Lawnmower Questions - Gas vs. Electric for Replacing 30 year old too haevy mower.

 The almost 30 year old Sears gas mower with the huge 3.5 hp Tecumseh (sp?)
is again in need of a rebuild.  Needs a new deck as rust has just aout
killed the
current (second) deck. Also needs a repair to the dead man cable.

I've replaced the deck before, and done the cable repairs. Its no big deal,
but it kills a day after Sears sends the parts

The engine in this thing runs well, though by current lanwmower
standards it is
underpowered at 3.5 nominal hp.

Parts are going to run about $120.00 with shipping.

So I'm thinking about replacing it.  Its a heavy sucker to yank around
the yard,
it gets heavier each year, and I'm not getting any younger.  It used to
have a  chain powered drive,
but the drive was very unreliable and I took it off.  Still have all the
parts in a
box here somewhere.

Grass area in back is abot 90 feet wide, about 40 ft  from the house to
the back fence.
Out of that theres a 16 foot x 24 foot vegetable garden.  Back slopes a
little bit in the
west corner, maybe 4 foot down from the house to the back fence.

Front is a kidney shaped almost level piece, maybe 60 feet wide and
maybe 20 feet fro street to where the flowers start.  Again at the far
west side that slopes maybe 2 foot down from the street.

There are two side strips.  East side is level, about 5 foot wide and
maybe 30 foot deep.
West side is about 15 feet wide, again about 30 feet deep, and slopes a
*lot*, maybe 8
feet over that 30 foot depth.

So, gas or electric? Any specific models you'd recommend or avoid.
And no, a hand powered reel mower is not an option.  Cut far too many grass
patches as a kid 60 years ago with one of those.  I don't want to work
that hard.

I want to bag clippings.  I compost a lot for that veggie garden. I
don't want a "mulching" mower.

I do intnd to look, Tuesday when hey reopen, at the local library for
the most recent Consumer reports  stuff on mowers.


Please give me your thoughts and recommendations.

Thank you!

 


If you're referring to the type that needs a cord plugged into 120 volts AC,
I'd suggest the following:  Put a glass jar into a thick paper bag. Beat the
bag with a hammer until you have bits of glass the size of peas. Put half
the glass in your mouth and the rest in your shoes, and go for a walk.

That's a pretty good analogy for what it'll be like to mow a 90 foot stretch
while trying to manage an extension cord.

Get yourself a Snapper or Honda self-propelled gas mower. You'll find these
at independent lawn equipment shops, not big discount stores.

     Frankly I have done just that with an electric with cord and had no
problems at all.  My current home is not laid out in a way that would make
it easy,  but I am considering either a corded or battery model.  In fact I
just saw an add for a cord/cordlesss model.  I will have to look into that
one.

    I like the relative quiet of electric.  No bother with gas etc.  I don't
like the prospect of buying new batteries, as I am about to do for my
trimmer, blower and hedge cutter.  Of the three original batteries (about 6
years old) two are almost dead.   Very handy.

    While I personally like electric, I suspect that Joe would more happier
with a gas model.

--
Joseph Meehan

 Dia 's Muire duit

 wrote:

I bought an electric Black and Decker back in 1998, and still have it,
still starts with the first pull of the trigger everytime! :-)

Yes, electrics are much quitier, no smoke, no oil to check/change, no
carrying a can of gas around in your car or storing it in the garage.

You just have to get used to having a cord. What I do is start out
even with the electrical outlet on the house and move Away from it as
you cut. Basically of the back of your house is on the North and the
electric outlet is in the middle of the back of the house. Start from
the house outlet walking North to the fence, spin 180 come right back
to the East side parallel to the one you just cut, get to the house,
spin 180 cut towards the east again, etc. Then come back to the middle
when you are done with the NorthEast side, and do the same for the
West woring away from the electric outlet.

The other option is to run parallel to the back of your house from
East to West starting directly next to your house and working Out
towards the fence.

This way the cord doesn't get in your way!

As far as the battery units go, I'm sure having No cord is nice, but
what is your experience with cordless drills, etc. How long do the
batteries last, after a year or three, they tend to hold a charge for
a shorter time than they did to begin with. I would expect that as you
start mowing, the battery would be fine, but at some point when the
battery discharges you will lose RPM and Torque to the blade, it won't
be dead yet, but it won't be full power like the corded model.

If you find a unit that has a battery AND runs off a cord that would
be nice. If you have an area where the cord wont reach, or you have to
get around something, disconnect the cord, cut that section, then
reconnect the cord.

That's my 50 cents (used to be 2 cents, but everything is going up!)
Good Luck,
Sam

 
Hearing the electric mowers around here, they are not any quieter than the
gas models. The pitch of the sound is different though.