Electric or Petrol Leaf Blowers – How to Choose
Whether you have a landscaped garden or town garden, Gardenlines have leaf blowers for sale to meet all your needs.
Choosing the right garden vac is not as simple as opting for the most powerful model. Some tasks require a lighter touch than others; garden vacs and blowers that are capable of sweeping up damp squalid leaves may rough-up your precious petunias.
Electric Leaf Blower Vacuums
Electric leaf blowers are usually outperformed by their petrol-driven counterparts, but are certainly not inferior products.
Electric leaf blowers typically offer less power but this is compensated by lighter handling, quieter motors and generally more appealing prices.
Manufacturers are developing more efficient models and electric leaf blowers are catching up and in some cases surpassing petrol-driven versions.
The ultimate decision breaker when choosing electric leaf blowers or power-driven leaf blower vacs is the power cable. When buying electric leaf blowers you will need an electrical outlet within a reasonable distance of the work area. If you don’t then opting for a petrol leaf blower is probably a better way forward. View our electric leaf blowers which include free mainland UK delivery.
Petrol Leaf Blowers
Most petrol leaf blowers are powered by a two-stroke engine, with power calculated in cubic centimetres. A garden that’s less than half an acre in size with a couple of leafy trees can be maintained with a 30cc engine.
If the space you look after is larger then a backpack leaf blower with 50cc’s of power would make lighter work of the task at hand. The latter option also solves the weight factor as petrol leaf blowers are heavier than electric leaf blowers.
Engine lubrication is achieved by mixing the recommended oil into the fuel, using the ratio suggested by the manual. With most of GardenLines’ petrol leaf blowers we offer 100 millilitres of two-stroke oil for free when you order. As for the noise factor the petrol leaf blowers tend to be noisier than electric leaf blowers. Wearing ear defenders will make the noise less of an issue.
With petrol leaf blowers the starting mechanism also needs to be considered. Petrol leaf blowers have pull-start ignitions that can be tricky on cold mornings.
On most electric leaf blowers, changing from blow to vacuum modes is as simple as flicking a switch. Petrol leaf blowers are more complicated and may involve fitting different tubes on either the inlet or outlet hole, connecting or removing the collection bag or re-orientating the machine each time. View our petrol leaf blowers which include free mainland UK delivery and free oil.
Do you now have more of an idea on which leaf blower is right for you? If not, our quick pros and cons of electric leaf blowers and petrol leaf blowers below might help you further.
Pros of Electric Leaf Blowers
• Light
• Quieter
• Cheaper than petrol leaf blowers
• Easy to switch between blow and vac mode
Cons of Electric Leaf Blowers
• Cables mean you need your work area to be within distance of an electrical source
• Less powerful than petrol leaf blowers
Pros of Petrol Leaf Blowers
• Can offer more power than electric leaf blowers
• There’s no cable so you don’t need to be near an electrical source
• Good for larger maintained spaces
Cons of Petrol Leaf Blowers
• Noisier than electric leaf blowers
• Can be heavier than electric leaf blowers
• Can be more difficult to switch between blow and vac mode
• Starting mechanism can be tricky on colder mornings
Pick an electric leaf blower
Pick a petrol leaf blower
Explore wheeled garden vacuums
For further advice on buying electric or petrol leaf blowers you may find this article useful: A Guide to Buying Garden Vacs and Leaf Blowers >