Please do. They’re so fucking loud
Just ban blowers outright, makes no sense when leafs get blown from one property to another, and then back again.
Oh yes please… please, please do it. I have some choice words about leaf blowing in general but this will be a marked improvement all else being equal.
About time really. Makes sense for a city. And if in the country and you’re worried about leaves, well, really…
Edit: This is my first post. 🏆
As the guy in the article mentioned, If this were the case I would hope to see and exception for contractors/business. Electric has come a long way, but still pales in comparison to a gas blower/trimmer.
As for pollution, while it’s important to tackle all angles of a problem. There are definitely bigger fish to fry. Two stroke emissions might be “more harmful pound per pound” but there is a million times less of those pounds.
I don’t live in Toronto, but is the sound pollution from two stroke engines really that bad? How does it compare to construction noise or traffic noise? There is no logical reason a two stroke engines should be running for longer than 20-30 mins at a time and that’s stretching it.
I live in Toronto. They are loud. Traffic is usually isn’t noticeable in my 22nd floor condo (unless it’s those stupid tuned exhaust systems - which should be banned as well). But when the city or contractors pull out the gas leaf blowers, I hear them pretty clearly. I’m happy to have them gone to reduce the noise.
I agree from a pollution point of view there are bigger fish to fry (like ocean shipping and cruise ships).
A bowl full of fried shrimp is still quite filling. It’s really easy to go Electric leaf blowers (and lawn mowers etc). All these small emissions can add up substantially and is quite important when ever year counts.
I’m in Vancouver area. Our Condo maintenance is contracted out. they use gas weed trimmer and blowers, the commercial ones (maybe modified) are as loud as straight pipe harley. it is deafening when they are here all day, and the smoke comes in to the unit smelling like raw gas. it’s bad. And apparently running one of those for an hour is more emissions than 10s of cars doing lots of commutes; because they don’t have emissions systems like vehicles.
If they are smoking there is definitely something wrong. I’ve run gas blowers / trimmers in an enclosed space and they shouldn’t smell for a decent while.
I sould have said fumes not smoke. It choles us out, but its not visible like when burning oil
We recently outlawed them in my city. Didn’t do anything. Everyone still uses them and no one enforces the ban. City next to us banned them years ago and I had no idea, same thing happened there. Continued use and no enforcement.
I really hope this goes through. Electric ones are much easier to deal with…
So when are loud noises going to be a punishable offense?
I really find anybody using even a gas lawnmower pretty obnoxious. If you are cutting an acre of land it is fine. If you are an old person I get the not changing.
What if you’re a contractor?
Similar to people cutting an acre i guess. A contractor has to have their tools working all day with no wait for charging.
Thats why you invest in multiple batteries and swap them like when you refill the gasoline. And have the others back on charge and standby
I think a lot of people are resistant to moving away from gas mowers because the extension cord is annoying as hell and battery powered ones are still too expensive.
Gas power is also way more powerful. Electric ones hang up on deep grass. More expensive, less power and I already have a gas one.
Battery powered ones are about the same price as gas powered ones at this point. And they are cheaper to run overall
Brand new sure. But you can’t find used battery powered mowers on Kijiji for $30 like you can gas mowers.
How many people are there that can afford to own property that has a lawn in within the city limits of Toronto but can’t afford an electric mower?
Have you never heard of renting a house with roommates? Someone has to mow the lawn and it’s rarely the landlord.
So you entered a rental agreement where you’re responsible for mowing the yard, and you’re also required to purchase the lawnmower to fulfill that responsibility?
Sorry you got a shit landlord.
I’ve only ever been in 4 rentals in my life but, yeah, that was pretty much the standard. One of the landlords left their lawnmower that we could use but it broke so we had to get a new one.
You know whats really fucking incredible is that this was ever considered a reasonable option
You mean… bend over and… pick up the leaves like I did when I was a kid??? Who has time for that. Blow that shit into the neighbor’s yard… Done.
