How to Winterize Your Landscaping Equipment

When winter is just around the corner and you need to put your landscaping equipment up for the season, there’s a little more involved than simply putting it back in the garage. Let’s take a look at the best way to winterize your landscaping equipment:

Gasoline-Powered Equipment

Tools that have a gasoline engine need more care when they’re stored over the winter. When gasoline sits in your engine’s system for an extended period, the fuel ages, causing a residue to stick to fuel jets. When you try to start it in the spring, it won’t start and requires disassembly and cleaning to work again.

Draining the tank and allowing the engine to run until it’s out of fuel helps prevent this. If you’d rather not drain it, add fuel stabilizer to the tank and run the engine a few minutes to get the stabilizer through the system. It’s also important to change the oil, remove soil and debris and remove rust and re-paint those areas before storing small engine equipment for the winter.

Equipment With Blades

Lawn care equipment that has blades also requires special care. Make sure to remove any debris from the blade, sharpen it, remove any burrs using a 300-grit sandpaper and then cover it a thin layer of oil (vegetable oil is great for this purpose) before storing them for the winter. The oil helps prevent corrosion while they’re in storage and keeps them ready for use first thing in the spring. If you’ve got resin or pitch stuck to the blade, you  may want to try using alcohol, kerosene or another solvent to loosen it up before removing it with a wire brush or steel wool.

Spraying and Compressed Air Equipment

If you have spraying equipment, it’s important to clean the nozzles before it sits for the winter. This helps prevent clogged nozzles that form as the equipment stands idle. Fill the tank one quarter full with a mild dishwashing solution and spray out, then drain upside-down. Once it’s dry, put a few drops of oil in the pump cylinder and work it a few times to protect it over the winter. Store nozzles and tips in kerosene or diesel to prevent corrosion.

At Simply Green Lawn Care, your lawn is our passion. From lawn care to fire ant control, we’ll help make your home’s landscaping beautiful. Contact us today for a lawn evaluation and free estimate.

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