4 ms·

What’s the difference between electric and gas leaf blowers with regard to particulate matter in the air?

nelsondev 3y ago
The gas leaf blower also is also burning gas, and hence adding that particulate matter in addition to what gets stirred up.
- aidenn0 3y ago
  It's not just burning gas; as a 2-stroke engine, it's burning a gas/oil mixture that is even dirtier than burning just gasoline.
- jrflowers 3y ago
  That makes sense. I am curious as to how big the difference the power source makes for a machine that’s purpose-made to kick up particulate matter up into the air from the ground.
  - roywiggins 3y ago
    2-stroke engines in general are awful for air quality. https://phys.org/news/2014-05-two-stroke-scooters-super-polluters.html https://phys.org/news/2014-05-two-stroke-scooters-super-poll...
    - jrflowers 3y ago
      I believe that! I am curious as to how big the difference the power source makes for a machine that’s purpose-made to kick up particulate matter up into the air from the ground though.
      - ztrww 3y ago
        Did anyone imply there was a difference (besides electric ones possibly being less powerful)?
        jrflowers 3y ago
        If you scroll up this thread you will see where the discussion began. Edit: For example, you’ll see where I asked my initial question here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36501689 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36501689
      - Fomite 3y ago
        Purely anecdote, but my neighbor uses a gas leaf blower and we use an electric one, and our yards are broadly similar. The difference is notable.
        jrflowers 3y ago
        How?
        83 3y ago
        The electric blower yard probably still has leaves on it. I'm all for electrifying yard tools, but electric blowers still aren't anywhere near a high end Stihl or Husqvarna in performance.
        Fomite 3y ago
        We both kick up a fair amount of fines, but there's also a noticeable amount of fairly dirty output from the gas blower.
      - comedowntous 3y ago
        It's in that CARB report posted above: https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2018-11/Health%20and%20Environmental%20Impacts%20of%20Leaf%20Blowers.pdf https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2018-11/Health%20... Compare Table 3 to Table 5. PM emissions from exhaust are on the order of 1 gram per hour. Whereas fugitive dust emissions, depending on the surface, are 100s or 1000s of grams per hour.
aidenn0 3y ago
I found a CARB report[1] that addresses this. TL;DR: nobody's directly measured the particulates ("fugitive dust") kicked up, but the estimates made from back-calculating measurements of dust present on road services suggest that the majority of PM10 and PM2.5 from a leaf blower are due to fugitive dust, and therefore will still be present in electric leaf blowers. There isn't a lot of data on how much the chemical makeup of particulates affects health, nor on what the makeup of particulates likely to be kicked up by a leaf-blower are. At least some of the particulates from two-stroke engine emissions are known to be really bad (e.g. partially combusted lubricants). So the jury is out on if the particulate related health risks are dominated by the engine or the dust. If you think "all PM2.5 is bad" then it's almost certainly dominated by the dust though. 1: https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2018-11/Health%20and%20Environmental%20Impacts%20of%20Leaf%20Blowers.pdf https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2018-11/Health%20...
- jrflowers 3y ago
  Thanks!
adgjlsfhk1 3y ago
a bunch of nitrogen oxides that are pretty bad for people, a bunch of Co2, and a bunch more noise.

The gas leaf blower also is also burning gas, and hence adding that particulate matter in addition to what gets stirred up.

aidenn0 3y ago
It's not just burning gas; as a 2-stroke engine, it's burning a gas/oil mixture that is even dirtier than burning just gasoline.
jrflowers 3y ago
That makes sense. I am curious as to how big the difference the power source makes for a machine that’s purpose-made to kick up particulate matter up into the air from the ground.
- roywiggins 3y ago
  2-stroke engines in general are awful for air quality. https://phys.org/news/2014-05-two-stroke-scooters-super-polluters.html https://phys.org/news/2014-05-two-stroke-scooters-super-poll...
  - jrflowers 3y ago
    I believe that! I am curious as to how big the difference the power source makes for a machine that’s purpose-made to kick up particulate matter up into the air from the ground though.
    - ztrww 3y ago
      Did anyone imply there was a difference (besides electric ones possibly being less powerful)?
      - jrflowers 3y ago
        If you scroll up this thread you will see where the discussion began. Edit: For example, you’ll see where I asked my initial question here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36501689 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36501689
    - Fomite 3y ago
      Purely anecdote, but my neighbor uses a gas leaf blower and we use an electric one, and our yards are broadly similar. The difference is notable.
      - jrflowers 3y ago
        How?
        83 3y ago
        The electric blower yard probably still has leaves on it. I'm all for electrifying yard tools, but electric blowers still aren't anywhere near a high end Stihl or Husqvarna in performance.
        Fomite 3y ago
        We both kick up a fair amount of fines, but there's also a noticeable amount of fairly dirty output from the gas blower.
    - comedowntous 3y ago
      It's in that CARB report posted above: https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2018-11/Health%20and%20Environmental%20Impacts%20of%20Leaf%20Blowers.pdf https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2018-11/Health%20... Compare Table 3 to Table 5. PM emissions from exhaust are on the order of 1 gram per hour. Whereas fugitive dust emissions, depending on the surface, are 100s or 1000s of grams per hour.

aidenn0 3y ago

I found a CARB report[1] that addresses this. TL;DR: nobody's directly measured the particulates ("fugitive dust") kicked up, but the estimates made from back-calculating measurements of dust present on road services suggest that the majority of PM10 and PM2.5 from a leaf blower are due to fugitive dust, and therefore will still be present in electric leaf blowers. There isn't a lot of data on how much the chemical makeup of particulates affects health, nor on what the makeup of particulates likely to be kicked up by a leaf-blower are. At least some of the particulates from two-stroke engine emissions are known to be really bad (e.g. partially combusted lubricants). So the jury is out on if the particulate related health risks are dominated by the engine or the dust. If you think "all PM2.5 is bad" then it's almost certainly dominated by the dust though. 1: https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2018-11/Health%20and%20Environmental%20Impacts%20of%20Leaf%20Blowers.pdf https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2018-11/Health%20...

jrflowers 3y ago
Thanks!

adgjlsfhk1 3y ago

a bunch of nitrogen oxides that are pretty bad for people, a bunch of Co2, and a bunch more noise.