Features a selection of lawn mowers: expert advice

Spring — traditional time of the start of the suburban area. Need to do hundreds of things: to prepare land for planting, weeding, grass mowing, etc. to save time and effort, the owners of suburban areas using the iron assistants — motorized mechanisms, which greatly facilitates the work in the garden and the vegetable garden.

The choice of mower – the basic principles

The modern market of garden machinery offers a wide variety of equipment for lawn care. Often because of the many names, different functions, different form factor, the novice cannot decide on the necessary model of the mower.



The mower, unlike a portable trimmer (trimmers), moves on wheels. Therefore, before buying a lawn mower study the topography of your site and define the problems to be solved. For example, to care for the lawn, covered with soft grass on a level surface is one task, but it's another thing if you have to cut the old dead growth on rough hilly area.


The mower is a mechanism designed generally for mowing grass on level landscaped grounds.The second important factor influencing the choice of type of mower, its capacity, type of drive – electric or petrol is the size of the area being treated.

You can navigate to the following figures:

  • For mowing grass on an area of 200 sq. m suitable electric lawn mower with capacity of from 1 to 1.3 kW and a width of mowing 34-36 see
  • If the lawn area is 200-400 square meters, for mowing grass suitable electric lawn mower with engine capacity of 1.2-1.5 kW.
Also for mowing the grass in this square you can use petrol lawnmower with a capacity from 3.5 to 5 HP and a cutting width up to 45 cm.





When mowing grass on the square from 8 to 15 acres, it is preferable to use a more powerful lawn mower, equipped with a gasoline engine.Engine power these lawn mowers can be 4.5-6 HP mowing width up to 50 cm For the lawn care area of over 15 acres, you need more powerful equipment — petrol lawn mowers with a capacity of 5.5-7 HP mowing width 48 — 57 cm

Therefore, in order to make an informed choice of a lawn mower, it is necessary, first and foremost, be guided by the characteristics of the lawn, its area, topography, views, mowed grass, building density and zoning. In addition, the mowers possess a certain set of properties and functions with which it is necessary to determine before the purchase.

Types of lawn mowers

To simplify the selection of all lawn mowers can be divided into two types — electric and petrol. Consider each of the types of lawn mowers separately.

Electric lawn mowers. As mentioned above, the choice of this type of lawn mower is influenced primarily by the area of cultivated land. Makes no sense to buy a powerful, heavy and expensive petrol machine, if he is, literally, no place even to turn around in a small area. In this case, the best choice would be to buy an electric mower, powered from the mains or battery. In addition, well-kept, already populated, well-zoned land imposes certain restrictions on the operation of the mower.





Trees, flower beds, winding paths and ornamental planting significantly impede the maneuvering of a conventional four-wheeled electric lawnmowers on the site. To handle hard to reach places, the user has after the passage of the lawn mower manually dokachivat unreached areas with electric trimmer.



The solution could be the use of highly maneuverable mower with only three wheels: two in back and one swivel in the front. This construct allows you to avoid obstacles and efficiently cut grass in inaccessible places.





Also, when choosing an electric mower you need to pay attention to the length of the cable, the presence on the site a reliable source of electricity. Among the main advantages of lawn mowers with electric motor include: low noise, small size and weight, ease of use and efficiency.

Petrol lawn mowers. Key advantages of this equipment is power and independence from an external power source. Petrol lawn mowers have a maximum width of mowing, which reduces the number of passes and, consequently, reduces the time spent on mowing. It should be remembered that petrol lawn mowers have more weight than their electric counterparts. Before starting work they need to refuel with gasoline, for example, AI-92 (octane number of gasoline is specified in the instruction manual of the mower).





Most modern lawn mowers equipped with four-stroke engines. Unlike the two-stroke engine in which the fuel before starting, you need to mix together with oil, four-stroke engine has a separate sump where engine oil is poured. This saves time since you do not need to expend energy on mixing in a certain ratio (manufacturer's recommended) fuel and oil. In addition, the lawn mowers with four-stroke engine quieter and emit less pollutants into the environment.





Petrol lawn mowers require periodic replacement of consumables — spark plugs, air filters, oil. Therefore, the purchase of such equipment is economically justified and cost-effective with regular mowing lawns a large area.

Technical features of lawn mowers

In addition to the size of the treated area, type of engine, width of cut, when selecting a lawn mower you need to pay attention to the technical features of a particular model. This directly affects the features of this equipment.

An important parameter of the lawn mower with gasoline engine is its lifespan. Depending on the expected load on the equipment, i.e., household or professional, the service life of the lawn mower engine may vary from 700 to 2500 hours. Therefore, this parameter affects the maintenance-free period of operation of the machine.

For example, if you intend regular mowing of large areas, the processing which takes a lot of time, you need to choose a lawn mower with an increased lifespan. Conversely, it makes no sense to pay more for professional equipment, if it is assumed infrequent work in small areas.

Another parameter that directly affects the usability of the lawn mower — it is a way of movement — self-propelled or self-propelled model.





To move through the plot of self-propelled models of mowers require user effort. Simply put, the mower will have to push in front of him, so they are suitable for mowing grass on level and small areas.Self-propelled lawn mower with engine-driven front or rear wheel moves independently. The user needs only to correct the trajectory during its operation. Choosing a self-propelled mower, you should pay attention to the number of speeds of movement, and which wheels are leading. Practice shows that it is better to choose a lawn mower with the rear driving wheels, because in the process, as you fill the collector (located in the rear of the machine), increasing the load on the rear axle of the mower.





Although front-wheel drive lawn mowers have higher maneuverability when filling the collector load on the front axle decreases. As a result of shifting the center of gravity of the machine, and on wet grass the drive wheels may begin to slip.

Also, when choosing a mower with rear wheel drive it is necessary to pay attention to the diameter of the rear wheels. The larger the wheel, the easier the mower moves irregularities on the site. In addition, lawn mowers can be equipped with wheels mounted on bearings or on the sleeve. More durable are models with wheels equipped with bearings (ball or needle).

Ejection, collection and mulching grass

In the process of mowing grass can:

  • to throw back;
  • to jump sideways;
  • be collected in the collector;
  • to multiroute.
During rotation of the knife grass in the deck (the bell-shaped housing of the lawn mower) under the action of the forces arising air flow ejected from the soundboard. When you eject the grass backwards, or sideways, it remains on the lawn, and then you need to collect.





During the ejection of grass in the collector there is no need to collect grass, but in the process, as the filling of the grass collector, it will have to periodically be cleaned from the grass. Therefore, choosing a collector, pay attention to the nuance, as the presence or absence of the valve filling of the grass catcher. This indicator allows you to visually, during operation of the lawn mower, determine that the collector is full and needs to be cleaned.

Transparnecy are of three types:

Soft — cloth. They are easy to fold and take up little space, which is important when storing lawnmower. Minus — cloth grass collector requires periodic washing. Tough, made from high impact ABS plastic. This collector conveniently cleaned from the grass and wash. Drawback — the collector takes up more space when storing. Soft, with hard plastic top — the Golden mean between soft and hard collector. The volume of the collector depends on the time of non-stop mowing grass with a lawn mower.



Mulching is an agricultural method in which land is covered with mulch material, regulating water and air modes in the upper layers of the soil, which improves nutrient Cycling.Mulching is an effective method of stimulating plant growth.The availability of this option allows you to collect grass clippings in the collector and thus eliminates the need to shake out of him the grass. The essence of mulching the mower is as follows. Grass, due to the special knife, cut in the deck "in the dust", as well as the opening of the ejection of the grass pre-closed by the plug, then the crushed particles fall down on the lawn.

It is worth noting that the function of mulching is not all lawn mowers, ie, is an option. For some mowers, you will need to purchase additional equipment — a special knife and a plug. So before you buy a lawn mower in advance, study its technical characteristics.Important: it is not necessary all the time to use the function of mulching, because excessive mulch on the lawn prevents the grass growth.Adjusting the height of the mowed grass can be done either individually for each wheel (in simpler models), or centralized, with a single lever that is more convenient.

In conclusion, the article I remembered about this important function, which also must be considered when choosing lawn mowers, as ergonomics. Ergonomics affects the ease of control of the mower and depends largely on the height of the knobs. Therefore, you should give preference to models, providing smooth height adjustment of the handles. This allows to flexibly adjust their height for users of different heights.



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P. S. And remember, only by changing their consumption — together we change the world! ©

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Source: www.forumhouse.ru/articles/garden/6668

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