Re:The hidden cost of air quality monitoring
by alistairSH on Wednesday June 28, 2023 @04:05PM
(#36511841)
New mowers and generators are mostly 4-stroke. But anything smaller is probably 2-stroke. And, unless regulations have tightened up in the last 10-15 years, those 4-stroke mowers still don't have full emissions controls - at best they might have a "dumb" catalytic convertor (but generally not fuel-injected).
Re:The hidden cost of air quality monitoring
by MisterTea on Wednesday June 28, 2023 @04:50PM
(#36512396)
> New mowers and generators are mostly 4-stroke. But anything smaller is probably 2-stroke.
New as in the last 40-50 years? Can you please give me examples of recent 2 stroke mowers and generators available in the USA? I haven't seen a 2 stroke generator or lawnmower in all my years and I used portable generators a bunch at my old job (Coleman, Generac, Honda, etc). However Ive seen plenty of small 2 stroke motors on hand held lawn and garden tools, chain saws, boat engines and dirt bikes.
The only 2-stroke generator I can think of are those really small antique 500W generators that I think Coleman made in the 1960's or 70's?
Re:The hidden cost of air quality monitoring
by alistairSH on Thursday June 29, 2023 @07:36AM
(#36519069)
Re:The hidden cost of air quality monitoring
by MisterTea on Thursday June 29, 2023 @08:55AM
(#36519742)
Ah. Import trash. It feels like this is a more recent trend - with the import floodgates fully open we are seeing the reappearance of low tech machines that were abandoned but remain popular in developing nations.
Re:The hidden cost of air quality monitoring
by alistairSH on Thursday June 29, 2023 @07:26PM
(#36528225)
Yep. Same thing in the e-bike market. So much trash on Amazon etc. They don’t pollute the air, but they have cheap batteries more prone to fire, trash brakes, etc.
2-stroke are awful because they do not have oil sumps - the oil is mixed into the fuel and drawn into the piston through the crank case where some of the oil sticks to the moving parts to lubricate them. The rest is burnt and emitted as that awful blue smoke.
They're kinda clever as they can operate in any orientation thanks to the lack of the oil sump which makes them ideal for portable power tools which have to operate at a variety of angles. They also have no valves so are less complex and easier to maintain and have a pretty good power to weight ratio. They are valued in developing nations because of this so they are hard to get rid of.