Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

Greetings all.

I just got myself a new brush cutter for home use. It's a simple 2 stroke engine type. After half hour's use in my garden last weekend, it ran out of fuel, almost, and the engine stopped. I notice there's still some fuel (a small amount just above the hose at bottom of fuel tank) - gasoline mixed with 2T oil. I would assume the fuel hose is full of gasoline right to the cut off valve. Since I dont have a detached outdoor shed, I have to store the cutter inside our house, in the utility room next to the kitchen. After reading a few sites on safe storage of gasoline, I think I'm making a mistake here. How do I get rid of the excess fuel inside the tank and fuel line? There's a little spring loaded outlet at bottom of carburettor which releases fuel when lever is depressed. Can I release all fuel in the unit by opening the cut off valve and depressing the drain lever? If that can be done, will it be safe for me to store the cutter where it is now? I bet I could still smell gasoline odor afterwards but does it necessarily mean there's gasoline vapor in the area?

Being new to having such powered tool, I am very concerned. Would be grateful for all inputs.

Thanks.

SJ

The easiest way is to just open the gas cap and shake out the small amount of leftover fuel onto the ground - it will just evaporate. Do it where a light oil slick won't present a cosmetic problem (in other words, not on your front porch). Or just shake it out onto a bunch of paper towels and let it evaporate before disposing of the towels in the trash.

Then just turn the start switch to On and pull pull pull - the engine will try to fire and may even run a little at idle. Repeat until it won't fire at all. That gets rid of almost all of the leftover fuel in the line and carb, without flooding the engine with raw fuel. Then turn the start switch to Off, and pull the starter cord gently until you meet firm resistance - this puts the piston over the ports and (hopefully) stops moist outside air from entering the cylinder. If the humidity is high in your home (not usually the case unless you live in Florida) then you should remove the spark plug and put a _small_ amount of 2 stroke oil or motor oil into the cylinder and turn the engine over to protect it from rusting. Store the trimmer away from a hot water heater or other source of ignition.

I routinely drain and purge my carb after the last run in the fall. If you don't do this you really need to use a fuel stabilizer. It's not a bad idea to use it routinely in all small engines, year round.

The whole procedure (except for oiling the cylinder) takes less than a minute, once the tank has run "dry"...

John Davies
Spokane WA

Sorry - I forgot the question about fuel vapors and safety.

Your nose is extremely sensitive and you can detect even the slightest trace of gas on your hands or clothes. A slight gas odor around the trimmer that goes away after a day or two is no cause for alarm. If you smell gas in the area all the time, then you need to see why - perhaps the cap isn't sealing properly. It takes a pretty heavy concentration of fuel vapor to ignite - if the tank is empty you simply don't have enough fuel available to present an ignition hazard.

OTH, it is never a good idea to store a flammable fuel of ANY sort near an ignition source like a dryer (esp a gas dryer!)  What if you forget to drain and purge the fuel one day and the tank develops a leak? This is how houses burn down. If your insurance company traces the source of a fire to a gas power tool stored inside your home, they could legally deny payment on a fire claim. That would be very unfortunate and could ruin you financially.

Is there another location in your house where you can store the trimmer? How about an inexpensive lockable tool shed bolted to the back of the house?

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/ref=br_1_2/601-2913321-8980912?%5Fencoding=UTF8&frombrowse=1&asin=B000063082

John Davies
Spokane WA

I agree I wouldn't store it inside, can you wrap it in a tarp and chain it to a deck, tree or other outdoor fixture?

Thanks Dave for the advice. Very detailed indeed. I did the first part - drained all the fuel I can from the carburettor and used rolled up tissue paper to soak up all excess in the tank. Also attempted to start it repeatedly but it did not fire. Figure the fuel is insufficient. Closed up the tank tightly and turned off the gas valve. Drained out the last few drops of fuel from bottom of carburettor. Covered it up with a large shopping bag and returned it to the utility room. This morning, I poured out all unmixed fuel into my car and left the container opened in the porch. Back in the room, I could still smell fuel. Not strong though. But I opened the window to allow air circulation.

At this point, I can say there's practically no fuel in the room except for leftover smell on the equipment. I was just worried whether smell (leftover from contact with fuel) is an indication of the presence of (or equals) "fume" and if it would be as dangerous as the real "fume" we see escaping from cars when the fuel cap is opened on a hot and humid day.

I would love to store it outside but where I stay, thieves roam at night and have stolen shoes and iron drain covers for scrap. It's a sickening nuisance and nothing valuable can be left outside. It's a small garden in front of our house. In the back yard, there's only an area of 5 x 20 ft, fenced up. Storing it there is only possible with a lockable tool cabinet. If I do get one, it has to be water proof type too. We live in the tropics and it rains a lot.

Do you think I'm still exposed to danger?

SJ Goh

Hi Charles,

Thanks for the suggestion. Sadly, we dont even have a tree. :P Growing Philippine grass is tough enough a job for us this moment. Those in the shaded areas are prone to growing longer than those exposed to our tropical heat. Will look into getting a lockable cabinet to be placed in the back of our house.

SJ Goh