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Students invent quieter leaf blower

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Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#251

Post by nkrisc »

sidewndr46 wrote: post #100
mikeyouse wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many affluent areas have already banned gas leaf blowers and it’s incredible how quiet the battery powered replacements are. I was in Palm Springs recently and had nearly walked past a landscaper using one before if occurred to me just how quiet it was - didn’t even interrupt our conversation. I believe it was a Stihl backpack version (maybe https://www.stihlusa.com/products/blowers-and-shredder-vacs/... ) but yeah,…

It isn't so much the noise that bothers me, what I've never understood about leaf blowers is what are they meant to accomplish? When I watch people use them they either blow the leaves into the street or the neighbors yard. What do they think that does? Now on the other hand, I do own a very noisy leaf vacuum. But when I've collected a bag full I can just deposit the leaves in my collection container. They are taken…

Yes, any tool can be used in foolish ways.

I use mine to blow debris from the driveway onto the lawn so it doesn’t get tracked into the garage, or to clean the leaves, sticks, and pollen from our many trees that accumulate on the back deck. The times I’ve had landscapers come they used tarps to collect the bulk of the debris they gathered with the blowers and hauled it away.

Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#252

Post by wannacboatmovie »

foobarian wrote: post #158

I got an electric leaf blower mostly to avoid the noise and partly to avoid gasoline engine issues (a Kobalt 80V blower). What baffles me is that here the designers had a chance to make something truly quiet but instead they blew it and used a super-high-RPM motor-powered narrow turbine placed inside the pipe. It sounds like a dental drill amplified through a set of loudspeakers. I would kill to get a commercially de…

> (a Kobalt 80V blower). What baffles me

I don't understand. You opted to buy the inexpensive store brand tools (Kobalt is Lowe's house brand) and now you're complaining that shortcuts were taken and it didn't exceed requirements or your expectations?

I don't walk into Harbor Freight and expect Snap-On tools.

Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#253

Post by Delmololo »

loceng wrote: post #176
foobarian wrote: post #158

I got an electric leaf blower mostly to avoid the noise and partly to avoid gasoline engine issues (a Kobalt 80V blower). What baffles me is that here the designers had a chance to make something truly quiet but instead they blew it and used a super-high-RPM motor-powered narrow turbine placed inside the pipe. It sounds like a dental drill amplified through a set of loudspeakers. I would kill to get a commercially de…

Elon Musk at one point once suggested Tesla would make a quiet leaf blower - due specifically to the noise. I wonder if Tesla perhaps has a whole bunch of technologies they're developing incognito in the background - or if he's perhaps being limited for some artificial reasons? It may just be a market size issue - and cities passing bylaws to disallow gas powered, only allow electric under a certain dBs is the fix; a…

It's probably just not a market anyone really cares.

The person who does it a few times a year just buys something cheap.

The professional needs to have it running the whole day. No cable and just noise means that the boss saves money and the worker can just use ear protection.

Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#254

Post by sidewndr46 »

nkrisc wrote: post #250
sidewndr46 wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a pile of leaves so deep in the street in front of my house that it has an entire ecosystem living in it. At this point they have composted some, insects have begun to live in them and grass is growing from the pile.

In many places that would be the homeowner’s responsibility to clean up. Even if not, it’s often in the homeowner’s best interest to not have a huge pile of rotting leaves clogging the gutter.

there is no gutter, just the curb. The couple times I looked into this, to do maintenance on the street I'd need to have some form of insurance.

Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#255

Post by piokoch »

Leaf blowers are one of the most idiotic inventions ever made. What is good about moving throwing leafs from place A to place B, where they will be rotting in the same way. Blowing with all other dust and trash. Luckily they got recently banned in Warsaw.

Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#256

Post by derbOac »

cooperadymas wrote: post #63
jchw wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's probably getting there given what Ego has on offer, but I think until it is downright better in at least some dimensions, it's going to be a hard sell. Right now it seems like it's more expensive, at best similarly powerful, and obviously batteries take time to recharge. I think it's gotta be niche for contractors. That said, given how bad gas lawn equipment is for the air in a locality, maybe regulatory nudges…

As someone who went all in on Ego about 3-4 years ago, let me tell you, the technology is nowhere close to capable enough for even small-time contractors yet. You would need at least 3 batteries per piece of equipment in use at one time in order to not have to spend time idle while a battery recharges ($700-$1000 upfront investment in batteries per piece). The lifespan of those batteries under constant usage would be…

Reading through the comments here I feel like I live in a parallel universe.

I have Ego products and don't see any problems with them whatsoever. I've used and have gas and corded equipment, and by far prefer Ego. I haven't noticed any functional difference in how they perform, and if anything I get annoyed by gas models because they're heavier and more annoying to start and stop. Sure they're more powerful sometimes but I've never needed the extra power they provide. It's not like I'm going to chop up a log using my lawnmower. I've never had problems mulching anything or mowing well, and it works perfectly. And I live on a fairly wooded property so we get tons of leaves. The batteries last plenty long and charge really fast.

For what it's worth, they do make batteries in different Ah capacities. I don't even remember which ones we have but maybe we have the higher capacity ones?

I can see why contractors might have issues with constant use of cordless equipment. But I'm not a contractor, and my guess is they'd have more problems with battery lifespan than charging in practice if they timed the charging well.

I also understand why people wouldn't like the sound of leaf blowers but to me I don't understand the level of animosity about them, in the sense that there's other things that are much louder that I don't hear laws being passed about and so forth. To me it feels a bit like they're being singled out for some reason, I assume because people believe they're unnecessary? Either that or I'm just not bothered as much by that particular noise.

Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#257

Post by sandworm101 »

foobarian wrote: post #158

I got an electric leaf blower mostly to avoid the noise and partly to avoid gasoline engine issues (a Kobalt 80V blower). What baffles me is that here the designers had a chance to make something truly quiet but instead they blew it and used a super-high-RPM motor-powered narrow turbine placed inside the pipe. It sounds like a dental drill amplified through a set of loudspeakers. I would kill to get a commercially de…

>> instead they blew it and used a super-high-RPM motor-powered narrow turbine placed inside the pipe.

Because it is a handheld tool. It cannot be heavy. If you want to shove lots of power through an electric motor then that motor has to be either very heavy or very fast. The same is true for turbines. And a lighter consumer product will generally be cheaper to manufacture.

Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#258

Post by hedora »

TOMDM wrote: post #4

If these truly sound that much better I'd personally buy every gardener in a 3 block radius one of these myself just to get rid of the bloody gas ones.

In San Jose, whenever someone proposes this (or at least getting the gas powered ones to stop dumping carcinogens), they’re non-ironically branded as racist.

People argue the battery powered ones aren’t good for professional use (short runtimes) but that problem was solved years ago. They also argue they’re too expensive, but that argument falls apart if you include engine maintenance and gasoline in the cost.

Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#259

Post by Carioca »

ajmurmann wrote: post #226
klankschap wrote: post #54

How about just leaving leaves for what they are. Just leave them and move on with your own life.

Are leaf blowers only a North American thing? When I grew up in Germany I hardly ever saw one. When I moved to the US they were everywhere. Not sure if they became popular around that time or if it's just more common in the US. When and where I grew up everyone also took care of their own garden, so I suspect that played a role as well

Also never seen one here in Brazil FWIW

Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#260

Post by darknavi »

SV_BubbleTime wrote: post #219
klankschap wrote: post #54

How about just leaving leaves for what they are. Just leave them and move on with your own life.

So, you don’t have a large maple next to your drive way, do you? If I didn’t have a leaf blower, my driveway would be solid ice in the winter, mud in the spring and fall, and dust in the summer.

Even in the fall driving on the sea of leaves from our maples would slide you around if we didn't clean them.
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