A propane fueld weedwhacker?

SimpleSimon

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So, there my son and I were, wandering around Home Depot (both of us love that place), when I decided to take a look at the weedwhackers for the heck of it. I don't even have a lawn, but you know - small engines.

Anyway, big orange is selling the LEHR line of "eco-friendly" weed eating and garden care machines. They are all based around a 25cc 4-astroke propane fueled engine. Best part is, it is very well put together, it is REALLY quiet, and the only thing you can smell is a whiff of the odorant in the propane when it is running.

All of that for $99. Man, I wish I had some money - that thing would make a great friction drive.

Take a look: http://www.golehr.com/cgi-bin/need_to_know.pl?record=4
 
Sears is advertising a propane powered trimmer also. Maybe the same manufacturer?

In any case, a 25cc propane powered four stroke is cool. Is it really only $99? That's only 20 bucks more than a conventional 2 stroke. (but we still love 2 smokes.....)
 
The LEHR trimmers use a Subaru EH025 engine (smaller brother of the EH035) with a propane carburetor setup.

Golden Eagle offers one of their kits with an EH025 engine, and I'd really like to see how it would work out with the LEHR propane fueled engine.

LEHR says that their trimmer will operate for about 2 hours of typical use on a full tank. I am sure it would be a far shorter length of time when operating at near full power. Also, gasoline engines converted to propane generally produce around 90% of the power that they produced with gasoline.

Anyway, I don't want to discourage anyone from trying this engine on an MB by mentioning this.

Lastly, that $99 price seems like an incredible deal. I haven't seen LEHR trimmers in any California stores, but eBay prices for them are in the $150 to $200 range.

*****

Edit:
The Sears trimmer is indeed a LEHR trimmer with Sears lables. They price it at $199.
 
Last edited:
Yeah, that price of $99 blew me away - their list price is $199, but they had them on "in-store special". I am really tempted to borrow a $100 from my son and go get one tomorrow.
 
HF sells an adapter or at least used to. You plug it into a bbq propane bottle and charge the smaller ones!

Another great way to save!

While on alternative fuels, SS, Ineed to gain understanding of the Geet system. Have you ever heard of it?
 
Do the engines have higher compression to take advantage of propane's higher octane rating?
 
Marty, I've heard of the GEET system before, but very little useful information is available about it. The descriptions in materials for lay readers are at best misleading, and very incomplete.

Skyliner, I really don't know if the engine is modified to increase compression.
 
HF sells an adapter or at least used to. You plug it into a bbq propane bottle and charge the smaller ones!

Another great way to save!

While on alternative fuels, SS, Ineed to gain understanding of the Geet system. Have you ever heard of it?

I have one of those gizmos. It's called a "Mac coupler" or something like that. You take your empty 1 lb cylinder, throw it in a freezer for an hour or so, then hook it up to an inverted propane tank to draw liquid anstead of gas. The cylinder is chilled to help maintain the pressure differential between the two tanks for a more complete fill. I haven't tried using one since they outlawed the propane tanks without the "overfill protection device", as the OPD will cut off flow when you turn the tank over to try and draw liquid from it. I now have a couple of 5lb refillable tanks. (miniature versions of the 20 lb grill tanks)
 
I have one of those gizmos. It's called a "Mac coupler" or something like that. You take your empty 1 lb cylinder, throw it in a freezer for an hour or so, then hook it up to an inverted propane tank to draw liquid anstead of gas. The cylinder is chilled to help maintain the pressure differential between the two tanks for a more complete fill. I haven't tried using one since they outlawed the propane tanks without the "overfill protection device", as the OPD will cut off flow when you turn the tank over to try and draw liquid from it. I now have a couple of 5lb refillable tanks. (miniature versions of the 20 lb grill tanks)

arceeguy

I had one of those THINGS and no matter what I

tryed I could only get about a third of the bottle filled

no matter how long I left it in the freezer...POPS
 
arceeguy

I had one of those THINGS and no matter what I

tryed I could only get about a third of the bottle filled

no matter how long I left it in the freezer...POPS


Did you invert the tank to draw liquid?

I actually over filled one of those little tanks. The main tank was sitting in the hot sun, and the little tank was in the freezer overnight. After I filled it, and the 1 lb bottle got warm, the safety vent tripped and started venting propane. After that, I made sure that I could shake the bottle and hear the LP sloshing around - ensuring that there was room for expansion. It would have sucked if that bottle was in my car, and I had five passengers smoking cigarettes, but maybe that's why it is illegal to transport them after refill. :)
 
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