Prepare Your Lawn Equipment for Winter

Old man winter is just about here. The last few weeks of fall are just about gone. You are getting ready to pack the lawn mower and weed whacker away for the winter, but wait, make sure that you have gotten them ready for winter. If you don't, come spring they very well may not start for you. Then you'll have to take them to the repair shop, costing you more money.

So how do you prepare your equipment for winter? An oil change on the lawn mower is one step. Almost every mower uses oil, similar to the way your car uses oil. And just like your car, the oil in your mower should be changed every so often. Follow the manufacturer's instructions for how to change the oil and what type of oil you should use.

After the oil is changed, it is now time to prepare the gas tank for winter. Gasoline tends to break down after a period of time, and if it sits in the carburetor for to long, it will turn gummy and clog things up. Once this happens, it will be time for a trip to the repair shop to get everything cleaned out. There are two schools of thought when it comes to preparing the gas tank for winter. The first school of thought is to drain the gas tank and then run the mower to get the last of the gas out of the carb. If there is no gas in the carb, then it can not break down and become gummy. If it cannot break down and get gummy, it cannot clog the carb. The second school of thought is to use a gas stabilizer to condition the gasoline over the winter. In this case, you should fill the gas tank and then add the proper amount of gas stabilizer for the size of the tank. Allow the stabilizer to mix in with the gas for a short time and then run the engine for a couple of minutes. This circulates the stabilizer throughout the entire fuel system.

Now that the lawn mower is ready for winter, repeat these steps for any other gas lawn tools that you have. Just remember that any tool you mix gasoline with oil for, may not have a separate only tank. In these cases, just stabilize the fuel tanks by either draining them or adding the stabilizer and they will be ready for winter. Come spring, these tools will be ready to run for yet another season.