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Students invent quieter leaf blower

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Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#321

Post by xkqd »

grecy wrote: post #304
modeless wrote: post #296

We don't need quieter electric leaf blowers. We need to ban the gas ones, with no grandfather clause. Not just for the noise pollution but the local air pollution. It's crazy the volume of air that can be ruined by a single gas leaf blower, far worse than modern cars, and they are inescapable in cities.

I'm always shocked that small ICE equipment don't have catalytic converters, or any emissions reducing devices. Especially given the operator is actually holding the thing and the exhaust is just a foot or two from their face, surely the health consequences are capital letters bad .

Usually the crews running them are more focused on feeding their families over their own long term health.

I’m still surprised when I see some crews have hearing protection.

Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#322

Post by SOLAR_FIELDS »

SV_BubbleTime wrote: post #228
addandsubtract wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I might be going deaf and losing high-pitched frequencies, but I couldn't tell much of a difference in the video example of before/after.

Because it’s 2db overall. No camera is going to pick that up because no human is going to hear it. They claim 37% reduction, but that isn’t true for human perceived volume.

And as has already been pointed out elsewhere, even if it was an actual 37% reduction it would be useless anyway since no commercial operation would be viable with electric leaf blowers. They’re good for blowing the leaves out of a homeowners driveway and not much else

Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#323

Post by modeless »

SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #308
kjkjadksj wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They’ve been banned for years in some cities. The issue is there is zero enforcement.

And the other underlying problem implied there is that electric leaf blowers are only viable for household use. They are just so completely impractical for commercial use that no one will ever use them.

I've seen plenty of companies using them. It's not even close to impossible. They're just not the majority.

Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#324

Post by kbenson »

SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #308
kjkjadksj wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They’ve been banned for years in some cities. The issue is there is zero enforcement.

And the other underlying problem implied there is that electric leaf blowers are only viable for household use. They are just so completely impractical for commercial use that no one will ever use them.

Why? I'm sure they're less practical than the gas powered ones, but every tool system with their own battery standard seems to have one. Even if you had to have a few batteries charged in reserve, that seems more like slightly more expensive and annoying than utterly impractical. Am I missing something?

Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#325

Post by KingOfCoders »

ks2048 wrote: post #302
KingOfCoders wrote: post #19

I also have one, it's called a rake.

People don't have time to do physical work like rake the lawn. They need to finish the yard work and drive to the gym to get some exercise.

Reminds me of the escalator to gym meme.

Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#328

Post by xkqd »

kbenson wrote: post #324
SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the other underlying problem implied there is that electric leaf blowers are only viable for household use. They are just so completely impractical for commercial use that no one will ever use them.

Why? I'm sure they're less practical than the gas powered ones, but every tool system with their own battery standard seems to have one. Even if you had to have a few batteries charged in reserve, that seems more like slightly more expensive and annoying than utterly impractical. Am I missing something?

You basically can run through a high capacity battery in less than 10 minutes, completing a light cleanup of a standard 1/4ac lawn. The battery itself will take 3-4 hours.

Running through an entire block would deplete numerous batteries, meaning you’ve got to purchase 2 dozen if your crew is going to do the average 20ish homes a day. The purchase cost is one thing sure, but batteries are a consumable and the logistics of charging are no joke for the average crew.

This is all just to blow some light leaves and clippings. This doesn’t account for running trimmers or god help you the lawnmower itself.

The tech just isn’t there yet and given the extremely high energy density and ease of use of gasoline, it may never match it.

Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#329

Post by accrual »

datavirtue wrote: post #56
Aurornis wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There's a section of folks who enjoy loud engines. It's their jam, they love being 'outdoors' with loud gas powered engines, big trucks, riding lawn mowers. It's a fantasy escape world for them. That’s an awfully uncharitable projection. The lawn business people I know would love to adopt full electric fleets of gear. They aren’t sending their teams out with gas engines because it’s a “fantasy escape world”. They d…

I have been running the best of the best in tools and battery tech: Milwaukee. The blower and weed trimmer (especially) burn through very expensive batteries (XC8.0) very quickly. It is not a feasible replacement for even a moderate job. My yard is super small and I move quick and have learned to pull the batteries at 50% to keep from ruining them. But I have burnt up at least one $200 battery that will only charge t…

> best of the best in tools and battery tech: Milwaukee.

Is Milwaukee better? I always understood Milwaukee (Red), Dewalt (Yellow), and Makita (Teal) to basically be interchangeable for most products and it just depended on who you ask and which color team they were on.

Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#330

Post by slimsag »

kbenson wrote: post #324
SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the other underlying problem implied there is that electric leaf blowers are only viable for household use. They are just so completely impractical for commercial use that no one will ever use them.

Why? I'm sure they're less practical than the gas powered ones, but every tool system with their own battery standard seems to have one. Even if you had to have a few batteries charged in reserve, that seems more like slightly more expensive and annoying than utterly impractical. Am I missing something?

They're not even in the same ballpark

My 80v electric blower with a heavy battery runs for 21 minutes. A gas blower with 1.5 gallons of fuel will last 10 hours.

A ban on gas blowers - or blowing in general - will only harm minorities already underpaid, often under the table.

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