As long as you have grass growing on your property, a lawnmower is a critical piece of equipment to own. However, during winter, you won’t be cutting your grass as often as when the weather is warmer. So, you must know how to remove gas from lawn mower before storing it until spring.
A well-maintained mower should start instantly. That’s why you shouldn’t keep your lawnmower with old gasoline sitting inside the tank. If you do, get ready to deal with endless ignition problems, leading to a drop in performance.
A riding lawn mower is harder to work with because it’s so big. So, find out how to drain gas from a riding lawn mower to keep it running when the grass grows back.
Why Do You Need To Drain Gasoline From A Lawnmower?
Old fuel inside your tank will dent your machine’s performance. As gasoline sits inside your mower’s tank, ethanol deposits start to form. These combustible molecules drop to the floor of the tank. What’s left is a poorly combusting fluid that readily flows to the carburetor.
When you run your machine, the low-quality gas will choke the fuel filter. As a result, you’ll notice the machine stuttering for a minute or so before igniting. And even after it’s switched on, the mower’s fuel flow is compromised and won’t deliver maximum power to the grass-cutting blades.
Draining gas from your lawnmower is a crucial maintenance procedure that many homeowners ignore. It isn’t a significant activity, and many people don’t use the machine over the winter. However, you stand to lose valuable horsepower with an inefficient fuel flow system. You should also check your lawnmower hour meter to see if any other maintenance is due.
How To Remove Gas From Lawn Mower Gas Tank
You should consider several methods if you want to know how to remove gas from a lawnmower. Remember, this is a routine procedure. You won’t need an entire toolbox to work on your machine. You can simply use a siphoning tube or skip it altogether.
1. Siphoning Method
The basic idea of a siphon tube is to suck out the gas inside your lawnmower’s tank. You can use a siphon pump to automate most of the process for you. If you’re feeling adventurous, use your mouth to retrieve gas and direct it into a collecting can. Air pressure inside the tank will push most of the liquid out into the jar.
However, sucking gasoline is not the safest method — you may accidentally ingest some liquid fuel. That’s why you need a pair of hose pipes to siphon gas from a lawnmower gas tank safely.
For this method, you’ll need two hoses of varying lengths and a rag. Also, if you own an air compressor, you won’t have to blow into the gas tank and risk inhaling gasoline fumes.
Step 1
Drive the longer hose pipe into the gas tank. Make sure it reaches the reservoir’s bottom. You can blow some air through this pipe to ascertain whether it is fully submerged. Then, connect the opposite end into a collecting jar or jerry can.
Next, run the second hose pipe into the gas tank. This pipe must be shorter and shouldn’t reach the tank’s bottom.
Step 2
In this method, you aren’t going to suck any gas from the mower. Instead, you’ll alter the air pressure inside the tank and force the fuel to flow outside on its own. For this to work, tightly seal the gas tank opening.
Wrap the rag around the two hoses while sealing the tank’s entry point. If you don’t get a tight fit, give it a little splash of water, wring out excess moisture, and seal the opening.
Step 3
Blow air into the shorter hose pipe. You can blow using your mouth or an air compressor if you own one. You’ll effectively increase the air pressure inside the tank. The other outlet is the longer submerged hose.
So as you blow into the tank, air pressure forces fuel into the longer hose and drives it to your collecting jerry can. Once you notice gas trickling out of the tank, stop blowing and let gravity handle the rest.
Step 4
Once the jerry can is filled, lift the longer hose above the level of the fuel tank. Raising it will stop the flow. Alternatively, you can always wait until you’ve exhausted all the gas inside the tank. Then, take out the hose pipes and seal the gas tank. Since there’s still a little fuel inside the fuel line, you’ll have to exhaust all of it.
You don’t have to run your lawnmower to exhaust the remaining gas. The carburetor has a line that feeds gasoline into it. Find this pipe and disconnect it from the carburetor. Allow it to collect underneath into a collecting pan.
Once you are sure all the fuel lines are empty, start your machine. Once activated, the mower will force any remaining gas through the motor for burning. Therefore, run your mower until the tank is empty. You’ll know it’s over once the mower powers off on its own.
2. Running Your Lawn Mower
The easiest way to drain a lawnmower gas tank is to use up all the fuel inside. This method is best suited for machines with just a little bit of gas inside the tank. Running the lawnmower is an essential step after siphoning out the fuel from the tank.
However, if your fuel tank is almost full, it would take quite some time before the mower runs through all that gasoline.
So power your lawnmower and make sure that it is running at max speed. Then it’s all a waiting game as the motor burns all the gas in the tank. You don’t have to cut grass because the machine will burn fuel as long as the engine is running.
How To Drain Gas From Riding Lawn Mower
A riding lawnmower presents a unique challenge while trying to remove gas from the tank. First, it has a seat that, on most models, sits above the gas reservoir. Additionally, a riding lawnmower is a larger machine and has significantly more fuel.
However, you can still siphon out the fuel but remember to take maximum precautions because you’ll be dealing with more gasoline.
Safety Precautions For A Riding Lawn Mower
You have to park your lawnmower on an even surface and engage the parking brake. Remember to turn it off and give the engine some time to cool off. You can also use blocks of wood to secure the mower. These blocks also raise the mower, and you should have access to the machine’s underside.
Disconnect the spark plug wire and take out the ignition key before accessing the machine’s gas tank.
The Takeaway
From the start, you shouldn’t store your lawnmower with old gasoline. The tank should be empty once you decide to put it away for winter. Once you ignite your mower, it is this low-quality stuff that flows into the carburetor. As a result, it doesn’t ignite as well as regular gasoline and reduces your machine’s performance. To avoid this, you must know how to remove gas from the lawnmower.
