How to Gas a Yard Edger

Video Transcript

"Hi! My name is Matthew Christian from Tampa, Florida and on behalf of Expert Village, today I would like to talk to you about the proper use and maintenance of a yard edger. Let's take a moment and talk about fuel for your gas power yard tool. Again, as I mentioned earlier most gas power yard tools are two cycle or two stroke engines. They are unique in the sense that you must add the oil to the gas rather than oil to a crank case. There is no oil in the crank case. The unit relies on lubrication through the oil that you add to the gasoline. Most manufacturer's have their own brand of oil additive. Typically the mixture ratio is 50 to 1. That is 50 parts gasoline to 1 part oil and not just any old oil will do. You must use a two cycle specific oil additive. Typically when you go to the store, you will find them in 4 ounce bottles. You just pour the 4 ounce bottle into a 1 gallon container and then add your fuel. In most cases it is not an issue what grade gasoline you use. You can use low octane, you can use high octane. Your maintenance, not like myself, I prefer to use the high octane and it is a cleaner gas and I think it is better for the equipment that you are using. Another key area of concern is when you make your gas for your two cycle engine, make sure you have a separate container perhaps for your lawnmower which does not use oil in with the gas. So again, it is important to have 2 separate containers. One for your oil mix and one for your straight gasoline and make sure you label them as such. You don't want to confuse the two. You don't want to put straight gas into your 2 cycle engine because that wouldn't have any lubrication in it an that would damage the unit and likewise, you wouldn't want to put the oil gas mixture in your lawnmower that doesn't require the oil in the gas. It could have some adverse affects on yuour lawnmower as well. so make sure you keep two separate containers and label them as such and make sure you follow the manufacturer's directions on mixing the oil additive for your two cycle engine. "