Comments on: Saving Pennies or Dollars? Electric and Gas Lawnmowing

By: Beth

Beth — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 17:49:01 +0000

If you have a tiny lawn, you get a manual push rotary mower like I have. No gas, no electricity, no emission, no noise. Free exercise and it is self-mulching and restores nitrogen to the lawn. No need to calculate anything!

By: Jude

Jude — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 18:30:14 +0000

i have a large yard. For me, the greatest advantage to an electric mower is that it requires almost no maintenance. That’s why I purchased one. I don’t have a rechargeable; I have long power cords. I’ve had mine for about ten years. It still works great, and I’ve had to replace/repair nothing. Also, it’s nice to not spew exhaust into the air.

By: Gretchen

Gretchen — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 20:40:10 +0000

As my neighbor just started up his leaf blower this afternoon, I hate all of them and their noise.

We use a reel mower and it’s not so much the “work” I dislike ( still only takes me about 20 minutes, it’s a rowhome) but the quality of the cut. Any bumps or ruts, forget it. You do also have to do it what seems like constantly, as others pointed out.

By: Gus

Gus — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 17:52:18 +0000

I am dissapointed that the article does not look at maintenance cost.

For cordless electric:
- What is the typical life span of the batteries? How much to replace?
- What is the typical lifespan of a cordless electric mower?

For Gas:
- Oil changes? Spark plugs? Life span?

Express those in $/year and amortize over lifespawn…

By: Zach

Zach — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 16:02:07 +0000

I use the old-fashioned reel mower on our smallish lot (quarter acre or so, maybe a bit less) and have done so for years. I do not have weeds, I do not water (in Texas!), and I can still bring it down if I miss a few weeks and the grass is a foot high. The secret to a good lawn is to not cut it too close. Keeps the grass tight and prevents weeds from setting in, and also helps prevent excessive water loss when it’s hot. My only problem is that I can’t figure out how to sharpen it – the cutting bar is adjustable, so it acts like a self-sharpener, but I’d still like to get it wicked sharp someday.

And, yes, I use the manual edger (*that’s* a workout) and grass shears for trimming. I haven’t invested a dime in my yard for over four years, and the initial start up cost was about &110 for the tools.

I live next door to a gas station on a rental property that was neglected for years (decades?). Weeds and rough ground were a problem for the first two years, but everything has been worked over enough that my time investment is less than it would be for a powered setup.

I recommend manual tools for anyone with less than a half acre. One additional benefit is the fact that I can (and do!) mow when the kids are napping. Or at five in the morning. Or in the rain/sleet/hail. Or at midnight, in the rain, while the kids are asleep.

Cheers,

– Zach

p.s. The very first thing that I will do when I become ruler of the world is to ban leaf blowers. They are perhaps the most useless tool ever devised – I’ve watched landscape crews spend hours blowing grass and leaves around in circles and then leave the property looking exactly the same way it was before they arrived.

By: lurker carl

lurker carl — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 11:12:32 +0000

SwingCheese, I think you hit on the problem. It’s unfortunate that you aren’t able to test drive a reel mower, or any residential mower for that matter, before buying.

By: SwingCheese

SwingCheese — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 03:16:06 +0000

@Jim #27: I have found a large variance in push reel mowers. Ours is easy to operate, and like a previous commenter, it doesn’t seem any more difficult than the memory I have of pushing my parents’ old gas mower around. A few years ago, though, my dad picked up an old reel mower, like the one he remembered my grandfather using as a kid. I asked to borrow it once when my mower needed some fixing up and man oh man, was that a godawful experience! It was heavy, hard to control, and stopped short on every little bump in the grass!! I gave it back to him and opted to wait and deal with long grass and raking up the yard rather than fight with that blasted mower any longer. So it really depends on the mower itself.

By: Joanna

Joanna — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 22:33:29 +0000

It seemed pretty clear from your math that the electric mower was significantly cheaper, then you said the gas mower was better anyway?

Sure, the gas mower may save you time, such as when you have to recharge the electric and possibly mow the lawn a portion at a time rather than all at once. You probably don’t want a push more at all if your lawn is that big. It may save you a tiny bit of worry, about being careless with the cord, which is so easy to avoid.
But it will NEVER save you money.

By: Henry

Henry — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 20:24:45 +0000

When I was a kid my father had an old fashioned electric lawnmower, the kind with a cord. I hated it with a passion. It was underpowered as well as miserably inconvenient to use in a yard with trees and a garden. In the process of running over the cord (more than once) I became rather adept at the art of splicing electrical cables.

I noticed once I moved away from home, my father replaced it with a gasoline powered lawnmower.

I have owned two cheap MTD push lawnmowers powered with 4 cycle Briggs and Stratton engines. They both lasted about 10 years, before ultimately succumbing to metal fatigue. You can’t kill a Briggs and Stratton engine with a hammer. I believe I only changed the oil on the second lawn mower one time during its life. I just added a little every now and then. It started until its dying day when the entire front wheel assembly broke off. Admittedly, it didn’t start very easily in its old age though both of them started easily for most of their life.

Cheap push mowers use plastic wheel bushings rather than bearings. Therefore, the center of the wheels wallows out into an ellipse, sending the owner off on a scavenger hunt to the town lawnmower graveyard. Replacements could be found and purchased for a dollar or two if you were willing to take them off yourself.

My current lawnmower is a self propelled top of the line Honda. After two years of service I pronounce it a thing of beauty. It is powerful enough to mulch even long wet grass. It starts on the first pull every time and can move faster than its owner.

By: Monique Rio

Monique Rio — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 19:06:32 +0000

I’ve had a manual push mower for 3 years. It works fine on my smallish yard.

Granted, I live in a neighborhood where perfectly manicured lawns aren’t a requirement.

By: valleycat1

valleycat1 — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 18:32:52 +0000

#37 Lady D – we live in the 2nd best of all worlds – xeriscaped the yard with ground cover instead of grass – we do have to water it (on automatic systems) and mow it down once a year, so it’s very low maintenance.

By: Lady D

Lady D — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 16:36:05 +0000

For the smallest yards, (0.25 acres or less), yes, the non-powered push mower is the best idea. Not for the larger yards though, or if you let the grass grow wild for too long…

If my yard were any bigger than the 1/4 of an acre, I’d likely opt for the gas-powered mower…

I’m not into the corded electric motor types at all, cord would just be in my way, and an irritant that I wouldn’t want to tolerate.

Cordless electric, I could do – if my yard was small enough that it could be mowed on just one charge, or a bit less. However, I have the best of all worlds – apartment living with no responsibility for lawn mowing. The maintenance staff does that every Monday (unless there’s rain)…

By: SLCCOM

SLCCOM — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:43:52 +0000

Umm, Trent, you don’t just put more gas in when the mower runs out of gas, I hope! It is crucial that you let the mower cool first so that you don’t find yourself engulfed in flaming gasoline. SO there is a waiting time when the gas mower runs out, but not as long as having to recharge a rechargable.

Also, it is equally crucial that people spend the $30 or so for a gas can with a lid that automatically closes when your hand releases. Otherwise, once the fire starts, you burn the entire amount in the can. Those cheapo plastic gas cans are death traps.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 14:50:40 +0000

Unfortunately, most of us have been led to believe that walking for anything more than a few minutes so strenuous we should be allowed to watch TV for the rest of our lives. What a sad world we live in.

If I want to go for a walk, I’ll go for an actual walk, (or run 50 miles a week like I did in high school) Push mowing a 4 acre yard would not be my idea of a good time.

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 14:32:00 +0000

When I bought my mower a couple years ago, I wanted to buy a cordless electric one… but I couldn’t find one I was convinced would cut through my thick grass, hold enough of a charge to get me through my 1/3 acre without power fade, and last long enough to make it worth buying.
I ended up with a gas-powered Toro, which I expect will last at least 10 years (if not 20). Yes, it uses gas… but I save way more gas by biking to work instead of driving than I use mowing my lawn.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 13:34:08 +0000

“Allowed” to watch TV? Who are you, my mother?

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 12:26:47 +0000

I would have liked to have seen a discussion on reel mowers as well.
On a flat suburban lot (avg size less than 1/4 acre) it takes my son 1 hr once a week to mow. and that includes lots of breaks and daisy picking.
The environmental impact is minimal (cost of production) the lack of noise is wonderful and I never have to worry about whether it’s charged or gassed. The initial cost for a high quality reel mower is on avg $100 less than your cheapest mower.

By: Katie

Katie — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 11:29:25 +0000

Oh my God, could you be any more sanctimonious?

More to the point, I bet there’s some household chore you don’t like either. Please, share, so we can all explain why it makes you responsible for all of society’s failing.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 11:21:49 +0000

For 1/10th of an acre, I think a corded electric is probably the best bet. Hard to find a gas mower for $150. They can’t operate efficiently more than 100 ft from a power source, but that’s not a problem with a lawn that small.
We had a corded electric that had the handle flip over the engine so the cord always stayed to one side of the mower. That was a real convenient feature.
Are rechargeable batteries smart enough not to drain electric when they’re fully charged? IE, if someone left their battery plugged in for days, is it wasting a significant amount of electric?

By: deRuiter

deRuiter — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 10:39:48 +0000

A sheep or two will keep those large yards mowed neatly. You can use a long chain with a swivel on a metal post which you hammer into the ground, and yes, you do have to move it twice a day. On the other hand, it looks great, operates quietly, pelletizes the grass into wonderful (non petroleum based) fertilizer and distributes the pellets on the lawn. When the lawn stops growing for winter you eat your lawn mower. Sometimes the old fashioned ways really are best!