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anyone converted lawnmower to propane

Bill D

Diamond
Joined
Apr 1, 2004
Location
Modesto, CA USA
I see they sell conversion kits to run a briggs and stratton engine on propane. Seems like it might eliminate stale gas, gummed carbs etc. but will it work. How about extra weight of pressure tank.
Bil lD.
 
unfortunately,the two strokes wont run long on popane,unless its oil injected-even then i think the oil is carried by the gas vapours.
the four stroke chainsaws/trimmers stihl in particular use two stroke oil in the gas for lubricant.
my wood conveyor and soon to be wood processor on propane would be ok.
oh-and my generator.and my pressure washer.and my wood chipper.
ok,now im just being silly.
im interested,though.
 
unfortunately,the two strokes wont run long on popane,unless its oil injected-even then i think the oil is carried by the gas vapours.
the four stroke chainsaws/trimmers stihl in particular use two stroke oil in the gas for lubricant.
my wood conveyor and soon to be wood processor on propane would be ok.
oh-and my generator.and my pressure washer.and my wood chipper.
ok,now im just being silly.
im interested,though.

Crap I didn't think about 2 stroke vs 4 stroke....just thought it would be neat to wield my MS460 with 36" bar with an external fuel source
 
Crap I didn't think about 2 stroke vs 4 stroke....just thought it would be neat to wield my MS460 with 36" bar with an external fuel source

they make conversion kits for ink jet printers. you have big tanks sitting outside with little hoses feeding ink down to the print head. Must be fun when a hose wears a hole in it.
Bil lD.
 
You guys go ahead and switch to another money sucking fuel. I'll be shooting to have my lawn mower running on water. ;)
 
I see they sell conversion kits to run a briggs and stratton engine on propane. Seems like it might eliminate stale gas, gummed carbs etc. but will it work. How about extra weight of pressure tank.
Bil lD.

Put Stabil in your gas can as soon as you get home from the station. No worry about stale gas.

Larry
 
lawnmower

I will tell you that is it really odd to see my neighbor out walking across his yard pushing what appears to be a dead lawnmower. Then you realize it is electric. I know the arguments about battery powered stuff requiring fossil fuels somewhere in the food chain, but it still is odd. No noise and his yard gets mowed. It does take him two days though, the battery will not hold up to mow the complete yard.
 
Oh there's all sorts of landscaping equipment around powered by propane.

The propane industry loves it, of course: Lawn and landscape companies rely on propane equipment | LP Gas Magazine

Who knows if it actually saves money? Gotta do your own math I guess.

The stale gas problem has gotten worse with ethanol, maybe that alone makes it worthwhile for stuff you only use seasonally. Stihl now sells an unbelievably expensive 2-stroke gas-oil premix that is supposed to address the problem, I haven't fooled with it yet and can't remember what the dealer said about it--apparently more than a mere fuel-preservative additive, maybe a duck-around of the ethanol.

I wouldn't dismiss the idea totally without more research, nor would I jump into it without doing a lot of calculation.
 
Put Stabil in your gas can as soon as you get home from the station. No worry about stale gas.

Larry

Larry, I'm a big fan of Stabil, use it automatically, but can't get any reliable information on whether it helps with the problem of ethanol-enhanced gasoline picking up water in storage.

If I have a can of gas more than two months old it goes into the truck's 34-gallon tank when that tank is nearly full. Whether its got 2-stroke oil in it or not.

Truck's been going strong for 10 years now. . ..
 
sta-bil is good,sea foam is better.thats my opinion.
propane is a good idea,yet if i was to spend the money converting,will i ever recover it in fuel savings?
i doubt it.
going to youtube to look at it....brb.
ok i'm sold.generator needs it the most,im curious to try it.
i need to mow 8 acres,if i can do it on one propane tank i would be thrilled.
its all of five gallons once a week.maybe a little more.
 
Who doesn't wanna BBQ and mow the lawn at the same time...

I like not having any lawn to mow anymore :)
 
I like not having any lawn to mow anymore :)

WTH..... Mowing is the one thing where a guy can relax in the sun, have a beer, and get something done at the same time. Not to mention get away from the wife.... and also not have to hear her cry that you aint doing nothing, cause you are.... Some of us pretend its work anyway. Now the trimming on the other hand........
 
Bill, the vast majority, (did they ever make a 2 sroke?) of Briggs and Stratton engines are 4 strokes. Oil in the crankcase, none in the fuel.

In '74 I moved my family to a remote property in a forest and provided for reduced electical consumption with a 5K McCollough generator with a B & S engine, which I connverted to propane, having a 500 gallon tank.

It never failed to start on the first pull, (once I figured it out), never caused any visable erosion to the single sparkplug I used for several years and if the oil was contaminated, it wasn't visable either, after an initial slight darkening while rinsing the engines internals.

Propane tanks are heavy, I'd figure out how to nail it to the mower, rather than hump it around on my back.

CNG (compressed natural gas) is even cheaper than propane, if you can compress it yourself, from your domestic supply. It's BTU content is lower than propane but the BTU per $ is still substantially less than propane.

Natural gas is difficult to compress into a liquid, very high pressure required but enough to mow a medium lawn wouldn't require the concentration of liquid compression and a big lawn could be served by more than one gaseous tank full, it's not like you are leaving home.;)

Bob
 
I converted my Jeep Cherokee to run on propane here in the uk about 7 years ago. It was a better proposition then with gas at 30 pence/litre. It is now up to at least 80 pence. This was like getting 40mpg on petrol (gasoline). Mileage is reduced from say 24mpg to 20mpg when running on propane. I don't use much 134 pence /litre petrol - only enough to get the cooling system warm enough to run the evaporator.
This is an Italian independent multipoint electronic injection system, not a slave to the exist OEM system.
No I wouldn't do it again - would buy a diesel!

I'm sure the engine is happy though, the oil is only discoloured after a high mileage and the emissions on test are very low. I don't believe it revs enough to make valve seat wear an issue as it can be on some engines.

Steve
 








 
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