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You too can convert your old gas mower into an “electric mower!”

By
Home Inspector with Charles Buell Inspections Inc.

     There is nothing quite like being awakened on a Sunday morning by the incessant ruckus of an old gas powered lawn mower.  This is especially true if it includes the odor of----or the actual presence of----blue smoke wafting through the window.

     While my “selective” loathing of two stroke engines may be showing, I will save that rant for another day.

     This post is more about how to turn that old piece of portable-noise into an “electric powered” lawn mower. 

     In fact this version of it would leave the operator VERY quiet and would likely result in the total annihilation of the machine itself.  So I guess, after a fashion, it too would end up VERY quiet----after the ambulances and fire engines were done doing their thing anyway.

    While I would not miss the beast----there are simply too many of them to expect them to all go away by this method. 

    Most lawn mower users would not like it either.

 Electric Utility Junction Box

     This is what remains of the cover of an Electric Utility Company junction box between the house and the transformer across the street.  The wires you see in there----just slightly nicked by the whirring lawn mower blades are “live.”  They are “un-fused” wires only limited by the capacity of the transformer.  In other words----a LOT of current----certainly enough to turn any lawn mower into an “electric mower,” and turn the user into a former lawn mower operator.

     I think one of the basic requirements of anyone using a lawn mower should be the ability to read.

 

Charles Buell, Seattle Home Inspector

 

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Seattle Home Inspector

 

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Comments (14)

Robin Dampier REALTOR®
Coldwell Banker King - Hendersonville, NC
Hendersonville & Western NC Real Estate Source

Wow, how lucky can one lawn mower get and survive with a not too sharp lawn mower operator!

Sue of Robin and Sue

Aug 14, 2010 02:19 PM
John Mulkey
TheHousingGuru.com - Waleska, GA
Housing Guru

Charles - Looks like a big "ouch" to me.  I think I would use the string cutter (or some Roundup) around that thing.  I did once observe an electrician digging a hole for a temporary power pole and chop into the feed line from the transformer.  It made quite a display--and fortunately for the electrician, his hole diggers had wooden handles. 

Aug 14, 2010 02:21 PM
Charles Buell
Charles Buell Inspections Inc. - Seattle, WA
Seattle Home Inspector

Sue, people just don't know what is dangerous these days

John, for sure----there is unbelievable amount of energy available at these lines.

Aug 14, 2010 02:32 PM
Steven L. Smith
King of the House Home Inspection, Inc. - Bellingham, WA
Bellingham WA Home Inspector

Oh Mr Charles,

That post is very intense and totally electrifying. It turned me on.

Nutsy

Aug 14, 2010 03:08 PM
Carla Muss-Jacobs, RETIRED
RETIRED / State License is Inactive - Portland, OR

Talk about your "ground" wires . . . HA HA HA

Aug 14, 2010 03:18 PM
Charles Buell
Charles Buell Inspections Inc. - Seattle, WA
Seattle Home Inspector

Nutsy, your being into necrophilia that does not surprise me

Carla, crazy yes?

Aug 14, 2010 03:30 PM
Kathy Streib
Cypress, TX
Home Stager/Redesign

......which is just one more reason I don't do lawns!!!!

Aug 14, 2010 03:49 PM
James Quarello
JRV Home Inspection Services, LLC - Wallingford, CT
Connecticut Home Inspector

Looks like the operator sets his mower blades very low. I hear the best mower is a goat. Not very quiet, but effective.

Aug 15, 2010 12:44 AM
Steven L. Smith
King of the House Home Inspection, Inc. - Bellingham, WA
Bellingham WA Home Inspector

Years ago I had an employee who cut the end off a finger trying to flip a whirlybird mower while it was running, to clean out the grass that clogged it.

Aug 15, 2010 04:47 AM
Charles Buell
Charles Buell Inspections Inc. - Seattle, WA
Seattle Home Inspector

Kathy----come on----I know you can read :)

Jim, yes----and the box sticks up a little more than it shows in the picture

Steve, I hate when that happens

Aug 15, 2010 08:34 AM
Jay Markanich
Jay Markanich Real Estate Inspections, LLC - Bristow, VA
Home Inspector - servicing all Northern Virginia

"Do Not Run Over With A Lawn Mower."

Obviously a warning not written by a lawyer - too short, too sweet.

Aug 15, 2010 10:27 AM
Charles Buell
Charles Buell Inspections Inc. - Seattle, WA
Seattle Home Inspector

Jay, the box simply says "ELECTRIC"----IN BIG LETTERS----twice :)

Aug 15, 2010 10:31 AM
Dale Ganfield
Leland, NC

Hi Charles, the lawn mower operator was in a hurry ... destination unknown had they not been so lucky.

Aug 16, 2010 08:42 AM
Charles Buell
Charles Buell Inspections Inc. - Seattle, WA
Seattle Home Inspector

Dale, it was close to the 4th of July there

Aug 16, 2010 10:49 AM