Not gonna lie, I’ve never emptied the gas tank of my lawnmower or snowblower and up until this thread, I did not know I was supposed to. I normally just give it a little Seafoam.
I live where the grass is mowed year round so I always leave gas too. When I first moved to where we only mow 3 months a year I had to replace the carb in successive years from leaving gas in. I ended up using stabil and spraying carb cleaner in the spark plug hole and that kept me good over the other seasons.
Every year I do my final mow and put the push mower in the garage with whatever E10 is still in the tank. Every spring I bust it out and it starts on the first or second pull. It’s been that way for the past decade in the humid southern US. One decade those ethanol gremlins will get me like everyone always says. I mean they know! They have a friend it happened to! Them being the personality type that references “Commiefornia” has absolutely nothing to do with it because, again, they have a friend it happened to who probably owns a business so it’s extra true now.
I do this too. Only have issues with the newer mower. The siphon tube gets blocked by the gel e it causesvery few years. Take carb off, clean it, and good to go. People wayyyyy over exaggerate the problems with ethanol in gasoline.
It’s generally not as big of a deal as it used to be, fuels are better today than in the past, even with ethanol. Chances are something else breaks before the motor.
Gas gets old and can corrode the gas tank over time, which takes time and money to fix. You can push it a little bit, but its a good practice to get into to increase longevity
In theory yes, but you have to be pretty careful with that too. I work for a small engine repair shop, and we have stuff coming in all the time that people swear to God only ever runs ethanol free. Then when we test the gas, we find ethanol and water.
We talked to some gas truck drivers, and apparently there is a lot of cross contamination, so even if you’re pumping out of an ethanol free pump, you might still be getting ethanol. We’re telling people that it’s still best practice to empty your tank and run the engine dry if you’re not going to use the equipment for a while.
If it’s something you are using regularly enough, you would likely hit a point of diminishing returns pretty quickly. I only bother emptying tanks if I know I’m not going to use the equipment for a while.
If I had a gas mower when I had a lawn, I wouldn’t really give much of a shit about bad weather stopping me from mowing. Only reason I didn’t mow in the rain or if it was wet was because had an electric mower. It doesn’t snow here, so there really isn’t much else but rain to stop someone mowing their lawn.
I’ve been rained on while already mowing (gas mower), and went ahead and finished the last bit. But I’d rather the grass be dry-ish when mowing, because it bogs the engine down when the grass is too wet. I use a push mower though, and wet grass definitely makes the job a bit harder — probably not great for wear-and-tear on the engine as well
Not gonna lie, I’ve never emptied the gas tank of my lawnmower or snowblower and up until this thread, I did not know I was supposed to. I normally just give it a little Seafoam.
Technology Connections did a test and he thinks it’s fine.
I live where the grass is mowed year round so I always leave gas too. When I first moved to where we only mow 3 months a year I had to replace the carb in successive years from leaving gas in. I ended up using stabil and spraying carb cleaner in the spark plug hole and that kept me good over the other seasons.
Every year I do my final mow and put the push mower in the garage with whatever E10 is still in the tank. Every spring I bust it out and it starts on the first or second pull. It’s been that way for the past decade in the humid southern US. One decade those ethanol gremlins will get me like everyone always says. I mean they know! They have a friend it happened to! Them being the personality type that references “Commiefornia” has absolutely nothing to do with it because, again, they have a friend it happened to who probably owns a business so it’s extra true now.
I do this too. Only have issues with the newer mower. The siphon tube gets blocked by the gel e it causesvery few years. Take carb off, clean it, and good to go. People wayyyyy over exaggerate the problems with ethanol in gasoline.
It’s generally not as big of a deal as it used to be, fuels are better today than in the past, even with ethanol. Chances are something else breaks before the motor.
Having lived most of my life in Florida, the only time I emptied my lawnmower in the winter is while mowing my lawn.
Gas gets old and can corrode the gas tank over time, which takes time and money to fix. You can push it a little bit, but its a good practice to get into to increase longevity
Good to know.
You can also just run ethanol free for the last tank of the season.
In theory yes, but you have to be pretty careful with that too. I work for a small engine repair shop, and we have stuff coming in all the time that people swear to God only ever runs ethanol free. Then when we test the gas, we find ethanol and water.
We talked to some gas truck drivers, and apparently there is a lot of cross contamination, so even if you’re pumping out of an ethanol free pump, you might still be getting ethanol. We’re telling people that it’s still best practice to empty your tank and run the engine dry if you’re not going to use the equipment for a while.
I’ve heard you should empty gas from lawn tools after every use, because the expansion and contraction can cause damage. Thoughts?
If it’s something you are using regularly enough, you would likely hit a point of diminishing returns pretty quickly. I only bother emptying tanks if I know I’m not going to use the equipment for a while.
I put that Stabil stuff in. Never had an issue.
If it’s completely filled up and you are least empty the carb and spray some carb cleaner in it you don’t have much to worry about
If I had a gas mower when I had a lawn, I wouldn’t really give much of a shit about bad weather stopping me from mowing. Only reason I didn’t mow in the rain or if it was wet was because had an electric mower. It doesn’t snow here, so there really isn’t much else but rain to stop someone mowing their lawn.
I’ve been rained on while already mowing (gas mower), and went ahead and finished the last bit. But I’d rather the grass be dry-ish when mowing, because it bogs the engine down when the grass is too wet. I use a push mower though, and wet grass definitely makes the job a bit harder — probably not great for wear-and-tear on the engine as well
I run premium in all my small engines. I have never once had a problem starting them in the spring.