Everyone knows lawnmower maintenance is essential to keep your machine running efficiently, but it can get confusing when understanding how often we should be doing it, we have found the ideal time scale to be servicing your lawnmower below.
You should be performing a service or maintenance on your lawnmower at the end of every mowing season or after 25 hours of use for light maintenance.
Light maintenance however such as changing the oil and sharpening your blades should be done as often as needed, for example, oil changing could be done after every 20-50 hours of use.
So as we can help you maintain your mower, we have put together a guide below which will explain how often your lawnmower needs servicing, why maintaining your lawnmower is important and how to do it.
Without further chat, let’s get maintaining that mower!
Servicing a lawnmower regularly is very important as it can prolong the life of your lawnmower, make it work more efficiently and reduce costly repairs that would have happened without maintenance.
You will also notice that the performance of your mower will get better with regular service, for example, sharpening the blade on your mower will help it cut grass more neatly rather than tearing it.
How regularly you maintain your mower comes down to how much you use it and the type of lawn you use it on, it can also depend on the type of mower.
For example, someone who has an electric mower and only uses it on a small well maintained lawn once a month may only need to perform maintenance on it once a year and at the end of every season for light maintenance.
However, someone who has a petrol mower that mows lawns professionally and does it up to five times a week may need to do a service on their mower at the start, mid and end of a season to ensure its works efficiently.
Riding mowers will need service every time you run them due to them having a big engine, however, we consider this a daily light maintenance. For maintaining a riding mower daily you will need to; check the tyre pressure, inspect the shields and deflectors, check oil and fuel then clean it after mowing to prevent rust build-up.
For a complete service, you should lubricate the mower, check the air filter, sharpen the blades, change the oil and check for leaks, this should be done at the end of every season.
Battery mowers require very little maintenance in comparison to riding and petrol mowers as they don’t have an engine. For example, you will only need to clean the mower after every use, other than that, you should be checking the performance of the battery and ensuring it stays clean and charged.
At the beginning of every season, you should check the tyre pressure and sharpen the blades too, as well as replace the spark plug once a year.
Petrol mowers require a lot of routine service due to their engine. Some daily maintenance for a petrol mower consists of; cleaning the deck, checking the fuel and looking at the oil level (if it is a four-stroke mower).
A big service that should be performed at the end of a season could mean changing the spark plug, replacing/sharpening the blades, replacing the air filter and adding a fuel stabiliser.
There are professional lawnmower services that can do annual inspection and service on your mower annually to ensure everything is working okay and replace any parts, whether you choose to do this or maintain your mower yourself is up to you, but normally home service will be more than enough to keep your mower in it’s the best shape.
We would suggest taking your mower to a professional if you require something urgent on your mower such as a repair, as professional service can cost you up to £80 an hour when you could do the same thing at home!
With regular service, you can expect an average lawnmower to last you around ten years or even longer if you have been looking after it correctly. For battery mowers, the battery inside may only last for 5 years.
Riding mowers are expected to last the average user for 7-10 years.
Now we know how often you should be servicing your mower according to its type, we have put together our top guide below for servicing your mower so you can ensure it’s functioning correctly.
First thing first, always remove the spark plug of your mower before starting any maintenance tasks, failure to do so could cause the accidental start-up of your machine which is very dangerous! You should also inspect the spark plug for any signs of damage and replace it once a year.
Also, ensure that when you are tipping the mower to access the underside that you tip it with the air filter facing up to avoid fuel going to the wrong places on your mower.
Your air filter on your lawnmower will be located towards the front of the engine, you can then remove the air filter and clean it depending on whether it’s a paper filter or not. Cleaning your air filter should be done after every 25 hours of use, and you should aim to replace it after 300 hours of total use.
If you are planning to store your lawnmower for a while and not use it then you will need to drain the remaining fuel that’s left inside of the mower, otherwise, you could risk it going stale and ruining the machine after 30 days.
So as you don’t have to worry about this in the future we would suggest buying a fuel stabiliser for your mower so as the fuel inside can last longer.
Just like a car, you will need to be topping up your lawnmowers oil and changing it when it gets dirty. Changing the oil on your lawnmower is simple and should be done after every 20-50 hours of use depending on how heavy-duty the mowing season has been.
Also, a good point to note is when you put oil into your mower for the first time, you will need to change it after 5 hours of use.
As we mentioned above, no matter the type of lawnmower that you have you will need to be cleaning it after every use to ensure it stays in a good condition.
You can clean dried mud, clippings and leaves with a wire brush so as it will not rust the machine, we recommend doing this daily.
While performing a service on your lawnmower, it’s a good idea to see if the blades will need sharpening or replacing which can be done easily with a file at home.
How often you sharpen your mowers blades will depend on what type they are and how often you use the mower, for example, mulching blades wear down quicker than other types. On average, you should sharpen your blades after every 25 hours of cutting time, however, you should additionally look for signs such as your grass blades being torn rather than cut.
You should aim to replace your blades after every 100 hours of use or whenever you see signs of damage on the blades.
What oil should I use for a four-stroke mower?
For a four-stroke mower, you can use lawnmower oil or even motor oil, the most popular oil type to use in a four-stroke mower is SAE-30.
How do I drain fuel from my lawnmower?
Some mowers have a drain plug for the fuel and others may need you to disconnect the fuel line, either way, draining your fuel should be simple, just ensure you have a container underneath to catch the fuel.
What filter do you use for a lawnmower?
A lawnmower should come with a foam air filter or a dual air filter, both act the same and stop debris from reaching the engine of your mower, some come disposable and others will be reusable.
To conclude, we recommend performing a home service on your lawnmower at least once a season or after every 25 hours of use for parts such as the blades, changing the oil and cleaning the air filter. Always make sure you drain fuel before storing your mower too and give it a clean after every use.
