I have been trying to keep Mom's lawn mower alive. It does not seem too old. I keep reading that, like many other things, they used to be built to last, but now they are disposable. Someone commented the parts to repair often cost more than a new mower. According to RepairClinic, these are fifteen reasons a mower might not start:
- Spark Plug
- Clogged carburetor
- Bad carburetor
- Old or Bad Gasoline
- Start Switch
- Fuel Pump
- Flywheel Key
- Ignition Coil
- Fuel Filter
- Safety Switch
- Rewind Spring
- Rewind Pulley and Spring
- Recoil Spring
- Recoil Starter
- Recoil Starter Pulley
https://www.repairclinic.com/RepairH...er-won-t-start
I changed the spark plug, gas, oil, and air filter, and cleaned the carburetor. I looked at it yesterday and eventually got it to start, but it died when I was slowly trying to mow tall grass, with half of the mower going over already cut grass. It had been smoking, when I tried to start it again it just shot out white smoke, and I did not have time to get it working again. People argue whether white smoke is oil or water, but I found some things to try the next time I make the five-hour drive. It is frustrating that I am having this much trouble keeping a fairly-new mower working, but I read about mowers dying after a month or a year. My sister is a hippy, bought an electric mower, gave it to Mom, moved to Oregon, and bought another electric mower.
However, she is also lazy, so she pays landscapers to do the work.
They use gas equipment, of course.
Yeah, the electric one broke, too. Hopefully I will get that working again when the parts arrive.
We have debated the most environmentally-friendly approaches to different things. Composting toilets, etc. I imagine most would say the most environmentally-friendly way to have a lawn is to not have a lawn. There must be other methods of turning water and CO2 into oxygen and an attractive landscape.
Like a garden. You do not need to mow a garden!
There are landscapers that use goats. Nobody in her area has a reel mower for sale. The cheapest one I found in Phoenix is $30, but there are people asking $100 for one!
I found some suggestions on-line, like checking the spark plug for oil and either spraying starting fluid in the hole, or tossing in some gasoline. I found this comment poignant:
Quote:
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In my area you can get a very used reel mower off craigslist for $40 to $60. Did you know that lawn mowers account for 5% of USA greenhouse emissions? And probably 90% of noise pollution by my estimation. Why would you want to contribute to that? Do you hate our planet *and* your neighbors?
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That escalated quickly!