Gas Prices

[Xyzzy]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

The fact that adding motor oil to the fuel seems to help may be diagnostic.

Adding oil to the fuel will help restore lost compression from ring wear. It will also be really bad for the environment.

[kruoli]

We stopped using the machine because of its need for oil and the resulting problems (of course also environmental, as was said). But we want to keep it as spare and turn it on every month for a few minutes.

For us, eletric mowing is indiscutable. I had an electric mower once when all our gasoline ones were broken down. It took me a whole week to mow our 3.000 square meters, because we only had one battery, the charging was slow, the battery often overheated (despite having only around 15° C outside). Our higher grass (not higher than four inches) was undoable with the electric mower. Our gasoline mowers on the other hand will take care of full grown grass (up to a meter) when set to cut to 6-8 cm and watching the throw-out.

While I am all-in on replacing gasoline engines where it is applicable and environmentally useful, mowers will not be electric here for a while. It is more likely that we might get an electric mower without battery, but more power.

[Uncwilly]

Originally Posted by kruoli

For us, eletric mowing is indiscutable. I had an electric mower once when all our gasoline ones were broken down. It took me a whole week to mow our 3.000 square meters, because we only had one battery, the charging was slow, the battery often overheated (despite having only around 15° C outside).

Things have progressed since 1990.

[kruoli]

The electric mower that I have used is less than five years old. If you mean that there has been progress on the gasoline side: Definitely. When I tried a recent Sabo mower, it was able to cut our full grown grass down to 4 cm in one go. But for our "normal" mowing activities it was not much better, so we skipped that purchase.

Of the electric mowers I know of in my circle of friends and acquaintances, all of them need to be used on quite short grass and need to cut it down quite short because this is the only way that it can dry quickly enough such that the mower can handle it. They have to mow much more often than we do. We like to wait for flowers in the grass and having insects on them. At that point, we would be unable to use any eletric mower that I know of. I am sure that there are bigger and much more expensive mowers (like for "professionals"), but we will not pay 10.000 € for a machine to mow lawn.

Especially autonomuous mowers need really short grass to begin with. They get constantly stuck or deplete their battery so fast that they cannot reach their recharging station anymore. This gets a bit better if the weather was dry for a few weeks, but that's not healthy, either.

[rogue]

I was watching the local news. They were expressing concern for people with boats on lakes where they have a second home. Sorry, but I feel no sympathy for people who have enough wealth to have a second home.

[storm5510]

Originally Posted by rogue

I was watching the local news. They were expressing concern for people with boats on lakes where they have a second home. Sorry, but I feel no sympathy for people who have enough wealth to have a second home.

Ditto. It seems to me like many TV ads target the wealthy. One which stands out is X-Chair. Who in their right mind will pay $1,999 for a desk chair.

Fuel stations in my area do not mark their gasoline as being E10 or E15. A nearby BP carries low-sulphur diesel, or did. Others nearby are looking for zero-ethanol gasoline for mowers and small tractors. They are not having much luck finding anything. I am guessing what I put in my little truck is E10, 87 octane. The last I bought was $5.18.

[kriesel]

Originally Posted by rogue

enough wealth to have a second home.

Net asset = property value - mortgage balance - any contractor liens. I knew an extended family that together bought two lakeside cabins and a parked trailer home at a resort that was being broken up after they'd vacationed there 3 decades together. They rented each out all summer long in 1 week stays by word of mouth to friends neighbors and coworkers, except for opening and closing & maybe a couple other weeks for their own use, and soon had people reserving immediately afterward the same week for the following year, as a means of affording the investment with sentimental value. Conditions of rental included that anyone who didn't take proper care of it, hauling trash and cleaning well at departure, didn't get to come back again. When a damaging storm went through, the whole family worked to find lost pier sections, clean up downed trees, make repairs of pier and roof damage, etc. Most took turns driving a new sand point well, etc. A real (3 generations) team effort to make a go of it.

[storm5510]

The cost of E10 in my locale has dropped $0.40 in recent days. The how and the why, I have no idea.

Off-topic. I read this morning that Germany had decided to burn more coal as a replacement for Russian natural gas. I am guessing this applies to power generation stations. They have the know-how to capture all the particulate matter in their exhaust. A very nearby coal-fired plant where I live emits little more than steam from their single stack. They used to have two, and before, three. They have a good handle on it.