In this age of environmental awareness, many homeowners are rethinking the tools they use around the house. One of the most common is that all American tool, the lawn mower. Gas powered mowers are ubiquitous in this country. Just take a walk in any suburban neighborhood on a Saturday morning in the summer and you'll see and hear what I mean. However, gas powered mowers are noisy, polluting, and getting more expensive to run and maintain. It's estimated that five percent of the air pollution in our country is produced by gas powered mowers. Running a gas mower for one hour is the equivalent of driving your car for twenty miles. These reasons, along with the rising price of gas, has turned many homeowners to buying electric mowers.
Electric mowers offer many advantages over gas-powered machines. They are quieter, don't pollute, and easier to maintain. Most electric mowers emit 60 to 75 decibels of noise while gas powered mowers emit around 95 decibels. It's thought that any noise louder than 85 decibels can injure your hearing. While a gas-powered mower will cost to dollars a year in gas costs, an electric mower can run on to worth of electricity a year. Electric mowers also don't have plugs, filters, and oil that need to be changed periodically.
Random Sander
However, they are not for every yard. They work best on small to medium sized lawns. Lawns more than one-third of an acre aren't practical to mow with an electric mower. Also, they mow certain grass types, such as Kentucky blue grass and fine fescue, more easily than others. They aren't as powerful as gas-powered mowers so you have to be more careful mowing tall grass that can clog the mower. Also, it's not as easy to bag grass clippings with them.
There are two types of electric mowers: corded and cordless. Corded mowers need an extension cord to plug into an outlet to run the machine. They're more powerful and lighter weight than the cordless mowers, but you run the risk of tangling or cutting the cord. Plus, you can only mow as far as your cord will reach (usually 100 feet). They often have handlebars that fold up for easy storage in winter.