It is estimated that each Spring, over two-thirds of all lawn mowers do not receive the recommended maintenance. Whether you are a commercial landscaper or a residential user, basic engine maintenance is essential. The rotary-type lawn mower, which most homeowners have, requires periodic maintenance to keep them in tip top shape. To help put engine maintenance into perspective let’s compare how hard that small engine works whether it’s for commercial or residential use.
How Hard Does that Engine Work?
“Commercial” VS “Residential”
| Commerical Use | Residential Use |
|---|---|
| Operation time of approximately – 6 hours per day | Operation time of approximately – 1 hour per day |
| Engine speed – 3600 RPMs (revolutions per minute) | Engine speed – 3600 RPMs (revolutions per minute) |
| Number of days per week – 5 | Number of days per week – 2 |
| Number of weeks per year – 36 | Number of weeks per year – 36 |
Now let’s compare a small engine running at 3600 RPMs to a car’s engine running at 3600 RPMs. Traveling down the highway, with the car’s engine running at 3600 RPMs, it would be traveling approximately 90 miles per hour.
| Commerical Use | Residential Use |
|---|---|
| 6 hours x 90 mph = 540 miles per day540 miles per day x 5 days = 2700 Miles per week2700 miles per week x 36 weeks = 97,200 miles per year 97,200 miles per year |
1 hour x 90 mph = 90 miles per day90 miles per day x 2 days = 180 miles per week180 miles per week x 36 weeks = 6480 miles per year 6,480 miles per year |
Now that example should remind us how hard a small air cooled engine works. Some people think that maintenance is expensive and unnecessary. The commercial cutter has learned that maintaining their equipment properly saves time and money by reducing costly repairs, preserving equipment valve and minimizing unproductive downtime. Once the value and necessity for maintenance is understood and appreciated, an action plan needs to be created to make it happen.
The first step is to find the information pertinent to your particular equipment. Owner’s manuals and maintenance schedules inside them are often overlooked and seldom read carefully; they are a great resource and the best place to start. Manufacturers are generally very detailed and comprehensive about the maintenance that is best for their equipment and most often a thorough reading of these documents is all that you’ll need to create a maintenance schedule for your equipment. If you would like more information, the Service Manager at your equipment supplier is another good place to look.
To get started we will need an action plan. I will share with you my action plan that I use when I perform my lawn mower maintenance in the early spring.
Action plan:
Five things you should do before you start cutting grass:
- Change the spark plug.
- Change the air filter.
- Change the engine oil.
- Sharpen the blade.
- Add fresh gasoline.
Note. The first thing I recommend to do is to remove the spark plug coil wire to insure your mower won’t accidentally start while performing the maintenance. The last thing you should do when you have completed your maintenance is to reinstall the spark plug coil wire.
