Lawnmower Air Filters - Let it Breathe
Wikipedia states an Air Filter is:
A particulate air filter is a device composed of fibrous, or porous materials which removes solid particulates such as dust, pollen, mould, and bacteria from the air.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_filter
In this case we are more concerned about our lawn mower air filter, strimmer or chainsaw air filter which is mainly there to stop or contain dust particles from entering the carburettor. Most of the air filters we use on lawnmowers, strimmers, chainsaws and small garden machinery use sponge or paper filters in some form or another.
An engine requires a fuel and air (oxygen) mixture at the correct ratio to correctly combust within the combustion chamber itself making the engine run correctly so if one of these components are not at the correct ratio the engine will not run as it was designed and will be inefficient at doing its job. If it starts at all.
The air filter is designed to keep the incoming air clean and so the air filter and housing is designed in such a way that all available air that is being drawn into the engine comes through the air filter housing which is designed to hold the air filter in place. It will have larger air holes to accept incoming air, that will then travel through the sponge or paper filter before being drawn into the carburettor.
The sponge filter has hundreds if not thousands of small air holes within it's make up and these are ideal to collect dust.
If this air filter is left to get dirty, it will impede the travel of fresh clean air into the carburettor thus leading to a lack of oxygen within the combustion chamber.
A dirty air filter can cause issues with how the engine runs, although in most cases the cause of non or poor runners is usually the carburettor rather than the air filters.
Your car has an engine and when it goes in for a service the oil, air filter, and spark plugs get changed as part of it's basic service.
Your lawnmower, strimmer or rotavator have an engine that should be maintained in a similar way to your car. As they say - Look after it, and it will look after you.
Once a year or season is most manufactures recommendations to service them, however in my experience it depends on three things, and the below is not set in stone.
- How much use the machine gets used
- How old the filter is
- How dirty the filter is
If your mower or strimmer gets a lot of use, maybe it’s a commercial machine that is used every day on multiple jobs, then I would expect it to be changed every 6 months if not more. Many of the commercial mowers I service and maintain require a change of air filter regularly along with sharpening blades and changing the oil and spark plug.
Let’s say your mower is used in a medium domestic garden once every two weeks - then there more chance it will only need changing once per season.
If you’ve inherited the mower from someone, and you have no idea what the maintenance schedule was, if any at all, I'd recommend a quick check of the air filter, see what condition it’s in.
If its an older or more well used machine, chances are the air filter may be clogged or even turning to dust itself!
The easiest clue within the decision-making process of should I change it or not is the colour. Many filters are white, yellow, orange or green in colour when new, this will give you an idea of its present colour compares to what it should look like.
With the paper filters don’t just look at the colour, open it a little and have a look between the folds to see all there is any muck in between them.
Some manufactures say you should spray the sponge air filters with a light oil spray, such as a light spray of a specific maintenance spray, to increase the dust collection rate - the oil is supposed to catch dust before it gets into the sponge itself.
Personally, I don’t like this, at the end of the day it’s a filter that collects dust, or it’s a paper to stop dust entering the carburettor. For the sake of small outlay for a new filter I would just change the filter. As i said, spraying oil on the sponges is not something I personally agree with, however some manufacturers specify you must and I would recommend following the manufactures guidelines for maintenance.
The air filter is an important part of your engine. I guess you could compare a dirty air filter to the dirt pipe on your vacuum cleaner - the fuller it gets the more the machine struggles to function as required, until you empty the chamber and it goes back to functioning as required.
Your air filter is just one component that makes up your engine but it’s an important one, having clean air entering your engine will help it run as it should.
Go on, go check it, and change it.
Lawnmower Air Filters - Let it Breathe
Mad about Mowers
@2023 Copyright Mad about Mowers
The above article shall not be copied or shared in anyway shape or form unless you have permission from the owner of this website.
We need your consent to load the translations
We use a third-party service to translate the website content that may collect data about your activity. Please review the details in the privacy policy and accept the service to view the translations.