Anyone have a yard vac?

[Paul T]

Curious if these are worth the $ and actually do anything? I do everything around the house, plumbing, electric, hvac, you name it, but man do I hate raking leaves! There has to be a better way...

[cstreit]

I have a lawn sweeper which works pretty well. Can pick up a certain amount of grass clippings as well as leaves, sticks, etc.. Of course it's a tow-behind, need a riding mower for it.

I love it though, with 1/2 acre and at least 5 50' silver maples on the property it's a life-saver.

[Flatbutt1]

a mulching / bagging mower is best IMO. I've used the handheld vacuums and they clog easily, especially if the leaves are damp and are not very powerful.

[artplumber]

Chain saw - rent the chipper.

[SLO-BOB]

Originally posted by Paul T
There has to be a better way...

I just bought a Black and Decker electric leaf blower/vac. I love it. It's one of those things that makes you wonder why you didn't buy one years ago. It was cheap-about $70. You plug it in to a long cord and blow in one direction, piling up all the leaves. Anything you miss, you can vacuum up and mulch into the supplied bag. It cuts my yard time down exponentially.

As noted-I'm sure the leaves need to be very dry-never wet.

[tdatk]

Buy a mulching mower. I haven't raked leaves for the last 10+ years. Just do a thorough job and dry leaves are key. I have 1 + acres as well.

[on2wheels52]

Wife hates leaves on the yard & I hate raking. Last year bought the Craftsman tow-behind (8hp). I try to use with a bit of dampness on the yard as is dusty in operation.
The mulching deck won't handle my problem, mow about 1.5 acres but totally surrounded by oaks. Dam things won't drop their load all at once, about 1/3 down now, rest will dribble till April.
Nice yard Tim, wish I had more open area like yours.
Jim

[Paul T]

This is along the lines of what I was thinking of getting, but I do have a Honda mulching mower - maybe I should give that a try first? We have about 4 acres, mostly woods, so there are a ton of trees and the small (about 1/2 acre) lawn area gets covered big time.

[Don Ro]

As per SLO-BOB...

15 yr. old Black/Decker 2 speed electric blower-vac.
Pamphlet says 210 mph blower velocity - bad ass and noisy.
Switcho-chango to the wide mouth vac tube and large zippered bag with shoulder strap.
Impeller is super sharp high tensile steel - mulches everything to bits.
'Makes short work of my 1/2 acre - blow to make piles, vac piles, dump (or top-dress/till into veggie garden).
.
Nice place, Tim. Two chimneys.
Homey.

[Don Ro]

Paul,

I also have the Honda HRC216 commercial mulching mower. It works well.
You might try yours prior to that yard vac rig.
I made a sheet metal discharge chute for mine, but now you can buy them along with a twin blade mulching kit (see link).
Put her in high gear and go-to-beat-hell.
.
http://www.mayberrys.com/honda/lawn/html/lawnacc.htm
.

[stevej37]

If you have a lawn tractor...Trac Vac is the easiest way clean it all up. 8 hp direct driven fan mounted to an enclosed trailer. I have over an acre with a lot of trees and I only have to unload once or twice..really packs it in tight. Does a real nice job...costs around $1200.

[cashflyer]

My father's property is about 3 acres of lawn with multiple trees. He uses a backpack blower to blow the leaves into rows, then tows a big vacuum unit with his tractor down the rows. The impeller on the vacuum unit grinds up the leaves, small branches, and unwary rodents.

I'm guessing this is what you meant by "yard vac"...

His vacuum is a more industrial sized version of this thing.
And his tractor is a tractor - not a "lawn tractor".

[Rondinone]

Originally posted by Paul T
This is along the lines of what I was thinking of getting, but I do have a Honda mulching mower - maybe I should give that a try first? We have about 4 acres, mostly woods, so there are a ton of trees and the small (about 1/2 acre) lawn area gets covered big time.

I've got his older brother:




Our yard is only 1/4 acre, but it's surrounded by (our) fully mature hardwoods so it gets 1 foot deep in leaves. This thing saves soooo much time. The vacuum hose is the best. I've had it about 5 years, and my only complaint is the bag. It's pretty fine and clogs easily from the leaf dust. I use a small pressure washer to clean the bag at the end of the day, or it losses suction over time.

Believe it or not, mine works better when the leaves are slightly wet, because they don't create as much dust which clogs the bag.

[Hugh R]

tdatk

Man that's a nice looking front yard! Green and all that stuff. I live in SoCal and we just don't get green like that. Let alone a front yard of that size.