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Students invent quieter leaf blower

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Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#431

Post by lowercased »

astura wrote: post #135
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…

>That’s an awfully uncharitable projection. It's neither uncharitable nor a projection. My dad is one of these - the loudness is entirely the point, by his own admission. He told me this. He intentionally buys the loudest most powerful/obnoxious tools he can rather than the most practical and dicks around with them. My dad is also the laziest man on the planet and does ZERO housework. He only does lawn work because i…

Exactly. This is the sort of person I was talking about.

Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#432

Post by Ferret7446 »

duped wrote: post #424
Ferret7446 wrote: post #417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uh, what? You realize the problem with electric blowers is that they don't have enough power for commercial use compared to gas blowers, so your suggestion is to use a rake?

The problem that blowers solve is moving light yard waste. Most people can do that with a rake and broom. And most of it doesn't need to be moved in the first place.

The problem that blowers solve is moving a huge amount of light yard waste that would not be practical with a rake. Naturally, most people cannot do that with a rake and broom, without dedicating multiple days to the job.

Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#433

Post by kjkjadksj »

jauntywundrkind wrote: post #410
kjkjadksj wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

DC seems to be doing pretty great with our ban. Theres some loud-ish electrics but it's still 1/8th the horror that it used to be; it used to be that someone two blocks away was still creating a living hell, but now it's really just someone across the street with a particularly poor model. Next up on my list, construction sites! We've had a small condo going up nearby, wood framed, and the generator is loud as fuck a…

Another thing that sucks about construction: the dust. Workers have to wear respiratory devices on some of these jobs and yet no issues if the jackhammer is venting particulate into a schoolyard across the street.

Also sidewalks are routinely trashed by construction companies, destroyed to rubble even by their trucks and not repaired until the project is just about finished. Never mind the years where disabled people could not walk around the project.

Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#434

Post by duped »

Ferret7446 wrote: post #432
duped wrote: post #424

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem that blowers solve is moving light yard waste. Most people can do that with a rake and broom. And most of it doesn't need to be moved in the first place.

The problem that blowers solve is moving a huge amount of light yard waste that would not be practical with a rake. Naturally, most people cannot do that with a rake and broom, without dedicating multiple days to the job.

I raked my yard waste today and swept my driveway and sidewalk. It took 20 minutes. I live on about a half acre lot. It's really not that difficult.

Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#435

Post by mianos »

SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #380
modeless wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Are these companies operating at scale? We have a couple in my city as well. But it's one guy maintaining their own fleet of equipment. Does the cost rival gas powered companies? The companies I'm aware of that offer this service specifically market it as a premium and appeal to eco friendly consumers that want the less noise and pollution, and are willing to pay more than double what it costs to have a gas powered c…

Sydney City Council, a large council, uses electric blowers. They have a small backpack so the blowers are kept light even though they have a much larger battery for much longer operation. They look quite good to use. Certainly better than my heavy dual battery one.

It is a solved problem.

Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#436

Post by mianos »

xkqd wrote: post #328
kbenson wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 logistic…

They already have backpack ones for long use. It is already solved here in Australia.

Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#437

Post by xkqd »

grecy wrote: post #382
xkqd wrote: post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In all fairness, we’re not wrangling in a megacorp or small company / bad actor type. These are usually tiny businesses where the owner is busting their ass in the hot sun alongside their crew. These are usually the smallest of small biz, and oftentimes just a young guy and a single helper. I don’t believe we can expect lawncare prices to 4x, but this is a perfect example of targeting those who we should be supportin…

But by that logic we should let a 20 year old kid start as asbestos mine with hand tools next to a drinking water source, or let them operate heavy machinery on a highway with no training of any kind. Clearly, just because doing is a path to making money, it absolutely does not mean we should automatically reduce all barriers and allow it to happen. "More jobs" should absolutely NOT be the goal, and anyone that says…

Sorry I’m late to respond.

> But by that logic we should let a 20 year old kid start as asbestos mine with hand tools next to a drinking water source, or let them operate heavy machinery on a highway with no training of any kind.

This is a dramatically exaggerated equivalency and you know it. Comparing someone operating lawn equipment to driving heavy equipment without training or mining biohazards next to a waterway would be humorous if you intended it a joke.

> “More jobs" should absolutely NOT be the goal, and anyone that says it is clearly hasn't thought to hard about it.

Oh come on, this is so far from established societal norms that it’s a fringe statement as it is.

It’s a fact of life that someone’s going to need to mow lawns. The externalities are so minor that it makes those in opposite appear borderline petty, but certainly not based.

Re: Students invent quieter leaf blower

#439

Post by Gibbon1 »

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 think leaf blowers kick up enough dust that they should just be banned outright.
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