MAINTENANCE EQUIPMENT
By Steve LePera
The Buddy System Backpack and walk-behind leaf blowers make a fine pair to enhance ergonomics, productivity and profits.
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t’s said that two heads are better than one, and it’s likely because the issues or problems at hand almost always benefit from dual perspectives. When it comes to fall cleanup, the same rings true. While a backpack leaf blower shows its strengths in the confines of small flowerbeds, there are ergonomic, productivity and profit benefits to be gained when pairing it with a walk-behind unit.
The One-Two Punch
It’s not often there’s a lawn without a house, trees, or some sort of structure or feature to work around, and likewise, it’s not often there are structures and fea-
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tures to work around, and no lawn. They almost always go hand in hand, which is why using backpack and walk-behind units in tandem is the best way to maximize productivity on leaf-blowing projects. Landscapers can use backpack blowers to navigate around buildings and features, such as shrubs and flowerbeds, quickly moving leaves to the lawn, then use a walk-behind unit to power through the bulk of the work. Here’s why this one-two punch works so well ...
Something in the Air
Walk-behind leaf blowers deliver 150 to 200 MPH of air speed, which is similar to some backpack models. What really
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sets a push model apart is the rate at which the air travels or cubic feet per minute (CFM). Backpack blowers range from 370 to 912 CFM, while walk-behind units deliver an impressive 1,100 to 2,850 CFM, as much as 87 percent more than backpack models. This is why walk-behind leaf blowers are ideal for quickly clearing large areas. One would think the greater the air speed and CFM, the farther operators can move debris in a single pass. That may be true to some extent, but there is more at play: What really sets a blower apart in terms of performance is design. For example, a split-stream system, as opposed to a single-stream system,
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8/7/18 8:59 AM