The Outdoor Power Equipment Institute Education and Research Foundation encourages proper care of outdoor power equipment during all seasons.
Proper maintenance now results in less downtime in the spring, when the equipment is most needed. Moreover, not only will proper maintenance extend the life of the equipment, it will help make sure that the equipment operates at top environmental conditions, keeping the air cleaner for everyone.
Here are a few recommendations to keep your equipment in tip-top shape:
- Add a fuel stabilizer to the last fuel tank of fuel at the end of the season
- Make sure the equipment has run with the stabilized fuel for 10 -15 minutes.
- Run or drain gas tank completely of all fuel outdoors or in a well-ventilated area.
- Disconnect spark plug wire
- Remove spark plug, add a small amount of oil directly into cylinder, turn engine over with the pull start a few times, re-install spark plug.
- Check all moving parts for damage. Cover any bare metal parts with oil or rust preventive.
- Clean off caked-one grass and wipe debris from engine, deck, and handle of mowers. Clean debris from tillers, edgers, and shredder housings.
- For battery-powered equipment, remove battery and fully charge before storing.
For product-specific seasonal maintenance tips, visit www.opei.org/consumer/fall.asp.
For those of you who are not do-it-yourselfers, consider taking your equipment to a service dealer for a pre-storage tune up. For a list of service dealers in your area, check the manufacturer’s Web site.
The OPEI Web site has a list of all member manufacturers at www.opei.org/about/memberlist/asp.