Lawn-mowers are an essential tool for cutting grass and keeping your garden neat and tidy. The age of traditional petrol-driven lawn-mowers is over. Nowadays, everyone has shifted to electric lawn-mowers. Electric lawn mowers, as the name suggests, are operated using electricity. Almost all of them work in the same way with the same circuit connections.
If your electric lawn-mower is not working properly, you can try to fix the problem yourself, instead of relying on a professional electrician. In this article, we have listed some of the few most asked queries which people often inquire about how to fix the electric start on a lawn mower, and other issues. Just remember to also proactively maintain your mower in winter!
Why is My Electric Lawn Mower Not Working?
People face a lot of difficulties with their electric mowers. Amidst all, there are three main reasons why your electric mower might not be working. Either the vents are clogged, the wires inside the cover are damaged, they’re plugged in incorrectly, or there is a problem with the battery.
Vents
First, try opening your mower’s cover and check if the vents are clogged. The area below the cover can get accumulated with grass, dirt, grease, or another form of debris. It is very important to keep the vents unclogged. If the vents are not clean, air will not pass into the engine and heat will build up causing the engine to overheat and stop working.
If your electric mower cannot be cleaned manually, try pumping compressed air inside the cover to blow away the dirt and debris. After the vents are cleaned up, you will soon find that the engine is not heating up and your lawn mower is working perfectly.
Extension wires
The extension cables may get loosened or damaged. The loosening of cables occurs quite frequently. Try opening up the mower cover and check for loose cables. If you find oil or grease on the cables, wipe it off with a cotton towel. Sometimes, extension wires get incorrectly plugged, thus plug the wires correctly and you will find your lawn mower working again.
Battery
The most frequent reason why your electric mower stops working is because of the battery. The battery may not be charged properly. Check the charge using a battery tester. If your lawn mower’s battery is dead, replace it with a new one, or if it does not have sufficient charge, plug it into a charger and charge it up. Your mower will start working perfectly with a freshly charged battery.
What if the Power Cables Stop While Using My Electric Lawn Mower?
There are occasions when your lawn mower’s power cables stop working. First, it could be due to the power supply stopping, or while having a power cut at your place. Second, it could be that the lawn mower’s power cable has been cut off.
Power Disruption
Power cuts are frequent in many places. All your electric lawn mowers are powered using a battery. During a power cut, some lawn mowers which do not have a sufficiently charged battery will stop working immediately. Whereas those which have a charged battery may go on working for a while. All mowers consist of a perimeter wire running within it. If the perimeter wire goes out it will not continue to operate, unless power has been restored.
Power cables
We are constantly pulling and pushing our lawn mower, and power cables can be cut off anytime. Power cables are below the cover of the mower, so it cannot be seen every time the power cable goes off. If your lawn mower suddenly stops working, open your cover and check if the power cables are still attached or got cut off.
If they are cut off, unless you have had experience in fixing power cables, we would advise you to take your lawn mower to your nearby garden center or your neighborhood hardware store, and buy a new power cable. Power cables are usually cheap and not very cost-effective. In this way, you can get your power cables to function well again and fix your electric lawn mower in no time.
How are Cored Lawn Mowers Damaging?
There are two types of electric mowers: corded and cordless. The cordless ones do not require a constant electrical power supply, whereas the corded electric lawn mower works with the help of an electric cord that operates it by drawing electricity from the main switch.
- Since the corded mowers are connected by plug all the time, it is hard to move around with them. They appear to be heavier than the cordless ones and are a bit more cost-effective.
- While cutting down grass or cleaning your lawn, the corded ones need to be used on the opposite side of the electric cord. Otherwise, there is always a chance that you might cut off the electric cord using the mower.
- On the other hand, the corded mowers cannot be used in the rain, or after the rain. A short circuit may occur if water goes inside the lawn mower. It may cause severe disturbances in the electrical connection or even catch fire.
Why Does My Electric Lawn Mower Lose Power in the Middle of Mowing?
If your lawn mower stops working all of a sudden, it might not always be due to an electrical problem with your lawn mower. Open your mower’s cover and check all the electrical cables, wires, connections, batteries, and vents. If they all seem to work fine, then you should focus on external problems.
Try noticing the size of your grass. If your grasses have grown too tall, the grass cutter size on your mower may be too small to effectively cut it. You need to adjust the grass cutter size and raise the height of cutting grass. Your grass could also be wet from the previous day’s rain and have accumulated dirt, soil, and grease.
For that, you need to clean your mower and your mower will be all set to go. Sometimes the mower’s blades may get bent, loose, or turn unsharpened. As you have been cutting grass for a long time, these things are bound to happen and may prevent your mower from working efficiently. You simply need to change the blades and replace them with sharpened ones for better performance.
Why Is Smoke Coming Out of My Electric Lawn Mower?
Since you are using an electric lawn mower, there is no need to worry about engine oil leaks, oil chamber problems, or overflowing of oil into your lawn mower. Your electric lawn mower does not rely on oil for functioning. The smoke coming out of your mower would mean that the engine has been overheated.
This would be caused if there is insufficient airflow into and out of the engine chamber. Check for dirt, debris, and grass accumulation in your engine chamber beneath your cover. Cleaning that engine chamber would allow air to pass in and out efficiently and prevent overheating.
Why is My Electric Lawn Mower Tripping My House Circuit Breaker?
Your lawn mower is probably tripping the circuit breaker in your house because the motor winding has become shortened. You will need to check the motor winding of your mower using a millimeter to check the resistance (ohms). You will need to put both the meter probes on the flat prongs of the power cord and turn on the lawn mower switch.
If your millimeter shows no resistance, that means your motor has got burned. Try checking the resistance with your millimeter at least twice. If you get a short continuity reading, that would mean there is a short in the chassis of the power mower.
Do I Need to Check if My Lawn Mower’s Cutting Bag is Full All the Time?
No, you do not need to check every time if the cutting bag is full or not. Almost all electric lawn mowers have sensors at their rear ends, which helps them to sense if the cutting bag is filled with grass or not. The sensors either show a light or turns on a switch automatically if the cutting bags are full. Some lawn mowers also cut off the bag itself if the cutting reaches a certain weight capacity.
Conclusion
Now that you have read 7 ways on how to fix your electric lawn mower, you will have an idea of how all the problems arise while handling and working with an electric lawn mower. These troubleshoots are not that difficult to carry out, you can solve them all by yourself. Hopefully, this article has helped to answer all your queries and provide you with an untroubled experience of mowing your garden’s grass.
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