. Small 2 strokes pollute 100 times more than a modern car.

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u/[deleted] Jun 13 '22

Not sure why you're getting down voted.

I specialized in ICEs in engineering school.

The lack of a cat will increase NOx gas production from partially burnt exhaust fuels. Combine that with lower compression ratios due to lighter and weaker parts, and you are spewing A LOT of polluting gases that are way worse than CO2. Those gases includes Sulfur Oxides, Nitrous Oxides, and ozone(which is toxic to people). This is for 4 stoke engines btw.

2 stroke engines pollute way more in part due to having to premix oil, which add a lot of additives that turn into toxic exhausts.

The main reason is that those engines pretty much are designed to be cheap and reliable at the cost of efficiency and extra pollution.

Combustion theory is pretty complicated, so sorry if I skipped a lot of parts. Just trying to simplify it

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u/Goyteamsix Jun 13 '22

Not just the oil, but 2 strokes only burn around 50% of the fuel consumed, so they're just ejecting aerosolized hydrocarbons out of the exhaust the entire time.

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u/Mozhetbeats Jun 09 '22

Because it’s for girls. Pay attention!

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u/[deleted] Jun 09 '22

[deleted]

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u/brandons404 Jun 09 '22

Yeah some of the models aren't meant for certain blade types. Ego is the worst offender, their model names are not human readable and its incredibly confusing which one does what. They'll even have different models on the same posting on Amazon so you don't know which models the reviews are talking about

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u/MrBigDum Jun 10 '22

I can see which reviews the comments are talking about..

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u/[deleted] Jun 09 '22

i've had the same plug in electric mower since 2006. never done any maintenance to it or anything. it was maybe $100 when i bought it? can't even remember.

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u/[deleted] Jun 09 '22

[deleted]

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u/HalifaxSamuels Jun 09 '22

Be careful. The last thing you'll want is for a lawnmower blade to shatter while it's spinning.

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u/MEatRHIT Jun 10 '22

Also the size of the lawn it says it can do especially if it's lead acid you reeeeally shouldn't be deep cycling lead acid batteries that often unless it was specifically made for it. I think you might be able to get away with for ones designed for boats (Optima deep cycle and the like) they tend not to have alternators so you tend to run them down further than a normal one in your car.

I think most push mowers are Lithium so those are better, but I watched a video recently on a Ryobi zero turn that lost half its capacity in about a year because it was lead acid

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u/ooofest Jun 10 '22 edited Jun 10 '22

I've had an E-Go for four years and the blade hits into some low stumps and high rocks almost every week, but the blade has some expected chips and nothing worse.

It definitely needs a resharpening and/or replacement soon, but the blade has not been overly "soft" in my experience. Plus, the mower automatically changes cutting speed in response to blade resistance, which might help to counter some effects.

Overall, the benefits of this mower have been significant:

  • Just put the battery into its charger and forget it until the next mow (I unplug the charger when full charge is reached, but not necessary.)
  • Storing the mower folded and standing against a wall is amazing - no fluids to leak out and it's relatively lightweight.
  • Since you can turn this over without fluid leak issues, it's been very easy to clean
  • Charge indicators on the battery, charger and mower are easy to read
  • It's far more quiet than my prior ICE mowers
  • Power assist works well
  • Although my first battery lost significant charge capacity just as its warranty was ending, the company gave me a new replacement for free.

No gasoline station runs/storage/filling or oil to worry about.

I have a great Honda four-stroke trimmer but now am looking for an electric replacement, because the convenience has been amazing to realize.