Lawnmowers

[BridgeRunner]

We inherited an electric mower with our house.  I kinda' like that we don't have to hit that perfect half hour when it's ok to make noise but not too hot to mow, but the cord thing is kind of a pain the ass.  It's not very powerful, and does a marginally better job than the reel mower we used at our last place. 

Trouble is, the thing is not working.  I haven't really messed with it at all.  The cord apparently started melting.  I know nothing about these things, like how much of a pain it would be to repair.  I rarely use it, my husband does most of the mowing.  I, however, do most of the budgeting. 

I think we should get a new mower, a real mower, one that is gas powered and doesn't require a hugely long cord snaking all over the place.  I think we should get a rear-bagging one, since Ian rarely finishes the raking after mowing before something else pulls him away.

But this is gonna be a hard sell if repairing the thing is just a matter of putting on a new cord.

So, any ideas on why the cord would randomly melt (not the extension cord, but the plug and cord that is part of the mower itself), advisibility of fixing it, reasons to get a gas mower?

Help me out here, I am truly ignorant when it comes to yard work.  In my neighborhood growing up, you kept your lawn short by having lots of kids running all over it if you were poor and you paid someone to do it if you were rich.  Lawns are really outside my cultural experience.

[mtnbkr]

Possibly a short or some condition causing the mower to pull more current than normal.  Either way, it doesn't sound safe.

How big is your yard?  I decent electric mower works as well as a gas one without the noise and fumes.  Keep the blade sharp.  That said, if your yard is a decent size, gas is the way to go.

Chris

[HankB]

I think we should get a new mower, a real mower, one that is gas powered and doesn't require a hugely long cord snaking all over the place.  I think we should get a rear-bagging one, since Ian rarely finishes the raking after mowing before something else pulls him away.

Most rear-bagging mowers will do a decent job of mulching if you take the bag off - a hinged door will close the discharge chute. Unless you have a LOT of leaves, simply mulching the clippings is better for the lawn than raking them up or bagging them for disposal. (Unless you have your own compost pile.)

Mowers with engine-kill interlocks are cheaper than those with blade brakes . . . and a strip of Velcro or stiff piece of wire can prevent the mower from shutting itself off when you release the handle.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

The power cord melted?  It takes a lot of current to melt a typical power cord, and I would think a circuit breaker would trip long before that point.  Are you sure the cord wasn't cut or damaged somehow, first?  Maybe it was melted from the outside, by some external heat source?

Power cords are fairly easy and cheap to repair.  A good hardware store should have a kit that comes with the parts you need and instructions to tell you how to do it.  But, you ought to figure out what caused the cord to melt before you repair it.  Otherwise it'll probably just melt again.

[BridgeRunner]

The power cord melted?  It takes a lot of current to melt a typical power cord, and I would think a circuit breaker would trip long before that point.  Are you sure the cord wasn't cut or damaged somehow, first?  Maybe it was melted from the outside, by some external heat source?

Yep, I'm sure.  The last person to use it was my mother-in-law, and she was complaining about it, so Ian inspected it pretty well before he started it up.  I don't have more details on what she thought was going on with it, because I was in surgery that day, but I know that Ian had cause to look it over thoroughly before using it the last time.  And it was along the length of the cord, not one spot.  Melty, distorted areas along its length, and the plug is also melty.

Power cords are fairly easy and cheap to repair.  A good hardware store should have a kit that comes with the parts you need and instructions to tell you how to do it.  But, you ought to figure out what caused the cord to melt before you repair it.  Otherwise it'll probably just melt again.

Yeah, I've done that for other things before, but the randomness and the lack of apparent damage to the cord made me leery of going ahead and doing that. 

My grandpa, the electrical engineer, taught me to be really cautious with electricity.  An unfortuante side effect is near-total ignorance.

[Dope]

If the cord is relatively uniformly melting, then the cord itself is not your problem. The mower is drawing large amounts of power and the resistance in the wire leads to heat, which eventually leads to melting. It takes a lot to melt your average power cord. I've never actually seen a cord melt before, even using very very old/frayed cords with very powerful electric tools/lights. Unless it's just a faulty design or faulty materials being used, there is a probably a pretty serious problem there. If it's getting that hot it could easily start a fire. Most likely cause of problems like this is due to a short in my experience.

Beyond that, I can't really help. I've only dealt with gas mowers, mainly because I've only heard nightmare stories about the electric ones. I'm lazy about mowing the lawn and it's usually pretty long before I get around to cutting it - to the point that my gas mower bogs and can even stall if the grass is wet. So yeah, no electric for me. There's just some things that you don't bother with electric. Mowers are one of them, snowblowers are another (especially if you live in the Northeast like me).

My suggestion would be to just go to Sears and pick up a cheap side-discharge or rear bagger and be done with it. The cheap ones are like 125-175 or 150-200, respectively.

Dope

[Brad Johnson]

Melted power cord = electrical problem (too much load, shorted windings, etc).

If it pulled enough current to melt the cord, I'd toss it.  It has major issues and most electric mowers are unitized construction and parts are not available piecemeal.  In other words, it's disposable.

Get a decent Craftsman or Big Box store mower on clearance, or a rebuilt from a local yard shop.

Brad

[BridgeRunner]

Thanks for the advice.  Did a quick search and saw that a sears had one that will suit us well on sale, so we went and got it.  We needed it pretty fast--lawn hasn't been mowed in close to two weeks, and the price was right. 

The next challenge will be getting rid of the electric one. Large item trash disposal in this town is an adventure.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

put it on craigslist or freecycle  as is

[41magsnub]

Thanks for the advice.  Did a quick search and saw that a sears had one that will suit us well on sale, so we went and got it.  We needed it pretty fast--lawn hasn't been mowed in close to two weeks, and the price was right. 

The next challenge will be getting rid of the electric one. Large item trash disposal in this town is an adventure.

You could take it to the rifle range and make it into a bunch of smaller trash items....

[roo_ster]

Freecycle rocks. 

Just be honest about the condition and if you sell it to a single mom with no electrical experience and she wastes time/money on it you are going to the Special Hell.

[Tallpine]

With a side-discharge, just leave the bag off and mow in a spiraling rectangle from the outside in so that you always mow over the clippings.  You might have to make an extra pass down the middle over the last row of clippings.

[MillCreek]

Just last week, I took delivery of a Brill RazorCut 38: the finest reel mower of Germany!  I am retiring the gas rotary in favor of this.  Because of the rain locally, I have only been able to cut the yard once, but I had forgotten how nice a sharp reel mower cuts.

[MechAg94]

It is never too hot to mow.  I live on the Texas Gulf Coast and if it isn't hot it is humid or both. 

[BridgeRunner]

It is never too hot to mow.  I live on the Texas Gulf Coast and if it isn't hot it is humid or both. 

Yeah, but I've been cautioned strongly against cutting in the midday sun.

[doc2rn]

I would get one that uses no energy, like an old multiblade push mower.

[De Selby]

I'm thinking of buying a goat-still trying to figure out the economics of the meals + mowing service vs. maintenance costs.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

if you have a lotta grass get sheep  goats are better at brush  says a guy with three goats who is gonna weedwhack 1 1/2 acres of hill tomorrow in the heat

[De Selby]

if you have a lotta grass get sheep  goats are better at brush  says a guy with three goats who is gonna weedwhack 1 1/2 acres of hill tomorrow in the heat

Thanks for the heads up-sheep it is!  Not as tasty as a goat imho...but if it keeps the lawn trimmed...

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

looking to trade a goat for sheep if you know anybody

[BridgeRunner]

I would get one that uses no energy, like an old multiblade push mower.

Got one.  Dulls fast.  Pain in the ass.  More fun than a powered one, but you gotta get a good one, allegedly, and we didn't. 

[MillCreek]

I would get one that uses no energy, like an old multiblade push mower.

Got one.  Dulls fast.  Pain in the ass.  More fun than a powered one, but you gotta get a good one, allegedly, and we didn't. 

I did a lot of research on reel mowers before I bought the Brill.  My package deal for the mower and catcher was $ 275.  Pretty consistently on the reel mower web reviews and websites, the Brill and SunLawn reel mowers received the best reviews and comments.  Because both of these brands feature a no contact bedknife system, they can go for 8-10 years between sharpenings.  The Scotts and American Lawnmower models, sold at Sears and the big box hardware stores, were not viewed as favorably and require sharpening every year or two.

The website that had the most information on the subject is www.peoplepoweredmachines.com.

[Tallpine]

I think you have to pay way more for a good reel type mower than a basic gas powered rotary.  Then you have to pay somebody that knows how to do it a good price to keep it sharp.  The rotary mowers you can sharpen the blade with a grinder or just buy a new blade for $15-$20.

For years we had a basic 18" B&S 3.5 hp rotary that we got somewhere for about $99.  It was still running when we left it at the house in town that we sold, as by then I had bought a 6hp 22" "big wheel" mower because the yard was so big and rough.  And I'm still using the latter after at least 6 years to mow this huge lawn up here.  (we keep about an acre around our house mowed for fire and snake protection)

I really need a good riding mower but don't have $1500-$3000 to spare right now.  Actually, what I really want is a 30-50 hp tractor with 3-pt mower deck at least 6' wide.

[charby]

I love my LawnBoy. I got the second to last year before they discontinued the 2 cycle mowers.

If I was to buy a new gas one, I'd get one with a 6-7hp Honda motor.

[charby]

I really need a good riding mower but don't have $1500-$3000 to spare right now.  Actually, what I really want is a 30-50 hp tractor with 3-pt mower deck at least 6' wide.

I mow grass at my gun club with an old 1010 John Deere and a 6' brush hog. Its a 30 hp tractor but I have noticed that when the grass gets much over 8" tall there isn't enough PTO horsepower to cut it. If you are looking at a finish mower in that size I'd definitely be looking at something closer to 50hp at the PTO.