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Old 18-02-2008, 04:40 PM posted to alt.home.repair,rec.garden,alt.home.lawn.garden
jJim McLaughlin jJim McLaughlin is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Apr 2007
Posts: 15
Default Lawnmower Questions - Gas vs. Electric for Replacing 30 yearold too haevy mower.

Worn out Retread wrote:


"jJim McLaughlin" wrote in message
. ..

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.


----------snipped-------------------------

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!



Being roughly in the same age group, if my mower went on the hummer, I
would look into having a lawn care company take care of it. The lawn
companies around here will bag the clippings and give them to you if you
are into composting. They trim the edges and clean up any clippings on
the driveway and sidewalk. With the cost of having a lawn mower, string
trimmer (weed wacker), and leaf blower as well as the physical cost of
operating those contraptions in the hot humid weather, it just might be
worth the extra cost to hire a company....or the kid down the road.


The bad news is lawn services around here want $ 50.00 a crack for my
yard, want t do it
every ten days. That buys a lot of lawnmower.


The good news around here (Portland, OR) is there is not a humidity
prolem sprng summe early fall.
Winter is a different story, but no mowing.

I'd love to hire "the kid down the street", but there seriously ain't one.


I have a self propelled Husqvarna unit that is good but I'm finding that
mowing the lawn is becoming less and less attractive as time passes
regardless of the equipment being used.

Take a hard look at how the catcher bag is attached on the new machines.
Some of them are not all that easy to empty once filled and some of them
are just not very easy to get on and off of the mower.