So....What's Your Cleaning Procedure After Mowing?

[Carscw]

I saw your post and I totally disagree. You should never imo leave or run your air dirty.

I agree.
I clean all three of my filters on my toro every couple of days.

I got in the habit of blowing my mower off. So not to transfer seeds from one yard to the next.

 

[cpurvis]

I saw your post and I totally disagree. You should never imo leave or run your air dirty.

You aren't "running your air dirty". In fact, the dirtiest air your engine would ever see (other than leaving the air filter off completely) would be if you installed a brand new filter before each use.

The air going to the engine gets progressively cleaner as the filter gets dirtier. Unlike an oil filter, there is no bypass on an air filter to let dirty air through it.

 

[bertsmobile1]

I saw your post and I totally disagree. You should never imo leave or run your air dirty.

Actually he is right, a dirty filter cleans better than a brand new clean one by virtue that the air has to get sucked through the dust layer which in fact becomes a pre filter.

Blowing out from the inside with compressed air is a very bad practice as it can rupture the paper or blast holes right through it.
The professionals who clean the air filters for construction equipment start with high volume low pressure pulses to dislodge the caked on dirt from the inside out.
They then get blown across the pleats on the outside with high volume low pressure filtered air using a venturi effect to remove the dislodged dust.
Final stage is a carbon tetrachloride rinse from the inside out and a gentle warm air dry.
Obviously not going to do it on a $ 20 mower filter but the filters on the bobcat were $ 160 a set and we could get about 5 washes out of a set.
The excavators were not such a problem as they all has snorkels and by & large were fairly well out of the heavy dust zone.

 

[SARG]

I have seven tractors & a Ferris ZTR. Each gets blown off with a blower after usage and I usually wash the majority at least once during the season and then before they're put to bed for the winter........ except the New Hollands .... they get a washing to prepare for the snow.

 

[DK35vince]

I saw your post and I totally disagree. You should never imo leave or run your air dirty.

You shouldn't let the filter get to dirty.
But over servicing an air filter can be just as bad IMO.
Every time you unnecessarily remove the filter you risk knocking dirt/dust down the intake.
Every time you unnecessarily blow out the filter you risk damaging the filter (blowing a hole in it )
I service my filter when it needs it. No more, no less.

 

[mhavanti]

I'm going to weigh in on this misnomer of a dirty filter cleaning better.

1. Dirty air filters change the air fuel ratio. Less air with a dirty filter means more fuel. More fuel in the cylinder means a colder cylinder which means less horsepower, less torque which both also equates to less tip speed, less ground speed.

2. Dirty air filters also contribute to cylinder and valve guide wash down. This contributes to an excellerated attrition rate for the mower stables.

3. Dirty air filters also contribute to a large belly, ***, etc. Due to lack of exercise.

 

[kraky]

You guys are way "over thinking "all this. Air cleaners DO NOT need to be cleaned till encrusted w/ at least 3/8" of dandelion lint. Deck tops do not need to be cleaned until the build up is so thick you can't get the deck to latch in the up position. (Or there are more than 2 mice living in there) And, the underside of the deck absolutely NEVER needs scraping. I know all these things from yrs of working sales at a jd dealership. You wouldn't believe the mowers we got in from dairy farms where the lawn mower was THE LAST machine to be serviced.
Those old jd lawn tractors w/the Kawasaki single cyl engines stood up to amazing abuse in their day...I mean...truly amazing.

 

[Ric]

You aren't "running your air dirty". In fact, the dirtiest air your engine would ever see (other than leaving the air filter off completely) would be if you installed a brand new filter before each use.

The air going to the engine gets progressively cleaner as the filter gets dirtier. Unlike an oil filter, there is no bypass on an air filter to let dirty air through it.

No thanks, I'll clean my filters once a week with my compressor and replace them when the need replacing about 50 hrs worth along with oil and oil filters.

 

[bertsmobile1]

You guys are way "over thinking "all this. Air cleaners DO NOT need to be cleaned till encrusted w/ at least 3/8" of dandelion lint. Deck tops do not need to be cleaned until the build up is so thick you can't get the deck to latch in the up position. (Or there are more than 2 mice living in there) And, the underside of the deck absolutely NEVER needs scraping. I know all these things from yrs of working sales at a jd dealership. You wouldn't believe the mowers we got in from dairy farms where the lawn mower was THE LAST machine to be serviced.
Those old jd lawn tractors w/the Kawasaki single cyl engines stood up to amazing abuse in their day...I mean...truly amazing.

Well yes & no.
Cows are not real fusssy about the quality of the cut just so long as the weeds they do not want to eat are gone so the grass they like to eat can grow.
You usually mow after the cows have been in the paddock so there is not much grass to cut the first place and usually you mow a paddock at 4" to 6" because you want to leave a lot of grass behind to get maximum growth.
The farmers would be running their mowers in a year what the commercial lawn care opertors do in a month.
So fuel usage is not a big problem neither is downtime, you can always do it next week, not so with paid for mowing or worse mowing with a team that is costing you $ 100 + per hour , mowing at 1/2 the optimum speed because the mower is not running properly.

All old mower took a beating
I still use daily mowers that are 60 years old and customers are amazed that a 60 year old mower does such a good job, they just take longer because hydro boxes, gear change on the fly, elecric PTO, & diffs were not to appear for another 20 years.
I heve even sold a few 40 year old mowers because the customers liked them better than their current 10 year old mower and actually found them quicker & easier to use.
The old 8/24 to 10/30 were the optimum size for blocks of 1 acre or less, and you just can't kill them.
In particular the RER's are excellent and represent the optimum mower lay out for durability and reliability.

So yes they will run, and for home owners it will not be much of a problem but they won't run giid enough to make money with.
As for deck buildups, JD use a lot of steel spindle housings which do not rust / or rot as fast as he modern alloy ones.
JD decks do not run controlled ventilation so do not need to be able to draw air down the spindle housing.
However they do burn and I see at least 1 mower fire every season caused by belts running on dry grass built up under decks.

So horses for courses and the boys are not "over thinking"
Keeping any piece of equiptment clean is always a good idea however in some circumstances it is not as high on the priority list.

 

[cpurvis]

I'm going to weigh in on this misnomer of a dirty filter cleaning better.

1. Dirty air filters change the air fuel ratio. Less air with a dirty filter means more fuel. More fuel in the cylinder means a colder cylinder which means less horsepower, less torque which both also equates to less tip speed, less ground speed.

2. Dirty air filters also contribute to cylinder and valve guide wash down. This contributes to an excellerated attrition rate for the mower stables.

3. Dirty air filters also contribute to a large belly, ***, etc. Due to lack of exercise.

I don't know about #3, but #1 and #2 are definitely false. That is not how a carburetor or fuel injection system works at all.