California considering statewide ban on gas-powered gardening equipment.
A new leaf blower operating for one hour is the equivalent in pollution to a 2016 Toyota Camry traveling over 1,100 miles.
Cheers Max.
Well, it is California; and the best [and acknowledgedly politically incorrect] quote I have on that topic is this one; "California; it's exactly the same as Granola - it's made up of flakes, fruits [i.e. homosexuals] and nuts!"
Last edited by Bruce; 20/03/2410:04 AM. Reason: Fixed Links
Cheers, Gadge
"ODK Mods can explain it to you, but they can't understand it for you..."
"Crazy can be medicated, ignorance can be educated - but there is no cure for stupid..."
Well it might be fine for the small home owner but those large estates it is going to be a problem.
Plus it is hard to believe a hand held blower operated an hour using only 1-2 quarts of fuel is polluting more than a car burning over 22 gallons of fuel.
If California want to clear up their pollution problem maybe they need to look into solving the vehicle traffic problems they have where a drive may sit in traffic with the engine running for 1-3 hours just trying to getting and from work.
Gadge got it spot on - I was going to say more commies than russia, but same thing.
At present, it would be political suicide in Australia to ban petrol powered machines since we are so heavily reliant on them.
Overall, I have had this argument before with a woman; How do they make an Ozito cordless mower.
Shipping litihium from some third world dangerous mine which severely degrades farming land halfway across the world to China, then doing the same for the (limited) steel, and the oil for the plastics, all carried out in factories with poorly governed emissions.
Then shipped halfway across the world to bunnings. You use it for 3 years, with your lawn needing more water and fertiliser due to the way they hack at the blades of grass, you most likely use electricity from coal or gas fired power plants, then something minor breaks or the batteries lose efficiency; meaning you have to repeat the process.
Meanwhile, I use 0.6L of 25:1 fuel per mow in a victa 2 stroke (well in my case one of about 10 to choose from). Once a fortnight for 3 years means 45ish L of fuel and 1.8L of oil.
The mower had its raw materials extracted and refined once 30 years ago - and the only distance it has traveled in its life is from Milperra to Perth
Whose footprint is smaller?
Just because you p*ss of your polution to some third world **** hole doesn't make you better than everyone else
Thanks to synthetic two stroke courtesy of Aldi special buys, my 1982 Victa Mustang found in a rubbish pile, has a transparent exhaust that won't attract sneers from neighbours and passers by. The noise will do that all on it's own The finished lawn will attract accolades or at least an absence of said sneering reactions. Our neighbour went and got one of those hopeless Ozito plastic lithium mowers. It couldn't cut it's way out of a damp paper bag going by the weed ridden mess of a patio. I feel guilty not fixing up a four stroke for him in time. (He prefers a four stroke).
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
What I don't get is our EPA (US) ban on the repair shops getting carburetor tuning tools; unless, we have a very expense exhaust gas analyzer. They rather us to install a supposedly pre-tuned two cycle carburetors that are badly out of tuned that result a high polluting engine. We can not get a single tool from the OEMs. At least thank to the Chinese I have be able get most of those adjustment tools so thing are tuned right when they leave my shop.
What they are referring to when they compare a blower with a car is the hydrocarbon emissions. Production cars since forever have had catalytic converters to clean up the emissions by burning off what is not burnt by combustion. Even the cleanest running Honda 4 stroke will still have worse emissions than a car. Same goes for motorcycles, which are only in the last few years getting converters put in them.
I am a very big skeptic of the whole global warming thing and I won't go any further into it, I am simply explaining the Californian point of view.
Regulation on the power equipment industry has always been a farce. I remember years ago they were on Stihl for emissions so their solution was go to Honda, re brand a bunch of 4 stroke trimmers and that brought their emissions overall down so far it bought them years to clean up their range. to this day they still refuse to make a 4 stroke.
I don't doubt the small equipment (blowers, trimmers etc.) will get phased into battery, its already happening. I have never tried them but I've heard good things about the Milwaukee/ Makita gear. And with where the battery stuff is now I would say another 5 years, probably less, bigger equipment will get the same treatment.
Batteries are the biggest holdup. There have been battery Ride ons since nearly the 70's, always let down by batteries that don't last and cost more than the machine is worth
Hi nath, My biggest bitch with batteries is the fact the production of these is far more damaging to the planet than petrol engines ever can be. This is never mentioned, it is kept a a big secret. And they also ignore the fact that in most cases coal is the base power source for recharging most of these batteries. I was using my Stihl Farmboss yesterday that I bought in the early eighties, what a beautiful saw that machine is, never misses a beat, and I probably started it 30 times yesterday, second pull every time
I have heard the ridiculous situation of carburettors with the non adjusting screws are set to meet optimum emissions when they leave the factory and meet the rules when they come out out the box. They don't consider that they inevitably need to be readjusted after a short time of use, so become worse over the life of the machine of they're not readjusted somehow after time in use. We may as well be running them on brown coal granules.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
Two-stroke engines produce a lot of pollution because the fuel-air mixture in them gets contaminated with the engine’s lubricating oils. Simultaneously the combustion chamber draws in the contaminated mixture as exhaust gases are expelled through an exhaust port. Some of the fuel and oil gets mixed with the exhaust.
Envirofit’s fix replaces the engine’s carburetor, which mixes the air and fuel before they enter the combustion chamber, with a direct in-cylinder fuel-injection system. This allows fuel to enter the combustion chamber when the exhaust port is closed. Eliminating nearly all the unburned fuel significantly reduces the ensuing smoke and hydrocarbons. The conversion kit includes an air compressor, wiring harness, custom brackets, and a new cylinder head.
I have heard the ridiculous situation of carburettors with the non adjusting screws are set to meet optimum emissions when they leave the factory and meet the rules when they come out out the box. They don't consider that they inevitably need to be readjusted after a short time of use, so become worse over the life of the machine of they're not readjusted somehow after time in use. We may as well be running them on brown coal granules.
This doesn't make much sense to me when they do this. How can they be sure they have every carburetor tune perfectly right? Every engine and carburetor has variables that change the overall operating conditions not mentioning the actual conditions the engines are operated in.
Oh I have seen those Honda carburetors with idle mixture screws that are Loctite in place with the heads broken off yet they sell replacement screws.
Now I do get in riding mowers where the engines are so lean tuned from the factory that they simply are continuously surging from super lean to super rich where jets are one or two hundredths of a millimeter too small. Don't these produce pollutants by doing besides just excessive wear on the equipment including the engine and our nerves? Or at least it gets on my nerves that engine isn't operating smoothly once warmed up.
Originally Posted by NormK
Well I guess I had better stop using my wood fire during winter, but it will be some years before I burn all the wood I have collected
They are coming for you Norm and they going to put you under the jail for burning wood. But seriously it is a problem in places like India but they think the street is their outdoor bathroom too, just everywhere that is convenient.
I always love how people say I'm buying an electric car to save the planet!! If you really wanted to save something don't buy a new car at all! The sheer amount of pollution produced in making any car, in particular electric is far more than the car will ever produce.
I actually don't mind the idea of battery stuff, takes away the problem of stale fuel and carburetors you cant clean. I don't doubt its the future, I would never say its greener though.
The other thing is cost, if even china started putting catalytic converters on the trimmers and things (highly doubt it), I would be surprised if they would be able to keep it at the very low price that sells. The major brands shouldn't have too many dramas on the premium gear. If anything they might quieten some models which would be a win for contractors. I love my shindaiwa but the noise next to my ear would get old if I was using it day in day out
I read a small article and these are always kept small. I'm pretty sure it was from Volvo and they had no axe to grind here as they were comparing 2 of their own vehicles of similar size. I can't remember the models they were referring to because it meant nothing to me, but the crux of the matter was that the difference in the manufacturing carbon footprint between the 2 vehicles meant that the electric car would have to be driven for the first 80,000ks before the 2 cars carbon footprint became even. You can see why they keep these articles small, they don't want the population to know about this battery scam. When they can start making batteries from a renewable resource then I will start taking notice. Batteries are always needed for the world to operate but don't shove down my throat that using them is going to save the planet
What concerns me is the commercial and maybe higher end battery equipment is good but not the cheaper stuff, which is what the bulk will choose and they are true crap that will be disposed of quickly en mass. We will also have a lot of lithium battery waste with their toxic chemical makeup that will find it's way to land fill.
I hope the ban isn't made retrospective. Long may we breath in a healthy dose of 2 stroke goodness.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
The Pellenc mower in the video looks good except for the price tag of $3000.
The newer Pellenc mowers are 1600 watt ,3 year warranty ,electric brushless motor that has no fan cooling as it's designed not to need fan cooling and the run time is 5 hours per charge.
Pellenc is a company founded in 1973 by Roger Pellenc and Jean-Paul Motte. It is a French manufacturer of machines, equipment and power tools for specialized agriculture and the maintenance of green and public spaces. Viticulture, viniculture, arboriculture and olive growing are the main markets of the company in the specialized agriculture sector.
The company is based in Pertuis, where the head office, its research and development center, the group's industrial department, as well as the main production and assembly units are located. The group represents 18 subsidiaries around the world, including 7 production subsidiaries. Coming from specialized agriculture, it diversified into the maintenance of green and urban spaces in 2008.
The cheaper stuff isn't too bad ,my brother has a decent sized yard and reckons his Ryobi electric mower is good , you probably get what you pay for spend $150 on a new electric mower and you are throwing away $150.
I like the smell of two stroke but not when using a chainsaw and the smoke is directed at your face , then I would rather use my 2 Makita electric chainsaws and they are a lot quieter too.
