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c/climate-actionsusanh46susanh461mo agoProlific Poster

Bought a used electric lawnmower to save gas... ended up chasing my own extension cord around the yard for 20 minutes

Picked up a beat-up Black & Decker mower off Facebook Marketplace for $40 thinking I'd cut my carbon footprint. First pass through the grass, I ran over my own extension cord three times before I figured out why it kept yanking the mower sideways. Managed to slice the cord clean in two and tripped the breaker in my garage. Anybody got tips for keeping cords out of the way with electric gear?
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2 Comments
dylan_patel
Ah man, the cord's not really for running over. You gotta start at the mower and walk backward so the cord lays behind you instead of in front of the blades.
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felixw99
felixw991mo ago
Right, "walk backward so the cord lays behind you" is the exact trick that makes all the difference. I used to drag the cord like a garden hose and ran over it at least twice per mow, which is just a pain to splice back together (especially when it rains). If you walk backward from the mower, the cord naturally trails behind the wheels. That way you're not fighting to keep slack out of the way. It feels awkward at first, but after a dozen passes it becomes second nature, and you'll never replace a chewed-up extension cord again, I promise.
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