Leaf Blower.. what's exactly the point of it?

[Deleted User]

At first when I saw it years ago I thought it was meant to clean the streets, but it just blows off dirt from one place to another. So.. how is that productive? It's not cleaning anything.

 

[eyeliner]

It blows.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

At first when I saw it years ago I thought it was meant to clean the streets, but it just blows off dirt from one place to another. So.. how is that productive? It's not cleaning anything.

How do you throw away dead leaves without first gathering them up into a pile?

 

[DKAngel]

i used it to blow the dirt and stuff from my driveway and onto the road, or my garage blow it into a corner then turn it into a vaccum and suck it all up

 

[AmandaRose]

This is the point

 

[duwen]

This is the point

...and not a single leaf was blown.

 

[hippy dave]

I feel like the clue is in the name tbh

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Leafblowers are useful in that they can move leaves/debris quickly and are less work intensive vs something like a rake. You can turn an hour long rake job into 10-20 minutes, if you know what you're doing. Useful for older people who might not have the stamina to do long lawn work but don't want to pay someone to do it, and for lawn maintenance jobs where you want to get as many jobs done as quickly as possible in a day.

Personally I don't bother since I just mow over leaves and let them act as natural mulch for my lawn, but some people don't like the look of that and would rather they just have a clear lawn.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

They make excellent toilet paper launchers.

 

[Dust2dust]

Now that we've resolved what's the use of a leaf blower, I would like to ask what's the use of watering sidewalks or driveways with a hose. Is there any chance that something might grow out of the asphalt or concrete?

 

[Mythical]

to move leaves.... from one point to another.... for gathering

 

[AmandaRose]

Now that we've resolved what's the use of a leaf blower, I would like to ask what's the use of watering sidewalks or driveways with a hose. Is there any chance that something might grow out of the asphalt or concrete?

I have never seen anyone do that before but then again here in Glasgow it rains 90% of the time

I would imagine people do it to keep their driveway clean and perhaps in hot countries it would stop the driveway cracking because of the hot weather but I might be wrong.

I did once witness the strange sight of a man in Glasgow trying to remove a rain puddle with a vacuum cleaner lol.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Now that we've resolved what's the use of a leaf blower, I would like to ask what's the use of watering sidewalks or driveways with a hose. Is there any chance that something might grow out of the asphalt or concrete?

Also about maintaining a "clean" property look. In most cases it's useless in residential areas, but for things like businesses with heavy foot traffic (ie where people will go and spit on the ground/spit out gum/toss cigarette butts and what have you) you can actually get fined for not keeping your property, sidewalk included, in a moderately clean state. Spraying with a hose, much like a leafblower, is easier than going around and sweeping stuff up.

 

[Dust2dust]

I would imagine people do it to keep their driveway clean and perhaps in hot countries it would stop the driveway cracking because of the hot weather but I might be wrong.

Yes, it's obviously to clean the surface of the sidewalk/driveway, but everytime I see someone do this, wasting water outrageously, it makes me mad. It's not like we're gonna run out of water tomorrow in Canada, but considering water is a precious resource elsewhere in third world countries, what would they think of idiots wasting it like that here? I even saw an indian or pakistani immigrant woman doing it once. She, of all people, should know better. Anyway, done with my rant!

 

[FAST6191]

I have seen people scrub their driveway (my favourite was I was wandering down a terrace in Liverpool and the classic Liverpudlian old lady, scarf round her head, bucket and water, scrubbing brush on her knees doing the porch and little bit of road out front of her house.. could have been straight out of the 1930s but this was the late 2000s. Think I want to break free), and you have pressure washers as well that squirt water but hard enough that it usually picks up any dirt or slime that is embedded into it. A general hose might get rid of dirt, sand, grass clippings and the like but little else.
As far as precious resource. Precious depends upon where, when and how.
At the same time did you take a dump this morning? In doing so you probably shat into 7+ litres of perfectly drinkable water and flushed it away (14+ if you had two flushes), rinse and repeat (pun intended) if you later went back to take a leak -- so maybe 21 litres at this point and that is cooking and drinking water for maybe 10 adults for a day.


As for leaf blowers. As mentioned they act as a something of a lazy man's rake (many also come with a vacuum mode as well these days). Can avoid having leaves to slip on (ask anybody that rides a pushbike or motorbike about wet leaves), and when leaves carpet the grass they can prevent light getting there, sometimes water as well if it skates off the top, and thus kills the grass. Blow them into a pile or onto your flower beds and you spare yourself that trouble.

 

[TheCasualties]

Long time ago my dad and I built a hovercraft with a leaf blower to supply air underneath, and a weed whacker for turning a propeller on the back. Whole thing cost about $75 to build with mostly used parts and scrap wood.

So that's one more use for a leaf blower