Battery Power for Lawn equipment -- is it time?

Well, has Home Depot ever been helpful for after-care service?

 

i wouldn't even let those monkees put my grille together

 

Grrr.... I'm on them right now. They sold me a couple of pallets of driveway sealer for my aforementioned giant driveway.

One of them was meant for use in Northern states and the other for Southern states. So the parts I treated with the Southern formula washed away after one winter!

I ordered it all from their website, and didn't really think much of it when they drop-shipped half of the order from Florida.

They never differentiated the versions of product to me, so I'm fighting them to make it right.

 

The last grill we bought was from Lowes. We had a propane gas grill before but it was needing to be replaced. We splurged on a very fancy charcoal grill/smoker which normally runs for ~$300, but got the last one on display at Lowes close-out sale for ~$100. That was 11 years ago. Well, that grill is now retired. The grill body is still intact but the metal tray to place charcoal under the grate and the ash pan underneath are all rusted through. Yeah, we keep the grill outside all year long even in winter uncovered.

I first thought of going back to a gas or pellet grill, but did not. The cost of a decent gas or pellet grille is quite a bit higher than a charcoal grill. And after years of cooking on the charcoal grill, I have learned that the temperature controls both very high and very low are something most consumer-grade gas grilles can't do. Plus, gas grills just do not produce the same "smoky" flavor as slow-grilled food on a charcoal grill. It is more work, but I am sticking with a charcoal grill. But a grill that is similar in size, functions, and looks to the just retired grill/smoker runs for $300 and up. I ended up picking up a cheap regular dome-shaped charcoal grill at Walmart for $89... I have a feeling that it will not last 11 years.

I am thinking of building a permanent grill base with bricks and placing the top body part of the old grill. But that will be a new summer project for me.

 

Char-griller? I had those exact troubles with one and I wound up buying a replacement tray from the factory, wasn't expensive, didn't have to learn a whole new grill. A coal tray every 4-5 years is nothin.

 

Reminds me of the “green” charcoal lighting chimneys.

My father had a tall narrow one in plain steel that lived outside 20 years, it light the coal reliably with a little newspaper and was rusty looking but didn’t rust through.

The new galvanized chimney replaced it has a larger than desirable diameter, takes more paper (or a handful of insta light cheaters) doesn’t light as reliably or rapidly and forces you to use more Charcoal or it doesn’t light at all. The airflow in this larger unit is worse and makes it even harder to light.
I got to 5 years and it already had rust holes along the upper edge by the seam, still using it but I’m guessing it will fall apart unexpectedly in the near future.

The old tall skinny unit although rusty from day 1 was a much better design in every way.

 

Next time, I'm going for a chimney with an electric element so I can skip the paper & matches altogether.

 

Similar, to this in style: https://www.chargriller.com/collections/charcoal-grills/products/classic#
but not a Char-griller. I just went out and took a picture. The brand is Master Forge. A quick Google search seems to show that the Master Forge is a Lowes original brand. It is still listed on their website, but no longer sold.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Master-Forge-32-in-Charcoal-Grill/3878738

Then I did more search and found this review. https://amazingribs.com/grill/master-forge-32-charcoal-grill-review/
Well, it is listed as $199... but not sure if that was the old price. An almost identical grill is now sold by a different brand name Dyna-Glo
https://amazingribs.com/grill/dyna-glo-charcoal-grill-review/ which is currently sold for $300. And the revies on either unit are not very good.

Not sure if an exact fit compatible parts can be sourced from different brands. If I know how to weld, it would not be too difficult or expensive to make one that would fit. But knowing that we spent only $100 and it lasted 11 years outdoor, I am satisfied with its longevity and performance. Yeah, probably it is not worth spending much more money on this grill, now I read the review on it for the first time. But, if I can source some bricks from demolition or very cheap on sale, I may make a permanent fireplace base and use the top for the grill.

 

I do this charcoal chimney trick... Works every time no paper, no matches. Yeah, you have to buy a butane gas range and a can of fuel though.

The fastest and easiest way I've found to start a charcoal chimney | Boing Boing

 

LOL I'm sure that is fast, but I very specifically wish to avoid using fossil/chemical (gas or even matches) for cooking, outdoors or in.

 

Yeah, I know what you mean. But a butane gas range can be a life saver when the power grid is out. I don't know how many times we used it for cooking during a power outage. Even though we now have a whole house gas generator backup, we still use it for cooking during a power outage. It is far more efficient than using gasoline to generate electricity for the whole house and using the 220v electric range in the kitchen to do the cooking. I also have used portable propane burners for camping. But no more camping for us... so now it has a new use at home in our back yard.

 

"One last tangent to take the burner analogy to the extreme end where all burners are killed save for Fast; I did see this video way back in the aughts during my search for Fast & Easy, where a Purdue staff member named George H. Goble had won the 1996 Ig Nobel Prize in Chemistry by "preparing a barbecue for cooking in less than 5 seconds by the use of a smoldering cigarette, charcoal and LOX (liquid oxygen)" plus a bucket and 10-foot pole."

The Ig Nobel Prize list, which has Goble down for the Chemistry prize, lists a record grill startup time of 3 seconds. Another site shows that of an initial 60 lbs of charcoal, 40 lbs was gone by the time the grill was cooking-ready at that 3 seconds. Though I seem to remember other videos showing some less robust grills that no longer existed by that time.

Also a warning, apparently the 'burn' rate is 'faster' if the carbon and pure oxygen are pre-mixed:

But don't try this at home, please:

WARNING: an ignition source, such as a lit cigarette or one glowing coal, must be present before pouring on the LOX. If charcoal is PRESOAKED in LOX first, an explosion will result. One briquette presoaked in LOX is approx equiv to 1 stick of dynamite.

 

I am sure I can't buy a canister of LOX at our local Walmart. LOL

 

@fuzzy1 you tease!

You realize that is one of the internet's original viral videos, why not link it?

 

... because Salamander already did! It is embedded at the end of the article in his first link.

But this will help other readers too lazy to read all the way down to it.

Walmart doesn't carry the best welding supplies anyway, other specialty vendors have better.

 

I got curious... so I checked. And found this. Would this work??? LOL

 

5 liters of oxygen per bottle (not 10 as indicated in the headline), which translates to about 7 grams, enough to burn about 2.5 grams of charcoal.

For the whole $45 multipack, that is just over an ounce of oxygen, enough to burn less than a half ounce of carbon. This strikes me as being about as useful as buying drinking water in eye-dropper sized bottles. Gonna need a truck load of them to start up a grille in Goble's fashion.

 

Does anyone have or know anyone that has one of the Ego rider mowers? Time to move on from my old gasser, but worry about dropping $5-$7 big ones on it.

 

Greenworks warranty

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/greenworks-warranty.356168/

 

Well, I worked on the non-starting RIDGID power washer last weekend. It had sat in the shed with gas still in the tank for ~10 years or maybe even longer. I can't remember when I last used this machine. Changed the oil, cleaned the air filter, and changed the spark plug. Now, the Subaru engine starts fine on a first pull. But it runs only on a half choke. It may still need a carb clean-up. But I am going to drain the 10+-year-old 10% ethanol gas and replace it with fresh ethanol-free gas and see if it runs better.

It may still be a good working machine. I guess I am going to wait on buying a new electric (less powerful) washer for now.