I learn something new almost every day

I thought I would share a funny story with the group. I am kind of embarassed about this. I inherited a Echo PB-251 blower from a customer. It had a sheared flywheel key and the customer decided not to fix it and gave it to me. I found a used flywheel on ebay for $10 and installed it. After installation, the blower started but would not rev up. I figured carb is dirty. I removed carb and put a complete kit in it, soaked it in my ultrasonic cleaner, blew out all the passages, and put new fuel lines and a new filter. I start it up and same thing -- wont rev. FYI I also pulled the plastic cap over the jet so I could adjust it. Now all this happened back in the winter. Today I needed a special tecumseh gasket and a case of oil. For what ever the reason I decided to bring the blower along and have my friend at the power equipment place fix it. I handed it over to him and he asked me what was wrong with it. I told him it will not rev up. He tells me -- it is never going to rev up without the air tube or you have to put your hand over the housing where the air tube fits. He primes it a couple times and pulls the cord, the blower starts, he puts his hand over the air tube housing and the thing revs up fine. I was so embarassed. We all (including my wife) had a good laugh. I had never heard anything about ths and it is not in the echo blower manual. I came home, installed the air tube and it worked fine !! Just goes to show you, you can teach an old dog like me new tricks.

 

Not being a small engine guy...I have to ask...what's an air tube? Connection to the air cleaner?

 

It is the long tube that connects to the unit. This is where the air comes out so you can blow leaves etc..

 

Thats the weirdest thing I ever heard. I can run my Craftsman blower without any tube attached (and often have for quick jobs) and it runs up just fine. The directed airflow is much less of course.

Very odd...

 

Most blowers will run at slightly less rpm without the long tube, and many of the higher end ones will run at a significantly lower rpm without it. The fan on them is so efficient that it pulls enough air from around it to actually bog down the engine. The tube restricts the amount of air it can move, so it doesn't take as much and the engine can run at higher rpm. The same can be accomplished by covering the air intake a bit.