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Author: Samuel M. Goldwasser

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Types of lawn mowers

Depending on the size of your lot, glowing conditions, and your energy level, one or more of the following options will fit you like a glove:

• Reel mowers - manual type are still available and suitable for small lots. Safe, non-polluting, quiet, low maintenance, and low cost substitute for aerobic workout.

• Rotary mowers (gasoline powered) - Most common type, convenient, relatively low maintenance, some pollution, generally noisy.

• Rotary mowers (electric, AC line or battery powered). Convenient, low maintenance, non-polluting, usually quieter than gasoline powered mowers, limited by cord length or battery charge.

• Teenage kid - low maintenance but variable performance and possible reliability problems.

• Landscaping service - expensive but consistent and may occasionally mow your valuable flower bed as weeds by mistake.

• Cow, goat, or other herbivore - mowing performance quite variable, fencing required, excellent source of fresh fertilizer. The extended warranty is essential! :-)

The first two of these are described in more detail is subsequent sections of this document. For the last, well you should already know if that is appropriate for your life-style!

Large mowers (those which carry you) may be of either the rotary or reel type, usually gasoline or diesel powered but some electrics have been produced. For information on riding mowers, lawn tractors, garden tractors and estate tractors (also known as compact diesel tractors), see the Small Tractor FAQ.

Consumer Reports regularly provides reviews and ratings of most common types of lawn mowers. These articles are a good place to start as they include a great deal of the basic information needed to decide on the lawn mower type best suited for your property. They compare a selection of typical models based on features, safety, price, and their tests of performance and operator convenience. If you do not subscribe to Consumer Reports, your local library will likely have access to several years of back issues.

For even more advice, see Consumer Reports Books' Yard and Garden Equipment Buying Guide. It is sold at bookstores and newsstands and is also available directly from Consumer Reports Books using the order form in the back of every issue of Consumer Reports.

 

 

Rotary mowers

These may be gasoline or electric (AC line or battery) powered. A spinning blade or blades whirls at the selected cutting height and lops off the tops of you grass by side impact. This is most definitely brutal treatment of your poor defenseless grass! The length of the cutting blade determines how much of a swath is cut on each pass - typically 18 to 24 inches for a walk-behind mower; up to 36 inches or more for a riding mower. Mowers with large swath widths may use two or more smaller blades instead.

The uniformity, consistency, and just general appearance of a lawn mowed with a rotary lawn mower is not quite up to the standards of that of a professional reel mower. You will never get the perfect manicured look though some models may come close. However, the simplicity, lower cost, and need for less and more easily performed maintenance will generally overcome the desire for perfection unless your lawn is featured regularly in "Better Homes and Gardens" magazine.

Gasoline powered rotary lawn mowers are by far the most common type used by homeowners and many professional landscapers as well. Most walk-behind mowers use a manual recoil (pull) starter though electric start is available on more sophisticated (and more expensive) models and generally standard on riding mowers and lawn tractors.

The main disadvantages of a gasoline powered mower are the need to deal with the handling and storage of gasoline and routine engine maintenance at the end of the mowing season to assure easy starting next season and to prolong engine life. However, most of this is pretty straightforward. See the section: General preventive maintenance. Small gasoline engines also do contribute to air pollution but new mowers must meet more stringent EPA requirements as of September, 1996.

Electric rotary mowers are also available in both plug-in and cordless (battery powered) versions. However, since gas mowers are generally more powerful and not limited by the length of a power cord or charge of a battery, they continue to dominate the market. Electric mowers are, of course, non-polluting but the electricity had to be generated somehow.

 

Reel mowers

These may be manual or engine powered. A spinning set of sharp spiral cutting blades working against a fixed 'bedknife' snips off grass like a scissors. In principle, reel mowers can produce an exceptionally consistent manicured lawn. However, small reel mowers may have serious cutting height limitations and also result in a wavy uneven appearance.

• The common (some would say old fashioned) manually operated push reel mower is simple in construction, easy to operate (if you have the energy), safe, quiet, compact to store, and modern ones in particular are quite light in weight. However, blade sharpening is something best left to an expert. If your lot is small and/or you like the exercise, a manual reel mower may be for you.

• Small engine powered reel mowers do exist but I do not know if they are still readily available. I have seen them at garage and estate sales. While I have never seen an electric powered reel mower, this would seem to make a lot of sense for battery operation as the power requirement of a reel mower are much less than for a rotary type.

• I don't know if commercial battery powered reel mowers exist but it would make sense as they should be much more efficient than rotary mowers.

  (From: Nigel Cowburn (nigel@hkem.com).)

  "A neighbor of mine had a homemade car-battery-powered reel mower. He used his actual car battery and worked out a mowing time that allowed him to start his car again after mowing."

  (From: Sam.)

  I suppose he had to factor in the height of the grass to guarantee that his car would start. :)

• Professional landscapers often use large engine powered versions of these machines which may have multiple cutting heads and are self propelled, ride-on, or pulled behind a tractor.

Types of rotary mowers

In addition to options with respect to gasoline or electric power, rotary mowers can be classified based on such things as: walk-behind vs. ride-on, to bag or not to bag, and rear or side discharge or mulcher:

• Walk-behind mowers may be either of the push type - you provide the power to move the mower; the engine or motor spins the blade - or self propelled where the engine (usually only for gasoline types) drives the front wheels via a fixed or multiple speed transmission. Typical engine power is from 3 to 6 HP with the trend nowadays toward the higher end of this range especially for self propelled models.

• Side discharge mowers eject the grass clippings from the right side (usually) to the rear. These are probably the most common type in use today due to their low cost. Some perfectly serviceable new mowers of this type sell for $100 or less. Optional grass catcher bags permit some of these to be converted to side-baggers if desired but the bags tend to be much smaller and thus less convenient than those for rear bagging mowers to prevent them from becoming side-heavy when the bag fills up.

• Rear baggers eject the grass clippings into a bag mounted behind the mower. Bags tend to fill quite quickly - especially if you keep putting off your mowing assignment - and need to be emptied or changed frequently. The weight of the grass clippings in the bag also contributes to the mass of the mower - which you have to push if it is not self propelled.

  WARNING: Rear baggers should never be operated without a bag unless the opening is fully blocked or the proper deflector is installed. Grass cutting performance will then be similar to that of a mulching or (side) discharge type mower respectively but since this is a compromise, the resulting appearance of the cut lawn may suffer.

• Mulching mowers do not discharge the clippings but continue to chop them up under-deck until they are small enough to cease being sucked up by the airflow. The best will result in almost no detectable evidence of grass clippings though the worst may leave big clumps behind. The appearance of the lawn from a mulcher may be as good or very nearly as good as that from a bagger but this is not assured. Some mowers - both discharge and bagging types - can be converted to mulching mowers by using a special cover to block the discharge port and possibly a different mulching blade.

  Side discharge and bagging mowers can often be converted to mulching with the use of a mulching kit which includes a means of blocking the discharge port and possibly a special mulching blade. However, performance of one of these may not be as good as that of a mulching mower since the airflow requirements differ and these are largely determined by the design of the deck.

• Riding mowers are basically larger versions of the self propelled bagging mower with a seat for the operator, steering wheel, and more controls for cutting rate and forward speeds. The engine is typically in the 8 to 10 HP range and is mounted in the rear beneath or behind the seat.

• Lawn tractors may be even more sophisticated than riding mowers with larger blades and additional options for non-lawn mowing tasks. The engine is higher power - 12 to 18 HP or more - and is mounted up front under a hood as in a real tractor.

WARNING: Most lawn mowing accidents result from reckless or careless use of riding mowers and lawn tractors, not walk-behind mowers. These are not as stable as an automobile especially when their large bags are full of heavy, wet, grass clippings and may tip over on inclines that would not be a problem with someone in control of a walk-behind lawn mower. They are best and safest for use on large flat open lots. A walk-behind mower - perhaps even a manual reel mower - should be used for sloping or irregular areas and for mowing or trimming around obstructions like trees, shrubbery, landscaping timbers, posts, fences, planters, boulders, and so forth.

 

Dead-man control

All rotary mowers manufactured within the past 15 years or so must have a dead-man control to stop the blade quickly (within a couple of seconds) if the handle is released or the operator falls off of the seat of a riding mower or lawn tractor. While not foolproof, this feature greatly reduces the chances of serious injuries due to accidental slipping or falling - or attempting to make adjustments while the blade is spinning.

WARNING: Never defeat the dead-man control for any reason unless there is no chance of the mower starting.

• For gasoline powered mowers, this means that the spark plug wire had been pulled and tied a safe distance (a few inches minimum) away from the spark plug terminal or the spark plug has been removed entirely. Even draining or detaching the fuel tank is no guarantee that the engine will not start as the carburetor often contains a few minutes of fuel reserve.

• For electric powered mowers, this means that the wall plug has been pulled or the battery disconnected and the wire tied or taped to prevent any accidental contact.

Always restore the dead-man control to normal operation before attempting to start the mower.