So for all you folks that think this is great, question. What are all the fire fighters in california that use gas powered chain saws going to do when fighter fires. Yea, they are going to haul around tons of extra batteries. Yes, they can find power out in the middle of no where to recharge. Lets see what, if ANY, honest answers happen
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California bans small gas engines including gas generators
- Thread starter ThomasD
- Start date
nwdiver
Well-Known Member
You don't need 'tons of batteries'. You need two. They recharge faster than they're used. Keep one at the truck and use one. Not complicated. Seems like refilling a flammable liquid when there are embers about is probably a terrible idea anyway.
And here's the equipment layout of a smoke jumper. I don't think a chainsaw is as critical as you seem to think it is. The Pulaski for making fire lines is probably FAR more useful.
AND.... maybe fewer fools fuel powered chainsaws will also mean slightly fewer fires
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One nice thing about our EGO lawn equipment is that the batteries are interchangeable. We can swap the 2.5 Ah, 5 Ah, 7.5 Ah or 10 Ah batteries into any piece of equipment. So while the chainsaw only came with a 5 Ah battery, we can swap to the 10 Ah battery from the mower in a matter of seconds. For us, the run time on the largest Ah batteries is longer than what it takes to recharge them with the rapid charger. We've cut down several trees with our EGO chainsaw and the battery usually lasted longer than we did.
mspohr
Well-Known Member
The First Thing We Do, Let’s Kill All the Leaf Blowers Opinion | The First Thing We Do, Let’s Kill All the Leaf Blowers
dgpcolorado
high altitude member
And another one:
www.nytimes.com
Haven't had a yard with a lawn since 1984. Even back then I used an old style reel push mower.
Opinion | Here’s a Better Way to Care for Your Yard. Your Neighbors, and the Planet, Will Thank You.
Ditch the gas leaf blower and switch to an electric one. Or a rake.
Haven't had a yard with a lawn since 1984. Even back then I used an old style reel push mower.
Lots of good points in there. As a personal peeve, the stench and chemical irritation is literally breathtaking several houses away. And the things are so loud they wake you up even in a reasonably well insulated house when trying to sleep on days (when working nights).
But what is really heartbreaking is knowing the workers’ lungs may not outlast the rest of their bodies. Imagine breathing that stuff 5-6 days a week, hours a day, for many years. Don’t know if there are any studies on yard workers. Would bet their pulmonary health is markedly compromised after a couple decades of such work or sooner.
Skotty
2014 S P85 | 2023 F-150L
I'm totally off of gas and have all electric cars and yard equipment and rooftop solar as well. The options for yard equipment still aren't the best.
Electric chainsaws are available, but I'm guessing the battery options suck (because, why wouldn't they? chainsaws require a lot of power in a small package, and there is no Tesla for yard equipment), and the corded versions (like I have) have limited reach and require high amp extension cords.
Riding mower options are limited and could be better. I have a Ryobi 480EX and it has plenty of battery capacity, but it's not as powerful as it should be; it will bog down in mulch mode with moderate height grass (the battery is not the problem here, it's the underpowered electric motors for the mower blades). There aren't many other brand options for electric riding mowers.
Plenty of weed eater options. They are fine, but you usually need multiple batteries to get through all the weed eating, and charger options could be better (a single wall mountable charger capable of simultaneously charging multiple batteries is what I'd like to see more of).
For leaf blowers, it doesn't really matter to me, because leaf blowers are the devils work and if I somehow end up with one I immediately call my priest over to send it back to hell.
I don't think there should be bans on gas engines yet. A better option might be to begin requiring some limited amount of emissions control on them; nothing draconian, just enough to make it where manufacturers have to at least think about ways to make them burn cleaner (and operating more quietly would be nice too).
Electric chainsaws are available, but I'm guessing the battery options suck (because, why wouldn't they? chainsaws require a lot of power in a small package, and there is no Tesla for yard equipment), and the corded versions (like I have) have limited reach and require high amp extension cords.
Riding mower options are limited and could be better. I have a Ryobi 480EX and it has plenty of battery capacity, but it's not as powerful as it should be; it will bog down in mulch mode with moderate height grass (the battery is not the problem here, it's the underpowered electric motors for the mower blades). There aren't many other brand options for electric riding mowers.
Plenty of weed eater options. They are fine, but you usually need multiple batteries to get through all the weed eating, and charger options could be better (a single wall mountable charger capable of simultaneously charging multiple batteries is what I'd like to see more of).
For leaf blowers, it doesn't really matter to me, because leaf blowers are the devils work and if I somehow end up with one I immediately call my priest over to send it back to hell.
I don't think there should be bans on gas engines yet. A better option might be to begin requiring some limited amount of emissions control on them; nothing draconian, just enough to make it where manufacturers have to at least think about ways to make them burn cleaner (and operating more quietly would be nice too).
alstoralset
Man from another place
I've switched from "gas" to electric three times:
* with model airplanes
* with power tools (including chainsaws)
* with cars
I was at first skeptical about each of these transitions, but would never consider going back to gas with any of them.
Now boats, please.
* with model airplanes
* with power tools (including chainsaws)
* with cars
I was at first skeptical about each of these transitions, but would never consider going back to gas with any of them.
Now boats, please.
mspohr
Well-Known Member
I have several battery powered chain saws (small and large). They work great. Much easier than dealing with a balky, smelly, noisy two cycle gas engine. I've cut down a lot of trees with them.
Also have battery powered weed trimmer, leaf blower, and even a snow blower. Very happy with all of them.
(Of course, several battery electric bikes, too.)
Not only that, but you can swap a the battery on a chainsaw faster than you could fill one with gas. Also, if you can fully charge a second battery before the first one needs to be recharged. Since our mower, trimmer, leaf blower and chainsaw all use the same format battery (but different capacities), we can easily swap between them.
mspohr
Well-Known Member
Yes, my snow blower, leaf blower and one of my chain saws all take the same battery. Easy to keep a spare charged.
Trimmer uses same battery as Ryobi power tools.
2-stage electric snow blowers still pricey, but not too bad.
A colleague just got through winter with one. Not much snow this year. The one heavy snowfall (18"-2') he had to charge between runs.
I ended up getting 14kw of panels for 16K. No battery back up though as that would have doubled the price.
I was quoted 80K once though, but I think that was for 26kw of panels and three power walls.
mspohr
Well-Known Member
roblab
Active Member
Brilliant. Plan ahead. Buy your own solar panels and a battery pack or three and charge your car at night. Since we've been forewarned, we have time to save and shop for a system we can use. We might not be able to meet ALL our needs, but the grid can still supply the excess needs. You know that solar panels last for decades, right? Rather than complain, let's get started on moving into the future. A lot of people are still using wood fireplaces to "heat the house during winter" when...
...when burning wood only supplies TEN percent of its heat to the house while the other NINETY percent goes up the chimney, along with all the pollution. People need to be educated. We don't need wood fires for their ambience or their heat. We DEFINITELY don't need wood fires for their pollution. Where I live, every bit of a cold snap makes the air stink with wood smoke. Thankfully I can live inside and leave the windows closed.
mspohr
Well-Known Member
I'm not sure why BAAQMD hasn't just banned wood burning. Although technically a carbon neutral fuel, it produces a lot of pollution in the wrong places.
Also, targeting generators with this law is just stupid. I have a gas generator but so long as the power stays on, the generator stays off. So if they don't want me to run the generator, all they have to do is keep the power from going out.
nwdiver
Well-Known Member
There are EPA approved wood stoves. I guess instead of an outright ban they could have just made portable gas generators prohibitively expensive (and less portable) by requiring a 4-stroke engine and a catalytic converter...
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