Leaf Vacuum

[Industrial Toys]

I have never used a leaf vac. Do any of them shred the leaves? Seems to me, this would cut down on volume.

 

[KennyG]

Leaf vacs do not shred leaves by themselves. The lawn mower does a good job of shredding the leaves (especially with mulching blades) and the vac collects them. To minimize plugging, get a larger unit with an 8 inch tube, not a 6 inch, don't try to pick up sticks and try to collect the leaves when dry. I collect about 20 cubic yards of shredded leaves a year and typically plug the tube once or twice a year with my Cyclone Rake Commercial Pro.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I can't imagine most mowers not choking on a very great blanket of leaves.

 

[TerryR]

I have never used a leaf vac. Do any of them shred the leaves? Seems to me, this would cut down on volume.

If you use one attached to a mower, the mower should do some shredding. If you use a hose pickup like I do, the leaves run through the fan and if they are very dry they get shredded a good bit. If not dry, not so much.

 

[Industrial Toys]

That makes perfect sense.

A buddy of mine that works for a DR dealer was telling me on the weekend how annoyed he is that the Hose on his DR collection system breaks, they want $400.00 or something CDN dollars for a replacement and won't sell it without all the extra hardware.

 

[TerryR]

I use my Trac Vac for collecting leaves from the ditches along my driveway, so it's all hose work, not collecting from a mower. I originally got two sections of 6" hose that were about 10 ft. connected with a metal sleeve. The connection point was a major clog point when small twigs got picked up with the leaves.

I replaced that with a 25 ft. length of "clear" 6" from Wynn Environmental -- Lawn & Leaf Collection • Wynn Environmental -- strangely enough, it's still the same price I paid for it in 2012!

While the "clear" isn't really all that clear, it is clear enough to see when the now rare clog appears. Most of the time pulling a little on the hose to flatten the corrugations while giving it a couple of flips clears the clog.

 

[Foozle]

Appreciate all the ideas. I'd like to use my 57 hp tractor (no mower), so will look into those options!

 

[Industrial Toys]

you could always get something with a Buffalo Turbine Blower and blow the leaves two neighbors over. lol

 

[Foozle]

Brilliant idea!

 

[ttener]

My final $.03 on the cyclone rake... it does actually chop leaves, but in combination with the mower blades doing their thing. Not sure how much chopping actually occurs in the CR itself, but some for sure.

I use the “estate hose” by itself to suck up piles and piles of leaves around my house and beds and it works great as a stand-alone leaf vac that way.

Most importantly to me tho is the engineering and design of the CR. Is it perfect? No. But, my wife is on notice that if it were ever to self-destruct or get stolen, I’m drop shipping another 1 in immediately!

That’s about as solid an endorsement I can give any piece of equipment. No, I am not affiliated in any way with cyclone rake, I just dig the thing.