|
Gas-powered lawn equipment like mowers, blowers and trimmers are very vulnerable to potential damage, according to local businesses that sell and repair yard equipment.
''The 10 percent ethanol is not doing very good, I can only imagine what the 15 percent will do,'' says Chris Hanny, sales manager at Land & Coates. It's a Toro, Stihl and Honda power equipment dealer on Jefferson Avenue in upper Newport News.
Ethanol is an alcohol and is caustic to certain materials, especially rubber and plastic. It gums up everything, and ruins springs, floats, rubber gaskets and fuel lines, according to Hanny. Slowly, but surely, you get unwanted shellac on the inside of your carburetor, too.
''Years ago, you could get 5 gallons of gas for your mower and it would last you for the summer,'' he says.
''Now, gas goes bad, stale with water in it, in 30 to 60 days.'' |
