I did the one single most stupid thing you can do with a chainsaw...that doesn't involve blood and missing limbs. I left a little, tiny bit of gas in the tank.
It's been a month or so since I cut wood. Landlady asked me to cut something up for her, I went and got my chainsaw, and as soon as I smelled the tank I knew I was in trouble. Now I've gotta rebuild the carb at a minimum. The worst part is that I'm never, ever gonna hear the end of this at the saw show, where I worked for a year and a half, because there's no way I can say I want a rebuild kit for the carburetor "just because."
Aargh.
(Private to Landlady - there's more than one way to cut a log. I got it for you.)
Having said that, what a beautiful day it's turned out to be! Cold this morning, but the wind died overnight and now it's sunny and almost sixty. The lying bastards at the weather report say it's supposed to be even prettier the rest of the week. A little snow and a lot of wind over the weekend, but it was worth it for this.
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4 comments:
I find your problem intriguing. I use gasoline stabilizer in my saws all the time, not just for periods of non-use. I have never had a gasoline related problem with my saws or any other small. Could it be the climate you live in maybe? I'm in the northeast.
I have also been told that leaving a carb without gas for extended periods is not good for the diaphragm. Contradictory theories for sure. Who's right? I have no idea. Theories aside, personal experience is always 100%
I've always followed Joel's practice of draining the tank and running the carb dry in a chainsaw.
Last spring, a late snow storm snapped a decent sized pine tree. I went to get my saw, a big Husqvarna with a 30" blade that I used to rip 36" diameter pine trees into timbers for my secret lair. To my horror, the gas tank was nearly half full. It had been over a year since I fired up the saw. I was sure it was toast.
It started on the first pull and cut the tree up in no time.
I selected Husqvarna over several other good brands because its the choice of several sets of smoke jumpers, the crazies who parachute into forest fires. I figure if these guys feel like they can trust their life to a chainsaw, it might be worth noticing.
I still drained the tank when I was finished.
-S
premium gas does not go sour nearly as fast
Fuel stabilizer is a very good thing, and probably would have saved me this time. My own damned fault.
Best practice is definitely to either a) never let the fuel go bad, or b) run it completely empty before storage. If I were going to park the saw for months, I'd run it empty. I've never seen that ruin a carb diaphragm. WORST practice is what I did, which was to leave a little drib of fuel in there. Then it goes bad fast.
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