If you have been away from home and your leaf blower has been sitting in the garage untouched for days, there is a high probability that it will get flooded when you try to start it. Leaf blowers are very essential yard maintenance tools, especially for large yards.
Nobody wants to go around their yard picking leaves and tossing them into the dustbin. That is not so productive and would take hours to do. But with a leaf blower, you can blow fallen leaves into a corner of the yard or its place of disposal easily.
A flooded engine is a combustion engine inside a machine that has been fed with so much excess air-fuel mixture that it cannot be ignited.
The mixture of air and gas in the engine has become so rich This happens when gas or fuel is flowing over the carburetor and out of the throttle shaft.
Flooding an engine can be very dangerous because it could cause a fire even with the littlest of triggers.
How to unflood leaf blower engine, step by step
- First of all, make sure the switch button is on
- Secondly, check and make sure the choke is off
- Now put your hands on the throttle wide open and start pulling the leaf blower
- Make sure you do this outdoor
- Sometimes it takes a few pulls to start again
Table of Contents
How to Unflood Leaf Blower Engine?
As explained earlier, a leaf blower engine gets flooded when the air and gas mixture is too much and flows over the throttle or spark plug. If you don’t have enough gas in your gas-powered leaf blower, it won’t start, so make sure it’s full.
The engine may be flooded if the tank is full and there is a strong odor of gas. If gas is flowing to the engine but it still won’t start, the fuel filter or spark plug may need to be cleaned or replaced. So before you do anything to fix the situation, check the spark plug, tank, and fuel filter.
There are two types of leaf blowers:
The gas-powered leaf blower and the electric leaf blower. Although the electric leaf blower cannot get flooded, it can get wet. If it gets wet on the outside, there is nothing really to worry about but if it gets to the inside, there is something to worry about.
I know it is not new to hear that when the electricity comes in contact with moisture, it could shock you and this is not something you’ll like to experience. The type of leaf blower that is most likely to get flooded is the gas-powered leaf blower.
The gas-powered leaf blower has saved homeowners from spending money on repairs and replacements. This is through the help of its prime pump.
The pump allows a certain amount of liquid into the carburetor chamber thereby reducing the chances of the engine getting flooded. But not entirely and neither does it cure the problem.
You might be wondering that since the flooding talked about here is not an overflow of liquid like you know, how will you know when your engine is flooded? Well, it’s simple and easy. The easiest way to tell is to unplug the spark plug.
Touch it to see if it is wet. If it is, then it is flooded. Wipe it or keep it somewhere to dry properly before you use it. But if you can not wait, you can just replace it with another spark plug. Then you can go further with these steps to fix/unflood your leaf blower engine that I explain above.
Related Guide: How to Store Leaf Blower in Garage?
Engines That Are Fuel Injected
- Trap More Air
For the leaf blowers of recent age, the buttons and levers are located together for easy reach. The choke almost like the carburetor is responsible for the regulation of the fuel. Now with the choke closed, air remains inside the cylinder thereby allowing your engine to start.
- Get the Gas
These modern-day leaf blowers also come with buttons that are responsible for the regulation of gas flow into the cylinder. When this button is pressed down, the right and constant amount of gas enter the engine. It is better than the engine starting with the butt in still pressed down.
- Try starting up the engine to test it. You should try to crank the engine many times with its lever and the choke closed. You will have a better notion of how the engine is doing after a few pulls on the cable.
- If it is still coughing, it’s because the air and gas mixture isn’t quite right.
- If there is no spark, the machine is unable to make the required mixture due to an excess of gas or air.
Related Guide: Leaf Blower as a Snow Blower
Carburetor Modeled Leaf Blowers
- Pull out the air filter to get to the carburetor:
To get to the carburetor first you have to get to the air filter but to get to the air filter you need to remove its cover.
These cobwebs are held down by a crew and all you need to do is just unscrew them. And make sure to keep the screws safely together so you don’t lose any. After removing the cover, pull out the air filter. Removing the air filter allows air to get to the carburetor thereby allowing the gas to inhale.
- Open the carburetor to let some air in:
With the air filter removed, you should be able to see the carburetor and a flap on it. This flap is responsible for the regulation of gas and air into the engine. It might be difficult to open the flap with your hands so you need something like a screwdriver.
Use the screwdriver to force the flap open. With this done, there is a high possibility that air will enter and cause a spark.
- Test the engine:
Now that you are done opening, flapping, closing, and doing all that with the parts of your leaf blower, try starting the engine. If it comes on, then you did a good job.
If you don’t want to do any of the steps above, you can give it time. Do this by leaving the engine open to dry in an open place.
Conclusion:
There is no use constantly cranking up an engine when it is flooded. If at the first and second start-up, the engine does not come on, check the tank to see if it is full. And if it is, proceed to check the spark plug and fuel filter.
This should bring to your notice that care is needed when handling your leaf blower. Electric leaf blowers ahold not be used close to water or for wet activities to avoid short circuits and electrocution.
The fuel-injected/gas-powered leaf blower should be watched carefully when it is being refuelled. Also, a drop of fuel on any part of the leaf blower which is not the fuel/gas tank should be wiped immediately.
