The bottom part of our garden is a long way from the house (and electricity) and has grass paths. In places, the paths are narrow and undulating.

We have been where for forty years, and for about the first 15 I used a simple pull start 'small' two stroke Flymo. It was light to carry, started readily (even first time in the spring) and lasted almost for ever. About 10 years ago, I bought a new Flymo with the Honda engine, It was so heavy and cumbersome, I hardly used it. I am only 5'5" and also found it difficult to pull the start cord. It seemed to have been designed for someone of more althletic build than me. It has been in the back of the shed for the last 9 years.

Until a couple of years ago, I managed with a 'cheap' push four wheel petrol hover mower. My wife is disabled and I'm 'past my best' and I decided to buy a power driven one. I needed a narrow mower because of the state of the paths and bought a Ryobi, 16" I think. It is fairly basic but does well enough in cutting terms. We don't need a quality finish. However, it has always been the very devil to start from cold: could easily be a five minute job with me exhausted. It doesn't matter how carefully you prime it with the push bulb.

Recommendations for a mower of this size/type that have a reputation for easy start, would be much appreciated.

On Sat, 3 May 2014 17:13:53 +0200, Mervington
wrote:

Recommendations for a mower of this size/type that have a reputation for
easy start, would be much appreciated.

I was only looking last week for the same size/type. Pleasantly
surprised that many now have the option of a keystart. Adds about a
third to the price, but I thought that was acceptable.
A google search gave many :-)

On 03/05/2014 16:13, Mervington wrote:

The bottom part of our garden is a long way from the house (and
electricity) and has grass paths. In places, the paths are narrow and
undulating.

How far is "a long way"?

For petrol mowers, there is a useful guide he
http://www.mowdirect.co.uk/LAWN_MOWER_GUIDE_PETROL.htm

Or, for something more specific (self-propelled petrol mowers):
http://www.mowdirect.co.uk/lawn-mowe...ol-lawn-mowers

--

Jeff

On 03/05/2014 16:13, Mervington wrote:

The bottom part of our garden is a long way from the house (and
electricity) and has grass paths. In places, the paths are narrow and
undulating.

We have been where for forty years, and for about the first 15 I used a
simple pull start 'small' two stroke Flymo. It was light to carry,
started readily (even first time in the spring) and lasted almost for
ever. About 10 years ago, I bought a new Flymo with the Honda engine,
It was so heavy and cumbersome, I hardly used it. I am only 5'5" and
also found it difficult to pull the start cord. It seemed to have been
designed for someone of more althletic build than me. It has been in
the back of the shed for the last 9 years.

Until a couple of years ago, I managed with a 'cheap' push four wheel
petrol hover mower. My wife is disabled and I'm 'past my best' and I
decided to buy a power driven one. I needed a narrow mower because of
the state of the paths and bought a Ryobi, 16" I think. It is fairly
basic but does well enough in cutting terms. We don't need a quality
finish. However, it has always been the very devil to start from cold:
could easily be a five minute job with me exhausted. It doesn't matter
how carefully you prime it with the push bulb.

Recommendations for a mower of this size/type that have a reputation for
easy start, would be much appreciated.





I would look at the Bosch chargeable mowers.

On Sun, 04 May 2014 08:02:22 +0100, Derek wrote:

Pleasantly surprised that many now have the option of a keystart.

Really "keystart"?

I read to mean a battery and starter motor and multiple attempts to
start until the battery goes flat (and can then be recharged or mower
jump started). Battery may or may not be charged when mower is
running.

Or one of the systems that has BFO spring that is wound up when the
engine actually runs but has a limited (single?) attempt to start the
engine.

--
Cheers
Dave.

Thanks for the comments. The nearest part of our bottom garden will be 60 metres from an electricity point. The furthest will be almost double that. I certainly cannot run a supply for an electric power mower or to charge batteries on one.

The Ryobi has now decided that it doesn't want to start at all from cold. A case of removing the plug and giving a shot of easy start. It then goes at third pull. I'm not sure the primer bulb is working properly, but it has never been a good starter.

I've looked at many mowers online, but haven't found anything that I could say was really what I wanted....

In article ,
Mervington wrote:

Thanks for the comments. The nearest part of our bottom garden will be
60 metres from an electricity point. The furthest will be almost
double that. I certainly cannot run a supply for an electric power
mower or to charge batteries on one.

You could if you wanted to. That's well within a plausible distance
for an electricity flex, though you might have to make it up yourself.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

"Mervington" wrote in message ...


'Dave Liquorice[_2_ Wrote:
;1001654']On Sun, 04 May 2014 08:02:22 +0100, Derek wrote:
-
Pleasantly surprised that many now have the option of a keystart.-

Really "keystart"?

I read to mean a battery and starter motor and multiple attempts to
start until the battery goes flat (and can then be recharged or mower
jump started). Battery may or may not be charged when mower is
running.

Or one of the systems that has BFO spring that is wound up when the
engine actually runs but has a limited (single?) attempt to start the
engine.

--
Cheers
Dave.

Thanks for the comments. The nearest part of our bottom garden will be
60 metres from an electricity point. The furthest will be almost
double that. I certainly cannot run a supply for an electric power
mower or to charge batteries on one.

Why not? I did a similar thing some years ago when I couldn't park close to
the house and needed to use power tools. Nowadays of course, as well as the
required length of cable plus a plug and socket, a powerbreaker would be
regarded as essential.

Steve

The Ryobi has now decided that it doesn't want to start at all from
cold. A case of removing the plug and giving a shot of easy start.
It then goes at third pull. I'm not sure the primer bulb is working
properly, but it has never been a good starter.

Try a gas blowlamp. Don't light it, just play unlit gas into the air filter
whilst starting. Most small engines start easily on a whiff of gas providing
the ignition spark is working reasonably well.

Mike

Depending on the size of an electric mower, we could be mariginal on voltage drop problems. The distances I have given were as the crow flies. In practice, they would be rather further. The topography does not readily lend itself to running cables either. I already have a generator in the garage that I use when we have power cuts - three in the last 12 months. I thought about putting another one down the bottom, but good ones are not cheap.

We use an electric mower for the top garden.

On Tue, 6 May 2014 18:14:02 +0200, Mervington wrote:

The nearest part of our bottom garden will be 60 metres from an
electricity point. The furthest will be almost double that. I
certainly cannot run a supply for an electric power mower or to charge
batteries on one.

60 m isn't very far. In my day job I regulary use main kit on the end
of 200 m of cable, admitedly not a great load maybe 250 W but there
is no hint of problematic volt drop. When I was pressure washing the
outside of the house prioer to repainting I used two 50 m extension
cables in series again no problems.

Not sure of the power of a lawn mower but to run of a single 13 A
socket it's not likely to be above 2 kW or about 9A. 2.5 mm^2 has a
volt drop of about 0.02 mV/A/m. 9 A over 60 M is 10 V for a simple
motor not worth bothering about and within the 230 V +10/-6% (253 -
216 V) tolerance on the supply voltage anyway.

If you used 4 mm^2 flex instead of 2.5 mm^2 the volt drop would
halve. 4 mm^2 flex at that length would start being rather heavy to
hand coil, 2.5 mm^2 is OK with large loops.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Saturday, May 3, 2014 4:13:53 PM UTC+1, Mervington wrote:
Recommendations for a mower of this size/type that have a reputation for
easy start, would be much appreciated.

Well, I bought a new John Deere two years ago which has electric start, which ought to be fantastic but is actually a pile of junk. It won't re-start when hot, which is annoying because it has one of those auto-stop things for when you let go of the handle. It's a briggs&stratton but no-one can make it behave.

I think the sugestion of a rechargeable Bosch electric is a very good one indeed, although you would have to push it.