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Check that a water supply can feed a pressure washer before the machine is startedPrevent pump damage by testing water supply adequacy before starting a pressure washer. Measure inlet water pressure and flow rate using a bucket test and a stopwatch. Compare results to your machine's minimum requirements from its manual. Use the appropriate inlet hose diameter for your machine's rated flow.Version 1 · updated 2026-08-03
Choose an extension cord for a portable generatorAn undersized extension cord can overheat and cause fire. Match the wire gauge to your generator's amperage and the distance the cord must travel. Always use an outdoor-rated cord with a three-prong grounded plug—never a male-to-male cord.Version 1 · updated 2026-08-03
Clear a blocked pressure washer nozzle and inlet screenPressure that drops off, a spray that surges, or a pattern that sprays sideways usually comes from one of two cheap parts: the nozzle or the water inlet screen. Both are consumables the manufacturer expects an owner to remove, and neither holds water once the machine is off and the trigger has released the pressure. Briggs & Stratton's own troubleshooting guide lists a clog in the nozzle, the hose, the gun or the wand before it lists a pump fault. This page clears the nozzle hole and the inlet screen, and it puts both back before you test the machine.
Nozzle removal differs by design: some machines use a quick-connect collar and others use a threaded fitting, and this page does not force one method onto a machine built for the other. It also will not print the minimum water pressure and flow your specific model needs — that figure is in your own owner's manual, and our water supply page shows you how to test it. Nothing on the pump is opened here.Version 1 · updated 2026-08-04
How far from the house should a generator be, and which way should the exhaust point?A generator is the one piece of equipment most people buy, store, and then use for the first time in the dark, in bad weather, in a hurry. That is exactly when it kills someone. The exhaust carries carbon monoxide, which you cannot see or smell, and the CPSC's own wording is that it is deadly and can kill you in minutes, and that one generator produces as much carbon monoxide as hundreds of cars. Nothing on this page is about getting more power out of the machine. It is about where the machine stands.
The number people search for is the distance from the house, and there are three published answers to it, which is why this page exists. CPSC says to operate generators outdoors only, at least 20 feet from homes and buildings, with exhaust directed away from windows, doors and vents. CDC says only use generators outside, more than 20 feet away from any windows, doors, and vents — the same figure measured from a different thing. Honda, writing about its own machines, gives at least three feet from buildings, which is a cooling and fire clearance and is not a carbon monoxide setback at all. This page publishes all three, names who said which, and does not blend them into a house number, because the reason they differ is that they answer different questions.Version 1 · updated 2026-07-29
How to change the blade on a lawn edgerAn edger blade is a steel disc spinning inches from your feet, and it is held on by one nut. That makes two things matter more than the rest of the job: the blade has to be the part your machine was built for, and the nut has to go back on properly. Everything else is grass and patience. The sequence itself is short — power source off, blade locked with the pin or the spindle lock, nut off, blade off, new blade on, nut back to full tightness, pin out, check.
What this page does not have is a torque figure, and that is the finding rather than a gap. EGO's 2024 manual for its EA0800 edger attachment takes you through the whole procedure and never gives a number: the words are "securely tighten". Black+Decker's manual for the LE750 draws its blade steps as pictures. A figure of 140 in-lb circulates for that Black+Decker on sites that rehost manuals, and it could not be confirmed against Black+Decker's own document, so it is not printed here. There is one more thing worth knowing before you reach for a wrench: on the EGO attachment the blade nut is a reverse thread, and it loosens clockwise.Version 1 · updated 2026-07-29
How to change the spark plug on a lawn mowerChanging a mower spark plug is about ten minutes of work wrapped in twenty minutes of looking things up, and the looking up is the part that matters. Briggs & Stratton's own instructions are short: disconnect the lead, clean around the plug, unscrew it with a spark plug socket, look at it, set the gap on the new one, screw it in without over-tightening, put the lead back. Toro's operator manual for the 22in Recycler adds the interval — replace the spark plug every 100 hours — and tells you to tighten it with a torque wrench. None of that is difficult. What trips people up is that the two numbers in the job, the gap and the tightening torque, are not the same for every engine.
So this page publishes the method and refuses to publish those two numbers. Briggs & Stratton says plainly that your engine repair manual gives the correct gap for your engine, and to contact a dealer if you do not have one; its own charts split by engine family and even by build date code. That is not a gap in this page — it is the honest answer, and a page that guessed a number for you would be worse than no page. What you get here instead is the sequence, the two manufacturer warnings that people actually get wrong (never blast a plug with abrasives, never re-gap a platinum or iridium plug), and a clear instruction about where your engine's own numbers live.Version 1 · updated 2026-07-29
How to check and change pressure washer pump oil, and how to tell if your pump even has oilA pressure washer has two engines' worth of oil to think about, and most owners know only one of them. The engine has its own oil, and the high-pressure pump bolted to it often has a separate oil of its own, sealed inside a small crankcase behind the wand connection. On many consumer machines, especially electric ones, that pump oil is sealed at the factory and is never meant to be opened. On others, mostly gas machines with a Triplex or plunger pump, the pump has its own fill point, drain plug and sight glass, and it needs its own oil changed on its own schedule. This page's first job is to help you work out which kind you own.
What this page will not print is a single oil grade, a single capacity, or a single change interval that is true of every machine, because the pump maker and the machine maker do not always agree, and sometimes only the pump maker publishes a number at all. Generac's own manual gives 50 hours and a non-detergent oil for the Triplex pumps in its own machines; Cat Pumps, a pump maker whose pumps are built into machines from other companies, gives a different interval and its own oil grade for its own pumps. If the oil in your sight glass or on your dipstick looks milky or white, this page stops with you and sends you to a service dealer, because that color change means water has already reached the crankcase.Version 1 · updated 2026-08-04
How to choose the right pressure washer nozzle for the surface you are cleaning, and what the colours actually meanPicking a tip is the decision that does the damage. The narrow nozzle looks like the powerful one, people reach for it first, and it strips paint, gouges softwood and carves lines into siding before anyone has decided anything. Almost every ruined deck starts here, not with the machine.
The internet will hand you a colour chart. We will not, because the colour code is a convention and not a published standard, and two makers already disagree in print. On the Sun Joe SPX3000 the 40-degree nozzle is gray. On a Generac machine the widest nozzle is white, it is named Wash rather than by any angle, and Generac ships no yellow nozzle at all. A chart that flattens those into one picture is wrong for one of the two readers holding it.
What this page gives you instead is the method, which does hold everywhere: find the nozzle table in your own manual, identify the surface, start at the widest angle you own, test it on a hidden patch, and move closer in small steps before you ever change to a narrower tip. It also gives you the safe way to swap a tip — machine off, water off, trigger squeezed, safety lock on — and the reason that sequence exists. What it does not give you is a pressure figure for a wooden deck or a distance in inches, because no manufacturer publishes one, the numbers in circulation are retailer copy, and pressure is exactly the kind of value this site refuses to guess at.Version 1 · updated 2026-07-29
How to clean or change the air filter on a lawn mowerAlmost everybody searching for this wants to clean the filter and put it back. The manufacturers do not publish that. Briggs & Stratton's own instructions for all three of its element types — paper, foam and dual element — say remove the old one, discard it and fit a new one, and Toro's operator manual says replace the air-filter element every 25 hours. Not one of the manufacturer documents behind this page gives a method for washing a filter and reusing it. That is the single most useful thing on this page, and it is why the page is titled the way it is.
So this is a replacement job with an inspection in front of it. You work out which of the three element types your engine has, take the lead off the spark plug, open the cover, look at what is in there, and fit the correct new element the right way round. The one place oil is involved is the foam element, which Briggs & Stratton says must be oiled — and the pleated paper cartridge, which most people assume is the same thing, is not oiled at all.Version 1 · updated 2026-07-29
How to clean or change the air filter on a portable generatorThis is one of the few filter jobs where the manufacturers really do publish a wash-and-reuse method, and they are unusually specific about it. Honda's owner's manual for the EU2200i says to clean the main and outer filters in warm soapy water or a nonflammable solvent, dry them, dip the element in clean engine oil and squeeze the excess out. Champion's operator's manual for the 201073 says almost the same thing for its foam element: wash in liquid detergent and water, squeeze dry in a clean cloth, saturate in clean engine oil, squeeze the excess out again. Both are foam. A pleated paper cartridge is a different part with a different method, and no source read for this page publishes a way to wash one.
So the page is really about the two decisions in front of the cleaning: which element you have, and which document is the authority for it. The company whose badge is on the generator is often not the company that made the engine, so there can be two manuals and two service schedules for one machine. The intervals are counted in engine hours rather than months, which is why the last step here is writing the hours down. We publish Honda's, Champion's and Generac's published intervals side by side, attributed to each, and we will not print a part number or an interval for your machine because those come off your own documentation.Version 1 · updated 2026-07-29
How to grease the gearbox on a string trimmer or hedge trimmerMany gas-powered string trimmers and hedge trimmers carry a small gear housing where the engine's drive shaft turns the cutting head or the blades, and that gear housing needs grease at a set interval. A gearbox that runs dry can fail as a complete assembly, and a new gear head often costs more than a used machine is worth. Not every model has a grease point at all, and the models that do rarely agree on the interval or the grease itself.
This page gives the sequence: find out whether your machine has a grease point, stop the engine and disconnect the spark plug lead, add the grease your documentation names, and close the machine back up. It does not give one grease type or one interval for every machine, because Husqvarna's own hedge trimmer instructions name Husqvarna's own grease and Husqvarna's own trimmer and brushcutter instructions name a fill level for a different part, and STIHL sells a gearbox grease named for its own machines. Your manufacturer documentation is the only correct source for both numbers on your machine.Version 1 · updated 2026-08-03
How to put new line in a string trimmer, and what size line to useRefilling a trimmer head is a ten-minute job that goes wrong for one reason more than any other: the line is the wrong thickness. Line size is not a property of string trimmers in general, it is a property of your particular head, and the makers do not agree because they are not describing the same part. Toro specifies .065 in (1.65 mm) and only that for the 51480 electric trimmer. EGO specifies 0.095 in (2.4 mm) for the ST1620T. A Husqvarna RapidReplace head will take anything from .065 in to .105 in. Those are three different heads, not three opinions about one number.
So this page will not tell you what diameter to buy. It tells you where the number lives — on the head itself, on the instruction card that came with it, or in your manual — and STIHL says the same thing in its own words: not all their line fits all their heads, so read the card for the head. What the page does give you is the sequence: power source off before anything opens, the spool out and cleaned, the line wound the way the arrow on the spool points, and a test with eye protection on. It also covers the part people skip, which is what to check when the new line still will not come out of the head.Version 1 · updated 2026-07-29
How to tell if a chainsaw chain is too loose, and how to tighten itA chainsaw chain that is too loose can leave the guide bar, and one that is too tight wears the bar and the chain and loads the drive. The job of setting it is short — power source off, chain cool, gloves on, bar nuts loosened, bar nose held up, tensioning screw turned, nuts tightened, chain pulled round by hand to check. What takes the time is doing it on a cool chain, because a warm chain shortens as it cools and a chain tensioned warm can end up too tight. This page also covers the part most people skip: a new chain stretches, so the tension you set in the shed is not the tension you have two minutes into the first cut.
What this page does not have is a number, and that is the finding rather than a gap. Every maker publishes its own test and they are not the same test: STIHL's British site describes how far the chain may lift at the middle of the bar, Husqvarna's US help centre describes how much of the drive links you should see instead of giving a measurement, EGO's manual for one battery saw gives a figure for how far the drive links of a warm chain hang out of the groove, and Oregon describes a snap test on the underside of the bar. None of them transfers to another manufacturer's saw, and no source read for this page gives a torque figure for the bar nuts at all. OSHA's own instruction is the same one this page ends on: adjust the chain tension the way the manufacturer's instructions tell you to. The FAQ below names each maker's test and says where to read it for your own machine.Version 1 · updated 2026-07-29
How to use the soap or detergent injector on a pressure washer, and why nothing comes out of itA pressure washer that will not spray soap has not necessarily failed. On most machines the detergent only draws through a dedicated low-pressure nozzle, usually black and marked Soap or Detergent, and every other nozzle on the machine will not draw it at all. Sun Joe's own manual for the SPX3000 states this directly: install the correct Soap nozzle, and all of the other coloured nozzles will not work for detergent application. Generac's gas-powered machines use a different mechanism, a siphon tube dropped into a bucket of premixed solution, but the same rule holds: detergent cannot be applied with a high-pressure nozzle. Fit the low-pressure nozzle first, and the soap that "isn't coming out" usually starts working immediately.
What may safely go through the tank or the tube is a separate, safety-critical question, and the two manufacturers we read are specific and blunt about it. Sun Joe's manual lists what never goes in: household detergents, acids, alkaline solutions, bleaches, solvents, flammable material, and industrial-grade cleaners, warning that these chemicals will harm the unit and damage the surface being cleaned. Generac's own note is shorter and just as firm: do not use caustic liquid, and use only power-washer-safe detergents, following the instructions on the detergent's own label. Both machines agree on the underlying principle even though their equipment differs, so this page states the principle and does not invent a single universal chemical list; read the label on your own detergent and the documentation for your own machine.
The step almost nobody does, and the one that actually causes most "dead" injectors, is flushing the system with clean water immediately after every use, not just before winter storage. Sun Joe's manual gives one minute through 1.3 gallons (5 litres) of fresh water for its tank system; Generac gives one to two minutes through a bucket for its siphon tube. Skip it and dried detergent residue blocks the tube or the tank outlet, so the next time you reach for the black nozzle nothing comes through it at all. This page covers that flush after every use; a separate page on this site covers preparing the whole pump for winter, which is a different job with its own antifreeze question.Version 1 · updated 2026-08-04
How to winterize a pressure washer pump before freezing weather, and what to put in itA pressure washer that goes into the shed in October with water still in it can be scrap by March. Water left in the pump freezes, expands, and pushes the seals and the pump body apart from the inside, and the damage stays invisible until the machine is next switched on. Kärcher puts it plainly: water expands when frozen, and seals and pump engineering can be destroyed. Generac goes further and says freeze damage is not covered under warranty. The job that prevents all of this takes about half an hour, once a year, and most of it is draining hoses.
What this page will not give you is the one thing every other page hands over confidently — a product name. That is deliberate, and the reason is that the four manufacturers we read disagree with each other in print. Kärcher says ordinary anti-freeze is insufficient and not recommended and sells its own Pump Guard; Generac names its own Pump Shield or an alcohol-free RV antifreeze; Briggs & Stratton names its own Pump Saver oil, which is not an antifreeze at all; and Sun Joe's manual accepts any non-corrosive, non-toxic anti-freeze, pump saver or pump protector. What goes through a pump is a chemical compatibility question, so we publish the disagreement, name all four makers, and send you to your own manual for the answer. This page is about the pump only — engine storage is a separate job with its own section in your own documentation, and nothing here covers it.Version 1 · updated 2026-07-29
Inspect a pressure washer hose, couplings and O-rings before useA leak at a pressure washer coupling is usually a five-cent O-ring, not the hose. This page walks through both: examining the hose itself for a cut, an abrasion or a kink, examining the coupling at each end for damage, and examining the O-ring inside each coupling, which is the part that actually fails most often. It also covers the two connector families in circulation — threaded M22 and slip-collar quick-connect (QC) — so a leaking coupling and a worn seal are not confused with each other.
What this page will not give you is a single pressure-rating number for a replacement hose. The rated pressure a hose must carry is a property of your own machine, printed on its own data plate or in its own manual, and a replacement hose has to meet or beat that figure and use the same connector as the original. No manufacturer in the sources for this page publishes a general number that holds across machines, so the page routes you to your own equipment instead of guessing.Version 1 · updated 2026-08-04
Level a riding mower deck side to side and front to rear on flat groundAn uneven mower deck cuts grass at different heights and leaves visible stripes. This procedure levels the deck side to side and front to rear using a measuring device and wrenches to adjust the suspension linkage. The deck is leveled on a flat surface with proper tire pressure. Blade tips are measured from the ground and adjusted until they are the same height on both sides and the rear is slightly higher than the front.Version 1 · updated 2026-08-03
Replace a chainsaw guide bar and check whether the drive sprocket is worn tooA new guide bar must match your saw and chain specifications. Before you install the new bar, check the drive sprocket for wear. A worn sprocket will damage a new chain. This procedure covers bar removal, sprocket inspection, and component replacement using manufacturer specifications.Version 1 · updated 2026-08-03
Sharpen a chainsaw chain with a round file and a depth gauge, and know when to stop filingA dull chainsaw chain makes the saw work harder, produces fine dust instead of chips, and increases the risk of kickback. Sharpen the cutters and adjust the depth gauges (rakers) yourself using the correct round file and a depth gauge tool. Stop filing when the chain reaches its wear markers.Version 1 · updated 2026-08-03
What chain fits my chainsaw? How to check pitch, gauge, and drive link countEvery chainsaw chain has three critical measurements stamped on it or marked on your guide bar: pitch, gauge, and drive link count. These numbers must match your equipment for safe operation. Read the measurements from the chain and bar, then consult your manual to confirm they suit your saw.Version 1 · updated 2026-08-03T00:00:00Z
What size and shape of trimmer line do I need?Every string trimmer head has a maximum line diameter, and it is a property of the head, not of trimmers in general. Toro gives .065 in (1.65 mm) as the only diameter for its 51480 electric trimmer. EGO gives 0.095 in (2.4 mm) as the only diameter for its ST1620T trimmer. A Husqvarna RapidReplace head takes a wider span, .065 in to .105 in. Buy a diameter above the number your own head names and the makers agree on the result: the motor works harder, and on a cordless machine it drains the battery faster.
Shape is a different question, and the honest answer is that nobody has published an independent test comparing round, twisted, square, pentagon and serrated line. What exists instead is each maker's own claim for its own product: STIHL says its square line slices cleanly through dense weeds, Oregon says the same for its square Gatorline, and ECHO calls its square-twisted Black Diamond line its fastest cutting line yet. This page names every claim and who makes it, rather than presenting a marketing sentence as a tested result. Round line remains the shape every source here names as fitting the widest range of heads.Version 1 · updated 2026-08-03
What size blade fits my mower, and how do I check the length, center hole and mounting pattern before I buy a replacement?A replacement lawn mower blade has to match the mower it goes on in several ways at once, and "universal fit" on the packaging does not make that check unnecessary. The overall length has to match, measured from tip to tip rather than along the curved cutting edge. The center hole has to match the mower's spindle, and any smaller side holes have to match too. The blade type — a mulching blade, a high-lift blade or a standard blade — has to suit how your mower discharges or bags clippings. Getting any one of these wrong is not a minor inconvenience: a blade that is longer than the mower deck can strike the housing while the blade spins.
This page shows you how to find the model and serial number your mower's manufacturer needs to look up the exact blade, and how to measure an old blade you already have on hand as a cross-check. It does not give you a single length or hole size that applies to every mower, because none exists — Toro alone lists a distinct blade for dozens of different deck widths. It also does not cover removing the old blade or fitting the new one; that is a separate job with its own hazards. If your measurements do not match what the manufacturer lists, the safest step is to ask the manufacturer or an authorized dealer rather than guess.Version 1 · updated 2026-08-03
What size generator do I need, and how do I work out running watts and starting watts for the things I want to power?Almost every "what size generator do I need" answer you will find is a table of appliance wattages. This page does not have one, on purpose. Your refrigerator is not the table's refrigerator, and a number copied off a chart is the single most common reason a load list looks fine on paper and trips the breaker in an outage. Every number you need is already printed on the equipment you own, on the data plate or in the operator's manual, and the whole job here is finding those numbers and adding them up in the right order. What this page gives you is the method and the two arithmetic traps in it.
The first trap is that there are two totals, not one. Running watts is what an item draws once it is going; starting watts is the short extra burst a motor needs to get moving, and Generac puts that burst at two to three seconds. Briggs & Stratton and Generac both say the same thing about how to combine them: total the running watts of everything you want on at once, then add the single highest starting watts of one item. The second trap is what to do when nothing publishes a starting figure, and here the two makers genuinely disagree — Generac says a single-phase induction motor takes three to five times its running watts to start, Briggs & Stratton says approximately two to three times. This page prints both, names who said which, and does not split the difference. Connecting a generator to your house wiring is not covered here at any point; that is a licensed electrician's job and the page says so where it matters.Version 1 · updated 2026-07-29
Why a leaf blower loses power, and how to clear a blocked intakeA blower that has gone weak has usually not broken. It is breathing through a screen packed with grass dust, and the fix takes five minutes. EGO's troubleshooting table for the LB5300 gives exactly two causes for air velocity dropping off: the air inlet is blocked with debris, which you clear yourself after taking the battery out, or the motor fan is worn, which is a service centre job. That is a usefully short list. Start at the inlet, because it is free to check and it is the one you can fix.
This page is deliberately a small one and it carries no numbers, because none of the makers read for it publish any. There is no intake cleaning interval and no impeller damage limit anywhere in the Toro and EGO documents behind this page. Toro's rule for a damaged impeller is not a measurement at all — any sign of damage and you contact a dealer. What the page does carry is the sequence and the three things about a blower housing that are not obvious: the impeller keeps turning for a few seconds after you let go of the trigger, the bottom inlet cover on a blower-vacuum is a safety interlock rather than a lid, and the machine must never run with the inlet guard off.Version 1 · updated 2026-07-29