A lot of people either don’t know about backpack & handheld blowers, or think they’d never need one– until they spot a neighbour with one in action! It’s practically contagious. Year round, a blower is one of the most useful pieces of equipment you can have.
Leaf Cleanup
You may be using your lawn mower for leaf cleanup in the fall, but usually by then the lawn has stopped growing, and a backpack blower can move those leaves more efficiently. The mower is fine on the open lawn, but won’t be much help clearing leaves from the flowerbeds, tight spaces, or around fences and other obstacles. A blower makes every aspect of yard cleanup faster and easier.
Before You Know It…
When the snow inevitably does fall, in Calgary most often the snowfall is fairly light and dry; you’ll find that a backpack blower works great for removing snow from the car, sidewalks and driveway. For much of our winters, a blower might be all the snow removal equipment a homeowner needs.
Durability
Due to the constant use day in and day out, a commercial landscaper may wear out a backpack blower in three years or so, but the demands of the typical homeowner are such that you’ll probably only ever need to buy one, and there’s not much to maintaining them.
Maintenance
Like the majority of handheld power equipment, the Stihl blowers we sell are easy to maintain because they use two-cycle motors (or the 2/4 hybrid 4-MIX motors) that take a 50:1 gas/oil mix. The oil in the fuel serves to lubricate the inside of the engine, so there is no crankcase and no oil to change. Some folks are not comfortable with mixing their own fuel and oil; for them we do sell the oil in packages pre-measured according to the size of the fuel container.
Aside from that, your blower will work best and last longest if it’s stored in a warm sheltered space; the main enemy of these machines is bitter cold.
Motomix
Stihl also offers 1 & 4 litre packages of premixed and stabilized fuel called Motomix that is appropriate for use in any handheld powered equipment carrying the Stihl name. Although it’s a little more expensive than mixing your own, it does offer some advantages: no fumes (non-aromatic), reduced emissions, ease of use (no mixing), and it uses a fully synthetic oil component that is highly biodegradable. Motomix also has a two-year shelf life after opening, which is great for the “weekend warriors”– those light duty users that take a while to go through their fuel supply and don’t want to worry about stale fuel problems.
Come See Us!
Arn’s carries a wide selection of Stihl blowers, and we’d be delighted to help you choose the one that fits your property and your budget. Once you try it, you’ll never want to go back.