4 ms·

Unless cities create laws against loud lawn equipment, the cheaper (louder) option will always be chosen first. I'm also not even convinced that, all things be

Unless cities create laws against loud lawn equipment, the cheaper (louder) option will always be chosen first. I'm also not even convinced that, all things being equal except noise, that some people would choose the quieter option. After all, people spend $$$ making their vehicles LOUDER, even when it doesn't always add performance.

WalterBright 3y ago
There's nothing like the sound of a healthy V8. There is one thing better, though. Stand near a P-51 Mustang when its engine starts. Wow. There's even a book written about it - "Sigh of a Merlin". (The P-51 engine is a Merlin V12.)
- billybones 3y ago
  Please keep this attitude on the track, and away from where people live. Ripping your engine in loud cities, no matter how great you think it sounds, is like urinating on the toilet seat or throwing your trash out the window. Might make your life a little easier or better, but it's just flagrantly inconsiderate.
seanmcdirmid 3y ago
> the cheaper (louder) option will always be chosen first. Not if the quieter versions are cheaper. Electric leaf blowers are already mostly cheaper than gas powered ones, it is just that for large scale commercial purposes, gas powered ones still have an edge in cost and more importantly in terms of "how long can I work without swapping/refueling." I suspect the line will continue to drift toward electrics given that there is a lot of yearly advances in battery tech and not much development in gas powered engines.
- connicpu 3y ago
  For home use if you don't have a large area to cover, it's even cheaper to get an AC leaf blower. Just need an extension cord that can reach to the extent of your yard. Obviously less universally practical for professional landscapers, battery technology is critical for them.
  - bluGill 3y ago
    AC wall power just doesn't have the watts to run a powerful motor. A battery can do this because it can charge longer than it runs if you want. Leaf blowers might be okay, but a lot of AC powered stuff lacks power to be good.
    - shiroiuma 3y ago
      It would help if the US switched to 240V mains power (for everything, not just dryers and stoves) instead of the wimpy 120V it uses now.
      - bluGill 3y ago
        For a few things, mostly things don't need that much power and lower voltage is safer.
      - connicpu 3y ago
        Technically speaking we do have 240V in all of our walls, you just have to use 2 of the hot wires instead of 1 hot wire and the ground-referenced neutral. 240V 30A+ outlets accessible from the garage/driveway should be becoming a lot more commonplace in the EV era, if they become common enough companies might start designing heavy duty lawncare equipment that can take advantage of it.
        shiroiuma 3y ago
        >Technically speaking we do have 240V in all of our walls, you just have to use 2 of the hot wires instead of 1 hot wire and the ground-referenced neutral. No, you don't. Have you done any house wiring? The only place you can get 240V is at the panel; from there, there are branch circuits that go through the walls. Each branch circuit uses a (probably 14-gauge) Romex cable that has 3 conductors: hot (black), neutral (white), and ground (which has no insulation). There's no way you can just open the wall and get access to 240V. >240V 30A+ outlets accessible from the garage/driveway should be becoming a lot more commonplace in the EV era That's only happening because people are paying a lot of money for an electrician to pull a heavy-gauge cable through the walls and wire it to the panel. It's not normally a DIY project. It might be easier in many garages though since the panel is frequently located there, and some garages are unfinished. Technically, you could rewire one of your branch circuits to be 240V by connecting the neutral to a hot, and using a different circuit breaker, but this would be totally illegal since it's not to code.
DennisP 3y ago
> More and more communities have enacted usage restrictions on leaf blowers due to the noise
karaterobot 3y ago
There's also a market-based reason why it could work: my HOA needs to choose between two competing landscapers, one that blasts the sound of a two-stroke engine for a couple hours a week, and one that doesn't. This does not seem like an unrealistic scenario!
sargun 3y ago
I believe CA has tried to ban gas based leaf blowers: https://www.cnet.com/home/yard-and-outdoors/loud-gas-belching-leaf-blowers-will-soon-be-illegal-in-1-state-is-this-just-the-beginning/ https://www.cnet.com/home/yard-and-outdoors/loud-gas-belchin...

WalterBright 3y ago

There's nothing like the sound of a healthy V8. There is one thing better, though. Stand near a P-51 Mustang when its engine starts. Wow. There's even a book written about it - "Sigh of a Merlin". (The P-51 engine is a Merlin V12.)

billybones 3y ago
Please keep this attitude on the track, and away from where people live. Ripping your engine in loud cities, no matter how great you think it sounds, is like urinating on the toilet seat or throwing your trash out the window. Might make your life a little easier or better, but it's just flagrantly inconsiderate.

seanmcdirmid 3y ago

> the cheaper (louder) option will always be chosen first. Not if the quieter versions are cheaper. Electric leaf blowers are already mostly cheaper than gas powered ones, it is just that for large scale commercial purposes, gas powered ones still have an edge in cost and more importantly in terms of "how long can I work without swapping/refueling." I suspect the line will continue to drift toward electrics given that there is a lot of yearly advances in battery tech and not much development in gas powered engines.

connicpu 3y ago
For home use if you don't have a large area to cover, it's even cheaper to get an AC leaf blower. Just need an extension cord that can reach to the extent of your yard. Obviously less universally practical for professional landscapers, battery technology is critical for them.
- bluGill 3y ago
  AC wall power just doesn't have the watts to run a powerful motor. A battery can do this because it can charge longer than it runs if you want. Leaf blowers might be okay, but a lot of AC powered stuff lacks power to be good.
  - shiroiuma 3y ago
    It would help if the US switched to 240V mains power (for everything, not just dryers and stoves) instead of the wimpy 120V it uses now.
    - bluGill 3y ago
      For a few things, mostly things don't need that much power and lower voltage is safer.
    - connicpu 3y ago
      Technically speaking we do have 240V in all of our walls, you just have to use 2 of the hot wires instead of 1 hot wire and the ground-referenced neutral. 240V 30A+ outlets accessible from the garage/driveway should be becoming a lot more commonplace in the EV era, if they become common enough companies might start designing heavy duty lawncare equipment that can take advantage of it.
      - shiroiuma 3y ago
        >Technically speaking we do have 240V in all of our walls, you just have to use 2 of the hot wires instead of 1 hot wire and the ground-referenced neutral. No, you don't. Have you done any house wiring? The only place you can get 240V is at the panel; from there, there are branch circuits that go through the walls. Each branch circuit uses a (probably 14-gauge) Romex cable that has 3 conductors: hot (black), neutral (white), and ground (which has no insulation). There's no way you can just open the wall and get access to 240V. >240V 30A+ outlets accessible from the garage/driveway should be becoming a lot more commonplace in the EV era That's only happening because people are paying a lot of money for an electrician to pull a heavy-gauge cable through the walls and wire it to the panel. It's not normally a DIY project. It might be easier in many garages though since the panel is frequently located there, and some garages are unfinished. Technically, you could rewire one of your branch circuits to be 240V by connecting the neutral to a hot, and using a different circuit breaker, but this would be totally illegal since it's not to code.

DennisP 3y ago

> More and more communities have enacted usage restrictions on leaf blowers due to the noise

karaterobot 3y ago

There's also a market-based reason why it could work: my HOA needs to choose between two competing landscapers, one that blasts the sound of a two-stroke engine for a couple hours a week, and one that doesn't. This does not seem like an unrealistic scenario!

sargun 3y ago

I believe CA has tried to ban gas based leaf blowers: https://www.cnet.com/home/yard-and-outdoors/loud-gas-belching-leaf-blowers-will-soon-be-illegal-in-1-state-is-this-just-the-beginning/ https://www.cnet.com/home/yard-and-outdoors/loud-gas-belchin...