Storing your Lawn Mower for the Winter

If temperatures begin to drop and your lawn stops to grow, you will have to put your lawn mower away for the winter. But when you don’t have enough space in your shed or garage, you may wish to look for a better long-term storage solution.

A lot of people use self storage for the winter to store seasonal items which will not be used during this time of the year. Using a storage unit for your lawn mower frees up space in your garage for another winter gear or vehicle. As you rent a unit for your lawn mower, here are some things to take into account.

Storage Size

Self storage facilities provide various sizes of storage units. Before renting a unit for your lawn mower, consider the size of unit you will need. This depends upon the kind of lawn mower you own and whether or not it will come with other items in storage.

• 5×5-When you are planning to use a storage unit only for a standard push mower, you have enough space from a 5×5 unit.
• 5×10 or 10×10- This storage unit size is a perfect choice if you are storing a riding lawn mower or use the unit to store more seasonal items.

Storage Features

The storage industry provides you a lot of options in terms of storage unit features. Advanced features such as electricity, drive-up access and climate control are designed to enhance your storage experience. As you rent a unit for your lawn mower, you have to know some beneficial features.

• Drive-Up Access- With a storage unit that has dive-up access, it will be easier to store your lawn mower at the end of the summer. You just have to unload the truck directly into the storage unit. A drive-up access is a must when you own a riding lawn mower.
• Climate Control-Your lawn mower must be kept in a dry and cool environment. In areas which experience hot summers, you will wish to consider climate control in order to keep the unit from getting too hot since this can be destructive to your lawn mower.

Preparing your Lawn Mower

Before putting your lawn mower into storage for the coldest time of the year, you will wish to perform maintenance. This can keep your equipment in top shape for many years to come. The following are some tips to prepare your mower for storage.

• Clean It-You will want to clean off grass, mud and leaves form the mower to prevent problems with rust following long-term storage.
• Stabilize or remove fuel- When you leave fuel in the tank for an extended period of time, corrosion can take place. You can run the lawn mower dry or fill its tank completely and consider adding a stabilizer in order to prevent moisture from condensing. When adding a stabilizer, run the mower for some minutes to allow it to reach the carburetor.
• Drain the carburetor- After draining the fuel from the tank, drain the carburetor so that it will not suffer from corrosion.