Recently, the town of Maplewood, NJ filed an ordinance restricting the use of gas-powered leaf blowers. In fact, they are actually banning leaf blowers. Well, that’s not entirely true, they are banning leaf blowers for the contractor, in the summer months. Is this hypocrisy that the homeowner can use a gas-powered leaf blower all they want? Furthermore, the town itself owns gas-powered leaf blowers, to which they are not restricted or banned.
In the Maplewood case, the New Jersey Landscape Contractor’s Association is trying to fight back, and you can downlod the pdf of the Maplewood, NJ ordinance. However, Maplewood is not the only township, city, or community known for banning leaf blowers. A quick internet search will turn up pages of results where gas-powered leaf blowers are deemed evil. While very few people enjoy the sound of a swarm of bees in their ear, what is the alternative to a gas powered leaf blower?
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Banning Leaf Blowers – Gas Powered Nuisance
In the recent months, here at OPE Reviews, we published our Best Backpack Blower Shootout. This shootout put all the best gas-powered blowers in a head-to-head, best of the best, competition of features, performance, and ergonomics. Part of the testing included measuring the decibels, both at the operators ear, as well as at 50-feet. The best performer, or least offensive to the ear, was the Makita EB7650TH Blower that recorded 76 dBA at 50-feet and 101 dBA at the user’s ear. Even the Makita, being the quietest, is not exactly a joy to hear outisde your window. What is the alternative?
Does Battery-Power Blow – Good Enough?
Also, in the earlier part of this year, we tested the supremacy of battery-power in the Best Cordless Blower Shootout. While this may seem to be the answer, it’s not so easy to state that claim. While battery power is making leaps and bounds in the recent years, they still lack the power of the Pro’s need for power, at least in the blower category. The EGO 575 created the most force with nearly 18 Newtons. While king of the hill in the cordless arena, it’s not even close to the 38.9 Newtons of force that the RedMax EBZ8500 Blower produced.
Furthermore, even in the hearing pollution sector, the cordless blowers aren’t exactly quite. The Stihl BGA 100 is the quietest of the bunch, but it still delievers 81 decibels to the operator’s ear. This is signicantly quieter than it’s gas-powered step cousin, but still not the melody of the New York sympathy orchestra (typo intended).
Our Thoughts
These ordinances, laws, and regulations have done nothing to further technology or even made our communities a more pleasurable place. Probably about the same for my article here. It’s quite simple, demand of the consumer will drive innovation. While I/we don’t have the answers for a better mousetrap, er – leaf blower, banning leaf blowers can’t be the answer. If you are going to ban leaf blowers, then do so for everyone. Don’t create a vacuum or blackhole where the contractor or lawncare Pro has to operate.
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Why hasn’t one of the manufacturers created a muffler that better muffles the sound, without sacrificing too much performance? We can’t answer this, but maybe one of you have the answer in your garage or shop. Battery power will continue to encroach on the performance of gas, albeit it’s probably still years away from being equal. While we wait, leaves will continue to fall, and grass will continue to grow, and be cut. We insist on maintaining our lawns, thus removing aforementioned debris. It seems there is no current and better alternative to the gas-powered leaf blower.
Note to the Pro
We are not a fan of banning the leaf blower, so we call to ban the banning. At the same time, read the writing on the wall. More and more people and communities are doing their best to push out gas powered equipment. It’s probably best if you find a suitable battery-powered platform and invest in additional equipment. This may not be your go-to for all your jobs, but it’s at least an answer for those places where the neighbors scream the loudest. You may even get some more accounts, for being the “quiet guy.”
