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

Hello everyone

I have not posted since last winter.  Haven't had any questions, and you folks know more about this stuff than I do, so I don't bother posting.

But now I have a question; I've only used my Ariens 8526 once this season, in mid Feb. when we had a storm.  I did not put gas in until the day before the storm and mixed Sta-bil in.  I changed the oil last spring before I put it away.  So I ran it for about an hour and a half doing my drive and my neighbors in Feb..  It's now March 8.  If we get no further snow, should I bother changing the oil?  Or just run the fuel out of it and put it away?

Thanks for your input.

All and John E Davis who said the following, but I do not know how to make this a quote
"I tilt the machine slightly to put the gas filler hole near the lowest point and use a syphon hose on my 926DLE"

How do you make a syphon hose, or can we buy them at the lawn supply center.

Thanks,
Gary

to drain fuel, why not disconnect the fuel hose between the shutoff valve and the carb, and then drain back into your fuel can?  then you can reconnect the hose and run the thing dry.

gary31570 wrote:
This method is NOT generally considered to be safe, so I in no way recommend it, but it works fine for me and I do it regularly with no ill effects:

Take a 3 foot length of CLEAR flexible hose and insert one end into the tank. Raise the other end above the level of the fuel and using your cheeks (NOT your lungs) generate a small vacuum to suck fuel into the hose. When it fills half the length of the hose, crimp the hose in half to trap the fuel and quickly lower the open end into a waiting container. The fuel will flow until the level gets low enough that it sucks air.

If you do this right you won't receive more than the faintest odor of gas. Do it wrong and you can inhale a lung full of fumes, or a mouthful of raw gas...

You can buy an inexpensive bellows pump-type syphon for transferring kerosene from a container into a heater. These are safer but don't work as well, in my experience. They are definitely more expensive and harder to find than a length of clear hose.

If you have a hand vacuum pump like a MityVac, which is used for automotive testing and brake bleeding, you can use that to start the flow.

Gasoline fumes are toxic - do NOT inhale!

John Davies
Spokane WA