If you happen to live in an area where temperatures fall below freezing during the winter season, then sooner or later you will have to learn how to winterize a leaf blower that you own. Your blower takes care of the heaps of leaves and debris that piles down on your yard, and if you want your tool to last, you have to take care of your tool, too.
Gas powered outdoor power equipment are especially vulnerable to freezing temperatures, and you have to take steps to make sure they are not damaged by the cold.
Most of these winterizing tips apply not just to gas leaf blowers, but also to your other gas-powered lawn care equipment as well. Take the necessary steps to prepare your power tools to last through the winter, and they will take care of your needs when the time comes that you need them to perform at their best.
What Winterizing Your Power Tools Means
To winterize a power tool means making it so that it will last through the winter, even when subjected to freezing temperatures.
That’s because your gas-powered power tools often contain liquids in the form of fuel, oil, or water for cleaning purposes. When the winter months come around, freezing temperatures can cause these fluids to freeze up. When you have a lot of fluid freeze inside a piece of equipment, they can cause damage to the internal components.
The damage could come in the form of split lines and cracked fluid reservoirs. It’s not just the ice that you need to watch out for too. The rain or snow can also do some damage to your leaf blower or your other power tools, and frost can be detrimental to them as well. Long exposure to rain and snow can lead to your equipment’s metal parts rusting in places.
Proper winterizing means not just preparing your gas leaf blower for exposure to sub-zero freezing temperatures. It also means properly cleaning your tools, doing maintenance, doing repairs as needed, and then properly storing them where they will be safe.
In any case, the two main points you have to remember when winterizing your gas leaf blower and other tools is to drain out and keep away all sorts of liquids from your equipment as needed, and to make sure that your tools are not exposed to cold temperatures, moisture and dirt as much as possible
So winterizing is not just for your gas-powered leaf blowers. Sure, your electric and cordless leaf blowers do not have a gas tank that you have to drain, but you also have to make sure that they are cleaned, maintained, and safely stored somewhere that the winter conditions cannot reach them. Lithium-ion batteries can also be damaged and fail prematurely if they are exposed to freezing temperatures as well.
Finding A Place to Store Your Winterized Your Leaf Blower
Your leaf blowers will see active duty by the time autumn rolls around, and they will likely remain so until you rake up the last leaves, grass clippings, and acorns for the season and the trees have finally shed all their foliage. Then it’s time to look into winterizing your lawn care equipment so they will be ready the next time you need them.
The first step to winterizing your leaf blower is to bring it in. Not just your leaf blower, too – make sure you bring your lawn equipment inside where they will be safe from moisture, harsh cold, and also to make sure they don’t get lost or stolen as well. Leaving your lawn equipment out on a porch or under the deck uncovered is not the proper way to go about it.
The best place to keep your leaf blower is somewhere that’s at a reasonably stable temperature, in a place that either has a space heater, central heating, or at least reasonable insulation. If you don’t have space inside your house for your leaf blower, then the garage is a suitable choice. And if your garage does not have enough space to keep your power equipment in, then a shed will at least protect them from rain, snow and wind.
If you do have a leaf blower that you simply have no choice but to leave outside (like a walk behind leaf blower), then at least prepare a tarp to cover it. Get a tarp that will cover your whole equipment, and that you can secure with stakes and bungees. The more tarp you have and the better you can secure it, the less the chance that driving wind and snow can work their way underneath your cover and get into your blower.
Now that you have found a proper spot to secure your leaf blower in, it’s time to prepare the tool itself for storage.
Winterizing Your Cordless Leaf Blower
Winterizing your leaf blower can be as simple as taking out the battery, in the case of cordless leaf blowers. A cordless, battery-powered leaf blower does not have a gas tank that you need to drain, so you can safely store them in the garage or shed.
The Lithium-ion batteries that come with your lawn power tool, however, can be susceptible to freezing temperatures. You need to take steps to make sure that your batteries are not exposed to extreme temperatures, which can decrease the life span of the battery cells.
Lithium-ion batteries are best kept indoors, where temperature variations can be better controlled. To make sure that you are storing your leaf blower batteries correctly, it’s always a good idea to check with your user’s manual. In most cases, the Lithium-ion batteries that come with your cordless leaf blower can be safely stored between around 40 degrees to 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
While you’re at it, make sure to prepare your cordless leaf blower batteries in a way that they don’t get fully drained while they’re not in use.
You’re not likely using your cordless leaf blower for quite some time, and experts recommend that you prepare any Lithium-ion batteries that you will not use for 30 days or more. The optimal discharge level for many of these batteries is more or less around 40 percent of their full capacities.
Some manufacturers claim that their batteries do not need to be charged in the middle of the offseason. Others may recommend that you do a quick charge and drain cycle every couple of months. You can do this by first charging the battery to full capacity, then draining it back down to the optimal discharge level – which is usually at 40 percent. Some of the more advanced Lithium-ion batteries even come with smart electronics that discharge the battery to a safe mid-charge level if it has not been used for a long time.
Winterizing Your Corded Electric Leaf Blower
If you happen to have a corded electric leaf blower, then winterizing it will simply be a matter of cleaning it and running some maintenance before putting it away in a safe place. Just unplug and tidy up the power cord, so you can quickly take your leaf blower out when the time comes to use it.
Winterizing Your Gas Leaf Blower
To winterize your gas leaf blower, your first order of business is to prepare the engine and the gas tank before draining the system of all fuel. One good way to start preparing your gas leaf blower for winter storage is to first give it a good cleaning. All the dirt and grime that has accumulated on your blower are things that will trap more dirt and moisture, plus the same dirt can get into your engine parts as you try to do other maintenance steps.
If your unit comes with a bag, now’s the time to clean out and empty the vacuum bag as well.
If your gas leaf blower happens to contain old fuel, then you will need to drain it first. Old, stale fuel is fuel that may have separated into gas and ethanol, which can spell problems for your leaf blower later. Ethanol attracts water, and that water can build up in your gas tank – something that you don’t want to be there by the time winter comes around.
Here is the part where manufacturers may sometimes differ in the advice that they give, and which is why checking with your user’s manual is still the best way to learn how to winterize your specific gas leaf blower.
Some leaf blower makers recommend adding fuel stabilizer to a tank’s worth of fresh fuel, and that fuel can be left there throughout the winter. Others recommended adding fuel stabilizer to a load of fresh fuel, then having the leaf blower run that fuel through its system so that the stabilizer can make its way to the spark plugs and fuel lines.
Still, others recommend running the tank dry, before finally draining any remaining fuel that’s collected in the bottom of the gas tank or in the carburetor. If you will be leaving your gas leaf blower in storage for more than 90 days, most manufacturers recommend emptying the fuel tank – either by draining it, or letting the equipment run until it shuts off from lack of fuel.
If you do try to run the leaf blower dry, make sure to drain that last bit of fuel that collects in the carburetor bowl. In any case, never store a gas leaf blower with un-stabilized fuel in the tank or in the lines. The only exception to this is when you use packaged fuel with zero percent ethanol – you can often find packaged, ethanol-less fuel stored in steel cans.
Next, attend to the spark plug in your leaf blower. The state of your tool’s spark plug has a major impact on its performance. First, disconnect the spark plug wire. Then check your spark plug for debris and deposits – these can attract moisture later on and cause damage. You can use a wire brush and a spritz of plug cleaner to get them working like new. If you find your spark plug has been corroded, or if it has a crack in it, then it’s time to replace the spark plug.
Before putting your spark plugs back in, check with your user’s manual if the manufacturer recommends some more maintenance steps that are related to the cylinder. Depending on the tool you have, the equipment manufacturer may recommend fogging oil to help lubricate the cylinder.
Another way to lubricate the cylinder wall is for you to trickle a good amount of clean engine oil, or the right fuel-oil mix for that mode, down the spark plug hole. Afterward, you can pull the starter cord around eight to ten times to get the oil circulating around the chamber and the cylinder wall.
Some manufacturers will also recommend putting the cylinder all the way up, which you can do by pulling the starter cord just right. With the cylinder pushed up, the chamber and cylinder are sealed from the outside. This helps prevent the fluid coating the inside of the cylinder from hardening into a hard surface deposit along the sides. Then replace the spark plug into the hole.
You should also check the air filter for signs of dust and damage. Most of the time, you can wash and air dry the air filter for your leaf blower. You can also try blowing it out with a bit of compressed air. If you see that your leaf blower air filter is coated in oil and grime, and you can easily clean this off with a bit of warm soapy water. Sometimes, though, the air filter is simply too worn out to be cleaned this way – in this case, you can easily replace it with a new one.
Then it’s time to lightly oil the exposed metal surfaces on your tool. Putting a new layer of oil on your tool will help repel any rain or snow that somehow makes their way to your tool. As you do it, check the other parts of the tool for any loosened or broken parts that you may need to repair or replace as needed,
