Winterizing lawn equipment usually involves cleaning the equipment, draining fuel, and finding a good place to store it for the next few months. In southern parts of the country, however, outdoor equipment might not spend all winter in storage. If it is warm enough for the grass to grow, or if you planted a winter lawn, the lawn mower will see occasional use. Winter weeds provide work for trimmers, and when it does snow, the blowers used in the fall for leaves can be used to move snow. If you have a wood stove or a fireplace, chainsaws can also get a work-out in the winter.
Winter can also be a good time to take your lawn equipment in for a yearly tune-up and for maintenance or service. You’ll get ahead of the spring rush, and be sure that your equipment is in working-order when lawn care tasks become more frequent as the weather warms.
Lawn Mowers
Fuel starts to go bad after about 30 days unless a fuel stabilizer is added. For lawn mowers that will be used infrequently throughout the winter, be sure to add a fuel stabilizer to the gasoline instead of draining the fuel tank. Also, keep the fuel tank full to prevent water condensation inside.
Be sure to clean the mower deck to prevent rust. This is particularly important during the winter, since the cool weather means grass clippings take longer to dry out. You don’t want damp clippings staying clumped up on metal parts.
Small Engines
Just as with lawn mowers, one of the most important things to remember when caring for small engines in trimmers and blowers in the winter is to stabilize the fuel. Add a fuel stabilizer to the gasoline as soon as it is purchased, and then only use stabilized gasoline when mixing fuel with oil for your 2-cycle lawn equipment.
For snowblowers that haven’t been used since the previous year, change the oil and gas or re-fill the drained fuel tank before starting them up. Check spark plugs and filters, and replace or clean as needed. Then, at the end of the winter season, drain or stabilize the fuel and clean the blower for storage until next fall or winter.
Chainsaws
Cutting with a chainsaw in the winter requires some extra maintenance. Before cold weather hits, it’s a good idea to clean the chainsaw thoroughly, change the spark plug, and clean or replace filters. Also, drain the bar and chain oil and replace it with a thinner, winter-grade lubricant. When cutting, remove snow and ice that starts to build up-on the chainsaw, and avoid getting snow in the fuel tank when re-fueling.
Frozen wood is hard to cut, so chains will need sharpened or replaced more frequently. If you plan to do large amounts of winter wood cutting, you might want to keep a replacement chain or two on hand. When sharpening your chains, decrease the saw chain’s filing angle by five degrees. This increases cutting performance in winter, and decreases wear and tear on the guide bar and cutting chain.
