Time To Remove Some Leaves? Read This:
By celticeagle
@celticeagle (189820)
Boise, Idaho
October 17, 2018 4:44pm CST
Many people use leaf blowers to remove the leaves in their yards. Did you know that this noisy machine can reach 100 decibels? It is recommended to use ear protection for anything over 85. Also, using a leaf blower for just 30 minutes creates more carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and nitrous oxides than is produced from driving a F-150 truck for nearly 4000 miles. Bad news for you and your neighbors. Using a rake and getting some light physical exercise is a much better alternative. Or look into a leaf vacuum which isn't as noisy or polluting.
10 people like this
10 responses
@Morleyhunt (21741)
• Canada
17 Oct 18
30 minutes of the leaf blower is equal to several hours of "light" raking, not 30 minutes of light raking. I can't think of a time ours was used for more than maybe 10 minutes. It replaced a lot of physical effort for someone with a bad back and a limited amount of time.
2 people like this
@celticeagle (189820)
• Boise, Idaho
18 Oct 18
But there are electric ones that aren't as noisy.
1 person likes this
@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
18 Oct 18
@celticeagle are the ones you're talking about here mainly the gas operated ones? I don't see that you stipulate that in this post.
I have an electric one but our yard is small and we use ours mostly when doing gutter jobs for customers of ours not for doing leaves on the lawn.
1 person likes this
@Morleyhunt (21741)
• Canada
18 Oct 18
@celticeagle then I would need an exceptionally long extension cord.
@koopharper (7599)
• Canada
18 Oct 18
They are banned in some communities for that reason. We used them for clean up when I worked landscaping in college. If you knew what you were doing you could make short work of a lot of mess. Far more than I could ever get done with a rake and with a far cleaner result. I did wear hearing protection. Incidentally, there are a lot of electric ones on the market now and they are not nearly so noisy.
2 people like this
@BarBaraPrz (51811)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
18 Oct 18
Leaf blowers are useless. So you blow the leaves into the street. The wind blows them back on your lawn. Just mow them up and leave the shreds on the ground to protect the grass during the winter.
1 person likes this
@wolfgirl569 (135643)
• Marion, Ohio
17 Oct 18
I never knew that but dont have one. We just mow them up and they help fertilize the yard.
1 person likes this
@xFiacre (14795)
• Ireland
18 Oct 18
@celticeagle My neighbour’s gardener (yes) uses a high pitched leaf blower just about every day and it spoils my happiness no end, both the noise and the smugness of his perfect garden.
@dgobucks226 (37621)
•
18 Oct 18
I use an electric leaf blower and I do use a rake too. Good tip about the noise level. I need to wear my ear plugs not just for the lawn mower but leaf cleanup too!
