NSBlake

I bought a petrol (gas) lawnmower when I came over to the USA - it just runs on regular which I think is 87 octane.

I'm going back to the UK and as my firm is paying for the shipping I was wondering whether I can just run my lawnmower in the UK on unleaded from the pumps (probably be unleaded 95) there without adding anything to the fuel.

Does anyone know/perhaps have done similar?

iaink

I think the gas itself is the same, its just the way the octane numbers are defined is different...

UK uses RON, US used AKI.

According to Wikipedia regular gas is all the same;


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating
"regular" gasoline in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the US RON 91–92; MON 82–83; AKI 87

penguinsix

Are parts going to be an issue? I'm assuming replacing a spark plug is pretty universal but wasn't quite sure.

The other thing I wanted to mention was a thread I reviewed when looking at bringing a Flymo "hover" lawnmower to the USA. They are not generally sold in the US and after a query one of the Flymo representatives wrote on another board that the "grass is different" in the USA vs. the UK. I just wonder if going back the other way your mower will be a bit of overkill:

http://toolmonger.com/2007/05/22/hot...cross-the-sea/

"The type of lawn grass in the USA differs greatly from that of the lawn grass in the UK, consequently an electric hover doesn’t perform in the same way or give the same quality of cut. This knowledge was gained from contact with a consumer who had bought a Flymo hover lawnmower with a 240v motor in the UK, and then took it to the USA. He did have a 3 phase outlet which supplied 240v, he tried the machine a few times but found it would not cut as well as he had seen in the UK. He contacted us and luckily we had an experimental 120v motor which we sent to him. After fitting the new motor he found the machine would still not perform as it had in this country.

The only conclusions we could arrive at for the poor performance was either, the condition of his lawn, or the type of grass which made up his lawn."

Bob

Wow, the Flymo....completely forgot all about those things, they were great on a hill, nice and safe pinging them around like a yo-yo

rebs

You might find that the shipping company are reluctant to ship the lawnmower - ours were really picky about anything that might be flammable. I guess they might need to be certain there was no trace of any gas at all left in the lawn mower.

When we moved back to the UK, the lawn mower was one of the few things we sold on ebay.

iaink

There are considerations about removing ALL the dirt too I think.

rebs

Aye, you could be right about that too - I can never remember whether it's into or out of the UK you have to be especially careful about that!

I know, when we move to the US and then back again, we simply avoided the issue by not taking any gardening stuff in either direction.

mikelincs

Don't forget, all lawnmowers are RHD over here, you will have to change the lights etc.

NSBlake

When the guys came to do the survey I mentioned I might take it back and he said it was fine - but just like all the tools I will have to give it a good clean (for the first time.............LOL)

Thanks to all for the replies :-)

BritinFLUSA

Made me think of that advert from the 80's - Qualcast Concorde mower, "It's a lot less bovver than a hover"

huddm

NSBlake

I brought back my lawn mower from Canada. I had no problems with it for the 6 years I have been using it in the UK. I did strip it down and repainted the deck before shipping.

I just spent this week refurbishing it as it was well made and did not want to replace it.

Regards


Hudd