Technical > Home Improvement > Thought I'd pass along this handy tip...

Thought I'd pass along this handy tip...

So, you finally figured it out, eh?

reply to Pacrat
You know, I found that very same tip was helpful to me when I ran my generator for its seasonal exercise. Made a world of difference in how easily it started.

reply to Pacrat
I had the same problem with my leaf blower. I pulled on the starter until my arm gave out and was ready to take it to the repair shop. Then I finally realized the kill switch was in the stop position. Turn the switch to run and it started on the first pull.

reply to Pacrat
Believe me... it's more than a little comforting to see that I'm not the only idiot that pulled that stunt! I've made up my mind that from now on, I'm going to reset the switch to the run position as soon as the engine dies when I'm done running the damn thing. Either that... or I'm going to run it out of gas every time I use it!!!
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Keep your eye on the ball, your shoulder to the wheel, your nose to the grindstone, and your ear to the ground. Now, try to work in that position!!!

Leaving the kill switch in the "kill" position is a good idea when there is any chance that children might try to play with it. Of course, letting it run out of gas is an even safer option
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reply to Pacrat
They don't call it the "kill" switch for no reason. Don't ask me how I know.

reply to Pacrat
That tip applies to snow blowers, too. My 82 year old father very gleefully pointed it out to me last November when I was over at his place to fire it up to make sure it was ready for the winter.
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Gadgets

reply to Pacrat
Thanks for the tip! This has happened to me, too, and I'll try to keep it in mind in the future before pulling the recoil rope 165 times.

reply to Pacrat
Thanks for the reminder, but I probably won't remember.

reply to Pacrat
I did this with a chainsaw. Except in an even dumber way. I was using it when it quite. Tried to restart, nope. Went to add gas, it had plenty. Try to restart again. Still nope. Carried it all the way back to the garage before I saw I had bumped the kill switch while I was using it.

reply to leibold

reply to robbin
my wife wrote on our leaf blower with a fine point permanent marker - off/on and it works. the no word "o" "-" just wasn't getting the job done.

That's like the shop vac in my work van. It was passed down to me by a senior technician. He wrote "suck" and "blow" near the inlet and outlet. It is nice, too, as the hose doesn't stay attached when stored, and I can never remeber what orifice is which.

reply to Pacrat
I was mf'ing my snowblower 2 years ago. Alas it had the illusive "key" in the off position. I will reluctantly mention it may have been after a few beers also.
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reply to Pacrat
My experience has always been that the last item you listed is usually the only culprit that prevents starting.
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reply to Pacrat
yea and with the quality of gas now, its best to use premium.
My mower would cough and sputter on high grass and and my trimmer and blower were hard to start. I purchased some premium to try and not one problem after that.

reply to rockotman
No shit, Sherlock!!!!

reply to sparks
My dealer advised me to use, at least, 89 octane fuel for my implements (trimmer, leaf blower, chainsaw, mower, tractor, and snow-blower), and I've been pleasantly surprised how much easier it is to get things started since I've been doing that. Everything seems to run much better on the higher octane. But, so far, I've not seen the need to go all the way to pemium. Not that I don't agree with you about not using regular gasoline... it's just that full premium seems to be a bit of overkill to me. However, whatever works for you is good.
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Keep your eye on the ball, your shoulder to the wheel, your nose to the grindstone, and your ear to the ground. Now, try to work in that position!!!