Gas MPG on a mower?

esbwn · May 12, 2006

Just something I was thinking about on my drive home today. I hear about MPG on vehicles all day *I work at a GM service dept* and was wondering why lawn mowers do not get better "mileage." I have a LT 1050 now and get about 2.5-3hrs, which is about 1 round of mowing at my house, out of a tank. I regularly change the oil, air filter, and keep the blades sharpened to make it as easy as I can on my mower. Just wanted to know what everyone else thought.

JTKub · May 12, 2006

The kohler command 20 in my 2544 burns about 1gal/hr while mowing. I get about 2.5 mowings out of a tank.

Joel

Mrwurm · May 12, 2006

I gal/hr sounds about right. When I was using a Yardman with 18hp Briggs, I used about 3 gallons to mow 2.5 acres, which took me about 3 hours. When I switched to a ZTR with a 25hp Kohler, I decreased my mowing time to less than an hour, but I still use about 3 gallons per cut.

jmt1271 · May 12, 2006

( I gal/hr sounds about right. When I was using a Yardman with 18hp Briggs, I used about 3 gallons to mow 2.5 acres, which took me about 3 hours. When I switched to a ZTR with a 25hp Kohler, I decreased my mowing time to less than an hour, but I still use about 3 gallons per cut. )

the 25 hp command in mine does much better than that. if my math is right your burning a gallon in less than 20 minutes.

Fordlords · May 12, 2006

Lawn mower engines use significantly less gas than they did 15-20 years ago. My Honda GX610 18 HP V twin uses about half the amount of gas as the original 25 year old 17 HP Kohler KT17 did in the same tractor, and along with 1 additional HP the Honda produces about 5 more ft/lbs of torque than the Kohler did. Innovations in the mower engines mainly came from the automotive sector, including use of overhead valves, aluminum blocks and heads, hydraulic valve lifters, efficient head porting, shorter and cleaner intake runners, higher compression ratios, higher spark voltage on the ignition, better valve and ignition timing, less restrictive exhausts, etc.

I would say around 1 gal/hr on a 18-20 HP modern small engine sounds about right.

New innovations we are seeing on mowers are fuel injection and some rebirth with overhead cams and liquid cooling, although most mower owners don't like the extra maintenance expenses associated with these items. I expect to see air cooling and carburetors to be around on mower engines for a long time to come.

-Fordlords-

EuropaChris · May 13, 2006

I'd love a fuel injected, liquid cooled engine on my Cub! Kawasaki makes them already for John Deere.

I'll bet we'll see a lot more of them in the future as emissions regulations clamp down on lawnmowers. Going to FI and liquid cooling will allow tighter tolerances and better control of combustion, as well as the addition of catalytic converters and probably O2 sensors. Yes, gang, I'll bet we see lawn mowers with computer controlled engines in the next 10 years or less.

The downside will be cost and complexity, but the upside will be longevity and performance. Think about a modern Corvette. 20 mpg or better on the highway, and over 400hp. Power and efficiency that far eclipses any of the muscle cars of the 60's. How often does a modern engine break down? 100,000 miles? Piece of cake.

The problem then would be the engines will far outlast the rest of the tractor. Even today, with superior engines like the Kohler Commands, you'd be hard pressed to wear one out before the tractor itself.

Chris

JTKub · May 13, 2006

( I'd love a fuel injected, liquid cooled engine on my Cub! Kawasaki makes them already for John Deere.)

The problem with liquid cooled (gas or diesel) on the CC 2000/3000 series is the layout of the engine. They stick the radiator in the lower dash area, right where it sucks in all the dust/debris.

Joel

JSharp · May 13, 2006

My 2554 won't quite run 2 hours on a full tank, at least doing the heavy grass cutting I've been doing so far.

I notice a lot of push on the Kohler site for their fuel injected engines. They're claiming pay back of the additional engine cost in just a couple of years from fuel savings. Of course they use a lot of yearly hours to make the numbers work.

I expect we'll see carbs for many years to come unless the greens get some really tight emissions standards passed. At that point the small engine makers will be almost forced into EFI just like the auto makers were.

That's not really a far fetched possibility. I haven't looked at the numbers but it wouldn't surprise me if my 23hp Kohler pollutes as much or more as a modern small automobile...

EuropaChris · May 13, 2006

( I haven't looked at the numbers but it wouldn't surprise me if my 23hp Kohler pollutes as much or more as a modern small automobile... )

It probably pollutes more than a small fleet of modern 4 cylinder automobiles. These newer engines aren't NEARLY as bad as the old iron flathead engines (Kohler K-series, etc.), but they still blow out a pretty fair portion of pollution.

I think that's what I miss from my childhood mowing experiences - that rich cloud of unburned hydrocarbons that mixed with the smell of fresh cut grass. That was heaven! These newer mowers just don't smell as good!

Chris

Gatorboy · May 13, 2006

( the 25 hp command in mine does much better than that. if my math is right your burning a gallon in less than 20 minutes. ) 

My pickup truck driving at 60 mph gives me about 14 mpg, so I burn a gallon every 14 minutes -- I would love to get 20 minutes per gallon (20 mpg) /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif