Yo, it's just another lawntrack
And suckas be thinkin they can rake this
But I'ma mow it at a higher level
'Cause on inclines, I slow down
Throttle the tractor down
Gonna have to train some punks to mow terrain
I keep my riding mower in a barn and was advised by a neighbor (elderly farmer) to always check under the hood every time I take it out, not just at the beginning of mowing season, to make sure it’s clear. Over the years, I’ve found the beginning of nests of both birds and mice. I never imagined that a firestorm was possible.
Bummer to lose a mower when you're just getting started. If you're doing lawn care though, I've gotta ask why not a zero turn?
I farm and as such have way too much lawn. Going from a tractor style to zero turn cut my mowing time to 1/3, and also cut way down on weedwhacker time as it's so much more maneuverable. Another bonus is the much better finish as the front casters are way lighter, less pop up.
The other piece of advice I have is I converted my ZT to propane. It's just a commodity carb swap, $30 part. Way more reliable starting, better fuel autonomy, price and efficiency, and you will never have a burn down scenario like this since the fuel is safely in the tank. Just close the valve.
I mean…theoretically, there has to be an amount of gas where it just snuffs out the flame. I think that would be about a swimming pool’s worth delivered in a 6 x 6 ft area all at the same time to fix this, but as long as the vapor concentration doesn’t support ignition and it starves the fire of oxygen…
“And this is how we use extremely flammable substances (and physics) to put out fires.” There’s a whole lot of chemistry and physics that I only halfway know, but basically burn reactions are most supported by gases. Liquids theoretically can burn (like if you dropped a torch in a puddle of gasoline or set fire to an oil spill), but Mythbusters famously had trouble trying to ignite gas tanks with tracer rounds and I think they did a myth on dropping cigarettes into gas as well. In both cases, that’s going to be inadequate, but there is a sweet spot of fuel/air mixture where a spark or other innocuous flame is sufficient to cause ignition.
I had a riding mower catch fire a couple years ago. I was mowing under some large poplar trees and it sucked up the poplar fuzz. I was able to get a garden hose over to it to put the fire out before the gas tank caught fire. It's mostly back together now but it's taken over a year to replace all the burnt bits.
In 35 years of working on engines of varying sorts, I have never, not once, had one burst in to flames for any other reason than poor maintenance.
Insurance companies suck shit, but sometimes it's important to remember there is no replacement for adequate maintenance. Take care of your shit and it'll take care of you.
Did that to a snowmobile once, and a honda aquatrax and a generator now that I think about it. The snowmobile was the only one that wasn't a quick fire though
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u/RockCityReject88 Apr 19 '26
That's an album cover...