How Do I Care For My Mower? |
After Each Mowing:
After each mowing, wait until the engine cools and then use a hose to spray the clippings and grass debris that may be clinging to the underside of the deck of your mower (where the blade spins). Warning: always make sure that your mower engine has stopped and if you have to put your hands near the deck that you have disconnected the spark-plug cable from the plug prior to cleaning. You can reconnect after cleaning. This will keep grass clippings from building up in the deck of the mower and help prevent clogging while bagging. This will also allow ample room for the mulching to take place while mowing.
Once a Month:
It's a good idea to have the blades of your mower sharpened once a month. If you mow more than 4 times a month, or run over rocks and debris that can dull the blade, then you may want to sharpen the blades more often. It can NOT be over emphasized the importance of mowing with a sharp blade! Dull blades can make your lawn look "dull" and uneven in appearance and can also lead to lawn diseases and excessive work for you and your mower. With a dull blade, your mower could even use up to 20% more fuel and you could spend a lot more time mowing your lawn then is ordinarily required.
Storage:
After the last mowing of the year, when either the grass goes dormant, stops growing, or the snow falls, you will need to get your mower ready for storage. Most mowers have an instruction manual to follow, but if you don't have one, here are two things you can do prior to storage:
1. Drain the remaining fuel from your mower. Warning: Always disconnect your spark plug connection prior to draining. In general, the longer your mower sits in storage, the more likely it is for your gas (either in the mower or can) to get bad. By draining the fuel from your mower, you are preventing the remaining fuel from aging and potentially going bad inside your mower engine and carburetor.
2. Once the fuel has been drained, reconnect the spark plug wire and run the engine until it burns all remaining fuel and runs out of gas.