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How a small group of activists got gas-powered leaf blowers banned in D.C.

theatlantic.com

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Re: How a small group of activists got gas-powered leaf blowers banned in D.C.

#221

Post by loudtieblahblah »

HarryHirsch wrote: post #220
loudtieblahblah wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It takes me 2 days at 8 hours a day to pick up my yard with a rake. It takes me a half day with a leaf blower. Between October and Feb I may have to pick up leaves 3 or 4 times to keep it from killing my grass or at the very least not be a bad neighbor and allow my leaves to blow over into the yard of people who just picked up theirs I have a kid to take care of, other house upkeep to do, a 40-50 hour a week job. Thi…

Yes, it's the suburbanite problem of too much house, too much yard. There's too much of everything to keep in presentable condition. One solution would be to hire outside help to keep the excess of stuff clean, but that may be expensive. There's another solution, to cut down on the amount of stuff. When I was a kid the lawn would take 30 minutes to mow with a push lawnmower, and maybe 45 minutes for raking. Once a we…

I'd rather have all the problems of the suburbs time 10 than live in then be ping ponged between the classist snobs that live in well off areas in urban centers and the high crime areas of those not so well off, with all your pollution and your asthma that you're breathing in day in and day out in concentrated ways, while taking my kid out to throw a ball or to walk my dog means i need to hop in a car and go to a park 5 miles away.

Portlandia isn't for everyone.

Re: How a small group of activists got gas-powered leaf blowers banned in D.C.

#222

Post by amyjess »

loudtieblahblah wrote: post #200
HarryHirsch wrote: post #8

What is wrong with using a rake to pick up leaves? Leafblowers are loud, dirty, they raise huge clouds of dust, they stink of gasoline, and at the end of the day, blowing leaves into a pile isn't even faster than raking them together. Using a leafblower is a sign of entitled loutishness.

It takes me 2 days at 8 hours a day to pick up my yard with a rake. It takes me a half day with a leaf blower. Between October and Feb I may have to pick up leaves 3 or 4 times to keep it from killing my grass or at the very least not be a bad neighbor and allow my leaves to blow over into the yard of people who just picked up theirs I have a kid to take care of, other house upkeep to do, a 40-50 hour a week job. Thi…

Nah, when I was a kid, I lived in a house in the suburbs with a front and back yard, and my mom always used a rake to take care of the leaves. We never even owned a leaf blower.

Re: How a small group of activists got gas-powered leaf blowers banned in D.C.

#223

Post by amyjess »

howard941 wrote: post #9
gerbilly wrote: post #5

Glorious day! I wish they would ban them where I live. I detest noise, but judging by the popularity of Harley's I must be in the minority.

We are in the minority but there are places where motorcycles aren't welcome. The trailer park I live in during the week is one of them. It's a pleasure to arrive home M-F to a pastoral environment where the smell of lemon blossoms accompanies the birds chirping, but then there's this shock when I go home to the mortgaged place on a golf course with daily lawn mowers, blowers, and straight piped Harleys. There could…

Let's also add a time stipulation: all lawn care must be between the hours of 13:00 and 17:00. No loud noises in the morning and the evenings.

Re: How a small group of activists got gas-powered leaf blowers banned in D.C.

#224

Post by nate_meurer »

caleblloyd wrote: post #199
imglorp wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just switched to an electric mower. It cost about the same as an decent mower, is lighter weight, always starts, is plenty powerful, and has about 45 minutes of charge on a swappable battery. I could buy more batteries if I wanted more runtime. I can also swap that battery with other equipment like string trimmers. I've overhauled my last temperamental gas carb. The end of gas lawn gear is indeed in sight.

I had a 40v electric mower with 5A battery for $350 new a few years ago. Battery life got shorter every run, the stopped working after 2 years, replaced under 3 year warranty. Second battery life continues to get shorter. New 5A batteries are $150. I had some 2A batteries from other lawn equipment but the mower eats through those in 10m, plus puts another charge cycle on them. I finally got feud up and got a Honda se…

That's frustrating. What brand was it?

Maybe I've just been lucky, but I've had exactly the opposite experience. I've mowed a large lawn with a Li-ion battery-powered mower for four years and I can't detect any degradation in the batteries. Maybe you already know and do this, but I'll note that some basic battery temperature management will greatly prolong their life. Don't let them bake in the sun, don't store them or charge them in a hot garage, etc.

On the other hand, all of the gas-powered mowers I've ever used, even really expensive ones, were heavy, fiddly, stinky, obnoxious things that eventually drove me to use a reel mower for a short time before I went electric.

I do still have a gas-powered machine. It's a tiller with a four-stroke engine. It's new and high-quality, and it's a fucking pain in the ass. It's hard to start, loud, smells like shit when it's running and the fuel stinks up my garage. Unfortunately there are no electric tillers, but we'll get there some day.

Re: How a small group of activists got gas-powered leaf blowers banned in D.C.

#225

Post by caleblloyd »

nate_meurer wrote: post #224
caleblloyd wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a 40v electric mower with 5A battery for $350 new a few years ago. Battery life got shorter every run, the stopped working after 2 years, replaced under 3 year warranty. Second battery life continues to get shorter. New 5A batteries are $150. I had some 2A batteries from other lawn equipment but the mower eats through those in 10m, plus puts another charge cycle on them. I finally got feud up and got a Honda se…

That's frustrating. What brand was it? Maybe I've just been lucky, but I've had exactly the opposite experience. I've mowed a large lawn with a Li-ion battery-powered mower for four years and I can't detect any degradation in the batteries. Maybe you already know and do this, but I'll note that some basic battery temperature management will greatly prolong their life. Don't let them bake in the sun, don't store them…

It was a Kobalt. I think it may have been their first battery powered model. The Honda mower will evidently need maintenance (outside of oil and air filters which I can do) at some point too, but the nice thing is Northern Tool and Equipment has a shop and they are a Honda dealer, so they can fix it and have the Honda supply chain.

Thing that sketched me out about the Kobalt is that once it fails or the battery is discontinued, you're on your own. I opened the battery up and it had 20x 4v cells but they were so tightly wired and glued that replacing all 20 would have been a pain in the ass, plus would've run around $80 for the cells.

Tillers are another beast, you don't drive them around the yard, they drive you. At least in the North Carolina clay...

Re: How a small group of activists got gas-powered leaf blowers banned in D.C.

#226

Post by toomuchtodo »

loudtieblahblah wrote: post #203
toomuchtodo wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think it’s wrong to comment on people who care more about convenience and cost then the externalities they’re creating (air and noise pollution). “Selfish” is not a protected class.

Neither is young, urba, stuck up progressives with good guy badges and pseudo morals

I find it unfortunate this is how you classify people attempting to better their local environment they exist in.

Re: How a small group of activists got gas-powered leaf blowers banned in D.C.

#227

Post by toomuchtodo »

loudtieblahblah wrote: post #216
eropple wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Services use leaf blowers because it's less work and because they don't give a shit about the externalities they create . It's more than just sound. Leaf blowers mostly use dirty, dirty two-stroke engines. Tons of emissions--which, regardless of the smell, we should be minimizing--and an awful stink. If you can afford a house, you can rake the lawn and sweep the driveway. Or, as the article notes, even in Totalitaria…

I own a house. I have medical problems limiting just how much I can exert myself. This wasn't true when i initially bought the home. Raking leaves, is a 3-5 times event that could take me about 16 hours (an entire weekend) each time. Blowing the leaves takes about 5-6 hours. I had an electric blower for a long time and honestly, it only shaved off maybe a 10th of my time b/c it simply wasn't strong enough. I recycle,…

Have you considered an electric leaf blower?

Re: How a small group of activists got gas-powered leaf blowers banned in D.C.

#228

Post by eropple »

loudtieblahblah wrote: post #216
eropple wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Services use leaf blowers because it's less work and because they don't give a shit about the externalities they create . It's more than just sound. Leaf blowers mostly use dirty, dirty two-stroke engines. Tons of emissions--which, regardless of the smell, we should be minimizing--and an awful stink. If you can afford a house, you can rake the lawn and sweep the driveway. Or, as the article notes, even in Totalitaria…

I own a house. I have medical problems limiting just how much I can exert myself. This wasn't true when i initially bought the home. Raking leaves, is a 3-5 times event that could take me about 16 hours (an entire weekend) each time. Blowing the leaves takes about 5-6 hours. I had an electric blower for a long time and honestly, it only shaved off maybe a 10th of my time b/c it simply wasn't strong enough. I recycle,…

Ah yes. Dorky urbanites. Certainly nobody who grew up in areas most minimally called "exurbs" would ever say that a two-stroke engine is unconscionably filthy to run. Certainly nobody who ever hand-raked a five-acre lawn growing up. One of the nice side effects of moving out of such places is that the impact I cause on the environment is significantly smaller and with effort it can be smaller still, but definitely--no idea what I'm talking about. Nope.

Or, put more bluntly: your complaints are against the voices in your head. Airing them here is ugly. And you still shouldn't use gas-powered blowers. (I'd say "at least use a four-stroke", but they're probably too heavy to be practical given what you've said.)

Re: How a small group of activists got gas-powered leaf blowers banned in D.C.

#229

Post by imglorp »

bzbarsky wrote: post #206
imglorp wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just switched to an electric mower. It cost about the same as an decent mower, is lighter weight, always starts, is plenty powerful, and has about 45 minutes of charge on a swappable battery. I could buy more batteries if I wanted more runtime. I can also swap that battery with other equipment like string trimmers. I've overhauled my last temperamental gas carb. The end of gas lawn gear is indeed in sight.

Which mower did you end up getting, if I might ask?

I got a mid-range Ryobi, because there is at least one string trimmer that uses the same power pack, and you can buy more of them. So far so good, but spring is coming so we'll see.

maybe this one: https://www.homedepot.com/p/RYOBI-20-in-40-Volt-Brushless-Li...

Re: How a small group of activists got gas-powered leaf blowers banned in D.C.

#230

Post by nate_meurer »

caleblloyd wrote: post #225
nate_meurer wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's frustrating. What brand was it? Maybe I've just been lucky, but I've had exactly the opposite experience. I've mowed a large lawn with a Li-ion battery-powered mower for four years and I can't detect any degradation in the batteries. Maybe you already know and do this, but I'll note that some basic battery temperature management will greatly prolong their life. Don't let them bake in the sun, don't store them…

It was a Kobalt. I think it may have been their first battery powered model. The Honda mower will evidently need maintenance (outside of oil and air filters which I can do) at some point too, but the nice thing is Northern Tool and Equipment has a shop and they are a Honda dealer, so they can fix it and have the Honda supply chain. Thing that sketched me out about the Kobalt is that once it fails or the battery is di…

Yeah, we have a lot of clay here in Denver too. I have a 5 HP, and running it is hard manual labor, for me anyway.

Honda is the best, no doubt. I did a lot of research before I bought this damn thing, and reviews and recommendations kept leading back to Honda.

I've heard of problems with Kobalt Li-ion stuff before. It's too bad they're giving electric tools a bad name.

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