Propane lawn mower.

[Richard from SE AZ]

Does anyone know anything about those lawn mowers that use a small propane bottle for fuel? I know,wrong time of the year, but maybe someone used one last summer.I am curious to know how long the propane bottle will last.

 

[Sure]

It last for as long as you use it ...

 

[Phil in Pa]

Why bother to post an answer that stupid?

 

[Anonymous-0]

what other answer is there?

 

[Uncle Ernice]

A helpful one!

 

[DH in Carolina]

Don't know what brand you are looking at but Amazon.com has a 20 inch Lehr brand with about 10 reviews. Looks as a propane cannister will last 1 to 1.5 hours. DH

 

[muleboss]

Would it not depend on how tall the grass was as to how much fuel it would burn? Keep the grass short and it might last all summer, or not.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I don't have an answer but have noticed that they have a propane powered weed wacker that certainly looks good to me. The reviews indicate that the weed wacker doesn't have as much torque as a gasolene model so it has to be used slower and a bottle of propane only lasts about two hours.

 

[Sure]

rusted nuts, that's a good one, you have it right on --- some just don't know how long anything will last until they use it till it stops.
you got it right on my friend ---- most don't have what you have, just common sense does it.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Well I thought bout giveing him a answer and thought there's no way of knowing how long it would last without knowing how big the motor was or how high the grass was or how fast he mowed or how thick the grass was or what kind of shape the motor was in or how wide the cut was. soo when I saw your answer I thought your answer was the only one that would bee true.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

In the evenings in the grocery I go to, the contract floor maintenance buffs the floor with a propane powered Honda engine buffer. Seems like a 20 lb propane bottle could be fitted to a mower............

Charles

 

[Russ from MN]

Sounds silly to me, there is only about a pound of liquid in a bottle, thats about a pint, for over $2? and it has less energy per gallon than gasoline. If I was going to use it inside maybe!

 

[brokenot]

Seems like a 20 lb propane bottle could be fitted to a mower

It could be, but a 20 lb. capacity cylinder weighs about 37 lbs. when full. It would be a load to haul around unless a person had it mounted on a rider or a self-propelled commercial walk-behind.

I posted this is the Nikki carburetor thread also, but I thought I'd put it here as well. If you're considering converting a small engine to LP on your own, yes, there are lots of companies that will sell you a kit to do so.

BUT....they'll sell you a kit even if the engine manufacturer doesn't list dry fuels as being acceptable. Kubota for instance does make small engines that they designate as dual-fuel capable, and they not only say so in their literature, but also on a decal on the rocker cover. They designate those engine with the prefix DF. They make the same hp and displacement engine in a gasoline only version with the prefix WG.

You can look at several of the LP conversion kit websites, and sure enough....they have a kit for the WG.

Not saying all small engine manufacturers are this way, but before I bought a kit from any [i:78ddffdbee]aftermarket[/i:78ddffdbee] seller, I'd check with the engine manufacturer and make sure dry fuel was okay to run without making any changes in the cylinder head/valve seats/etc.

 

[foxtrapper]

Lehr is the manufacturer, and they rate it at 1+ hour of run time per bottle.

Friend had one of the propane weed wackers. Interesting. We don't use it any longer. Surprisingly hard to start when you install a new propane can. Has to purge everything and that takes quite a while. Power was fine. I would expect the lawn mower to be the same.

 

[Inno]

I would expect the biggest benefit to be that is runs cleaner and would likely need less maintenance. Also propane is easier to handle than a can of gas for someone who is older or weaker for whatever reason. However if you have to pull it that much to purge the lines that benefit is wasted.