How gas powered leaf blower creates as much pollution in one hour as a car does driving over 1,100 miles. (EPA data)

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I don’t understand how this is possible. The car engine is more efficient but the leaf blower would use a gallon or less of fuel that that amount of time as where the car would burn 30 to 40 times more that for the trip.

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26 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Most gas powered tools are a 2-stroke engine, whereas cars and motorcycles are generally 4-stroke. In a car engine, the cycle is SUCK fuel/air into the cylinder, SQUEEZE to compress the fuel/air mixture, BANG which is where the fuel/air mixture is ignited and pushes the piston in the cylinder down, and BLOW which is where the returning piston pushes the exhaust out into the exhaust pipe where a a catalytic converter the unburnt fuel and other compounds are turned into safer compounds.

In a 2 stroke engine, the valves for the fuel and exhaust are always open, so you’re always pushing fuel into the cylinder even on the exhaust cycle. This results in a smaller, cheaper and lighter engine, which is great for someone holding a weed eater for several hours, but not so good for the environment.

A lawn mower engine might be 5 hp and perhaps under 10 pound-foot of torque, compared to a very small car engine which might be 100 hp and about 100 lb-ft of torque. Vastly different sized engines.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Most gas powered tools are a 2-stroke engine, whereas cars and motorcycles are generally 4-stroke. In a car engine, the cycle is SUCK fuel/air into the cylinder, SQUEEZE to compress the fuel/air mixture, BANG which is where the fuel/air mixture is ignited and pushes the piston in the cylinder down, and BLOW which is where the returning piston pushes the exhaust out into the exhaust pipe where a a catalytic converter the unburnt fuel and other compounds are turned into safer compounds.

In a 2 stroke engine, the valves for the fuel and exhaust are always open, so you’re always pushing fuel into the cylinder even on the exhaust cycle. This results in a smaller, cheaper and lighter engine, which is great for someone holding a weed eater for several hours, but not so good for the environment.

A lawn mower engine might be 5 hp and perhaps under 10 pound-foot of torque, compared to a very small car engine which might be 100 hp and about 100 lb-ft of torque. Vastly different sized engines.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Small engines are not as efficient as car engines, and do not have catalytic converters which reduce nitrous oxide pollution (which is what causes smog).

Anonymous 0 Comments

Small engines are not as efficient as car engines, and do not have catalytic converters which reduce nitrous oxide pollution (which is what causes smog).

Anonymous 0 Comments

They’re different types of pollution. Two-stroke engines (like what’s used in leafblowers and go-karts and stuff) uses fuel the least efficiently, and releases the most harmful waste products.

Anonymous 0 Comments

They’re different types of pollution. Two-stroke engines (like what’s used in leafblowers and go-karts and stuff) uses fuel the least efficiently, and releases the most harmful waste products.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Two stroke engines, usually what you’ll find in something small like that rev a lot higher, burning fuel that much faster. Two stroke motors are also almost always going to be carbureted, which effects fuel economy and emissions to a degree too. Cars use 4 stroke motors, that are usually monitoring fuel with various (and if you work on cars, they seem to be endless and everywhere!) sensors and tuned fuel injection systems that are fairly precise. The big kicker though, is the catalytic converter. The catalytic converter is past the exhaust manifold way before the muffler in most cases. This turns a lot of the junk and such in the cars emissions into something less harmful. All cars release a little bit of junk in the air, but newer cars are much better at it than oil burning 3 mpg 70’s carbureted dump trucks in the past for sure. The biggest reason is, most people are gonna have a car in their lifetime here in the US. Or, it’s at least part of their daily lives in the form of a bus or taxi. Garden tools, not so much. Our focus on emissions is mostly on the transportation and power generation sectors in my experience and observation, so things like EFI, efficient cylinder heads, exhaust system airflow, ignition systems, catalytic converters, even the design of the body and transmission that effects pollution are implemented into our cars today. Your dad’s backpack leaf blower on the other hand, is a different story. People want to put gas and oil in it and have it run until it eventually spins a bearing without spark issues, sensor issues, and most obviously, a 15 pound catalytic converter. People want fuel efficient and environment friendly cars more than they do efficient leaf blowers and lawnmowers, so engineers have to make do.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Two stroke engines, usually what you’ll find in something small like that rev a lot higher, burning fuel that much faster. Two stroke motors are also almost always going to be carbureted, which effects fuel economy and emissions to a degree too. Cars use 4 stroke motors, that are usually monitoring fuel with various (and if you work on cars, they seem to be endless and everywhere!) sensors and tuned fuel injection systems that are fairly precise. The big kicker though, is the catalytic converter. The catalytic converter is past the exhaust manifold way before the muffler in most cases. This turns a lot of the junk and such in the cars emissions into something less harmful. All cars release a little bit of junk in the air, but newer cars are much better at it than oil burning 3 mpg 70’s carbureted dump trucks in the past for sure. The biggest reason is, most people are gonna have a car in their lifetime here in the US. Or, it’s at least part of their daily lives in the form of a bus or taxi. Garden tools, not so much. Our focus on emissions is mostly on the transportation and power generation sectors in my experience and observation, so things like EFI, efficient cylinder heads, exhaust system airflow, ignition systems, catalytic converters, even the design of the body and transmission that effects pollution are implemented into our cars today. Your dad’s backpack leaf blower on the other hand, is a different story. People want to put gas and oil in it and have it run until it eventually spins a bearing without spark issues, sensor issues, and most obviously, a 15 pound catalytic converter. People want fuel efficient and environment friendly cars more than they do efficient leaf blowers and lawnmowers, so engineers have to make do.

Anonymous 0 Comments

If someone is interested in a suggestion, I have the EGO 56V blower, and I’m very happy with it.

The capacitors on 48V inverters are 63V max, so…these 56V batteries can also run an inverter to provide 120V AC during a power outage.

Anonymous 0 Comments

If someone is interested in a suggestion, I have the EGO 56V blower, and I’m very happy with it.

The capacitors on 48V inverters are 63V max, so…these 56V batteries can also run an inverter to provide 120V AC during a power outage.