Lawn Maintenance Tools Guide: How to Care for Blowers and Lawnmowers

This one is for all the homeowners who take interest in maintaining a lush and attractive lawn. No matter how much you enjoy caring for your lawn grass, caring for it is never a walk in the park.

It requires you to own and rely on a set of tools to maintain your lawn’s overall health.

If you are new to this, this handbook is all you need to equip yourself with the right landscaping tools. In the following list, you’ll learn about the essentials of lawn care, including how to take care of your lawn care tools, even when you are not using them.

1.  Leaf Blower

A power blower or vacuum is an essential instrument used to blow out the leaves, debris, and any other unnecessary rubbish from your lawn grass. It is usually operated using an electric cord, gas motor, or battery. The blower is an automatic version of a rake.

If your lawn size is large, and you find it difficult to physically clean the grass using a rake, then a blower is what you need. It saves time and is easier on your hands too.

However, blowers are loud, and can often annoy your neighbors while you are using them. For your information, gas-powered blowers are the noisiest of all.

2. Snow Blower

Blowers come in two varieties primarily—leaf blowers and snow blowers. The previous section talked about leaf blowers. Snow blowers, on the other hand, are somewhat similar to leaf blowers but serve a different purpose.

A standard snow blower, including Liberty snow blowers, is fantastic for its blowing capacity. Homeowners who face snowfall every year often opt for a snow blower during wintertime. You may wonder if investing in a snow blower is worth it. It totally is, and here is why!

Snow blowers are used to clear the snow from your driveway, lawn, back yard, front yard, and streets too. Ever wondered how to knock off soft snow from bent branches? The answer is snow blower!

In addition, when you have to get to work every morning, and you find your car and driveway covered in snow, a snow blower saves the day!

Maintenance Tips

In order to make sure that your blower is in good health, you need to check the air filter after every use.

The main function of your blower is to blow air, hence keeping the air filter clean is absolutely vital for it to function efficiently. It also prevents engine wear and tear.

Additionally, you should regularly check the components, such as the blower throttle and lock trigger to ensure it’s working properly. Inspecting your blower frequently will save you from the trouble of it breaking down. Moreover, a clogged blower’s performance will remain inadequate.

Maintaining a snow blower requires additional care, especially because this appliance is usually abandoned in the back of your garage for the entire year until it snows again. It’s essential to know how to service and care for it, to ensure its longevity and efficiency. Regular off-season maintenance and adequate storage are bound to extend its life by years.

Here’s what you need to do:

1. For starters, drain the fuel system and run the engine dry. Adding fuel treatment is a great tip, as it prevents leftover gas from forming deposits. Or damaging the spark plug or carburetor of your snow blower. Therefore, we believe you should add fuel treatment before draining the fuel out.
   Check carefully that the choke is engaged when the engine stops running. Press the restart button continuously until it stops responding. Then gently loosen the carburetor bolt to drain the remaining gas and transfer it into a separate container.

2. After draining the fuel system, it’s time for you to change the engine oil. Refill it with engine oil, while both the engine and oil are warm. This ensures that the old oil gets pushed out by the new oil.

3. Time to inspect your machine by scanning through it properly. You’ll be on the lookout for loose cables, nuts, and fasteners. Tighten them as you check them. Next, check your blower’s rotor blades and scraper. Keep your snow blower’s user manual close to you while you inspect it. If something doesn’t make sense, you can always use it as your reference point. Now, if you are unsure or are concerned about damages, take it to the store, and if required you can replace the parts that are worn or damaged.

4. During the summer months, it’s crucial to protect your snow blower from rust. For a two-stroke machine, you can apply grease to the wheel shafts to hinder rust. This is the moment when you should keep an eye on chipped surfaces too. If you find any, you can sand them and apply touch-up paint. This hack stops the snow blower from expanding in humid and hot weather.
   
   Storing your snow blower in a dry area also combats rust tremendously. Please note that it isn’t safe to keep your snow blower near ignition sources, so store it accordingly if you are keeping it indoors.

5. Simply keep it covered using a protective cloth, sheet, or wrap. You can also go through the user manual for off-season storage instructions. You can use a protective single-stage cover to stop it from collecting dirt and debris.

3.  Lawn Mower

It’s safe to say that all homeowners with a front or backyard on their property should own a lawn mower, even if you hire professional lawn mowing services to get the job done.

There are two types of lawn mowers: reel mowers and rotary mowers.

Reel mowers have built-in wheels with mounted blades that cut against the lawn bed when the wheels rotate. Reel mowers have existed for the longest time and are a great non-polluting option.

Although there are gasoline-operated reel mowers, they’re only popularly used for commercial purposes. Homeowners tend to use reel mowers that are operated by simply pushing them forward with gentle force, like a cart. Using a reel mower for your lawn is nothing short of a cardio workout!

Rotary lawn mowers have a high-speed spinning blade inserted underneath a metal deck that cuts through taller grass. This kind of mower is available in various forms such from small push mowers to massive rider mowers that are similar to tractors. Since there are so many variations, the features of rotary lawn mowers are also quite vast.

Among these, electric push mowers are increasingly popular. Especially battery-operated ones that you don’t need to apply much body weight to push. The batteries are rechargeable too. Electric ones produce less noise than gasoline-operated mowers. Another selling point that makes them so popular.

Maintenance Tips

Here is a basic lawn mower checklist to ensure that you’ve got yours under control. Use this checklist to make sure you’re doing everything you need to keep your lawn mower running at its best:

1. Change the engine oil frequently. Topping up is mandatory so your lawn mower can operate adequately. Read the owner manual for reference. Make sure you buy the right type of oil for your machine.
2. You also need to pour a fuel stabilizer into its fuel system. For lawn mowers that have not been used in the last 30 days or so, we highly advise you to remove all the fuel. Then top up the oil before using it again.
3. Any spark plug needs to be replaced from time to time. In this case, an annual replacement will make sure your mower operates smoothly.
4. Keep the air filter clean. And replace the filter if necessary.
5. Don’t forget to sharpen the blades of your mower every few months. Otherwise blades tend to wear down with time. We highly advise you to seek professional help to carry out this particular maintenance task unless you have experience doing it.
6. Check that the blades are aligned properly.

7. Clean the mower, both the interior and exterior. For an enhanced performance, clear out all the compacted clippings that build up on the undercarriage. Ideally, clean it after every use.
8. Lastly, fog the engine. You have to factor in the downtime period, which in this case is usually wintertime when snow blowers are the better choice to keep your lawn free from leaves, debris, and snow.
   Fog oil is required to prevent your lawn mower’s engine from corrosion, as lubricants dry out over time.

The easiest way to take good care of your lawn mower is to carefully read the owner’s manual. Thoroughly go over the instructions given under the maintenance section. This is important because every lawn mower has a dedicated model number with special features. So, ideally you really would stick to its user manual.

Conclusion

If you are able to follow these lawn maintenance tips regularly to care for your lawn care tools, you surely deserve to own the title of a lawn doctor. But if doing it yourself is not your thing, then you can always seek help from professionals. Let them do the repairs and maintenance tasks for you. Plus, you’ll get to enjoy the optimal performance of your mower.

Lastly, don’t abandon them! Remember to take care of your lawn care tools even when they are not used!