Your Winter Checklists for Prepping Outdoor Equipment

Before winter hits hard, make sure your lawn and garden equipment is prepped and ready. Between putting your summer and fall tools away to hibernate and getting your snow removal gear ready for that first big storm, there’s a lot to take care of, but AppliancePartsPros.com is here to help you out with another great guide. Today, we’ve got three checklists to get you and your outdoor equipment ready for the winter months.

Ready? Let’s get started.

Whether you’re just storing your summer stuff or getting your snow thrower ready for the winter months, there’s a lot you need to get done. Properly cleaning and storing spring, summer, and fall equipment ahead of time will protect it from rust and corrosion and cut back on the amount of work you’ll need to do come spring. Getting your winter equipment working ahead of time will reduce the stress of dealing with a winter storm and everything that can go along with it.

Follow our checklists to make sure you’re fully prepared for winter’s arrival!

Prepping Your Outdoor Equipment for Winter

Mowers, trimmers, leaf blowers, and the like need a bit of work before you can stow them away for the winter. Here’s a quick list of tasks for your reference:

• Thoroughly clean all equipment. Get rid of any mud, clumped grass, or other debris. On your mower, be sure to clean the undercarriage, as well. This will help prevent rust while your equipment is put away.
• If you have a chainsaw, clean and lubricate the chain before storage to prevent rust or other damage. Not sure how to do that? You can check out our guide to cleaning a chainsaw, and then have a look at our tutorial for replacing a chainsaw chain. 

• Remove any batteries, charge them, and store them somewhere in a controlled climate. Don’t store them on metal shelves. Doing this protects your equipment, the battery, and anything else stored around the battery from potential damage if the battery starts to corrode.
• Drain and properly dispose of old oil. Some refuse collection services will pick up old oil for you, provided it’s packaged correctly. You can also potentially take the used oil to a car service station or auto parts store – you’ll have to look at what options are available in your area.
• Check and change any air filters, blades, or spark plugs, if necessary. Now is a great time to take care of any annual service your equipment needs. We have a number of lawn mower maintenance tutorials ready to go on our blog to help you out. If you aren’t comfortable with doing it yourself, you can always get assistance from a small engine repair shop.
• Don’t forget to winterize gas-powered equipment. To avoid rust or damage to the carburetor, you’ll want to deal with any unused gas left in your equipment.
  • Add fuel stabilizer to the equipment’s fuel tank and run the equipment to distribute the stabilizer through the fuel system.
  • Turn your equipment off and allow it to cool completely.
  • At this point, you can siphon off excess gas into an appropriate clean gas can for storage.
  • Whether or not you siphoned gas, there will still be some fuel left over. Your last step is to run the equipment until it has emptied of all gas and stops on its own.
• Store your equipment properly! Over winter, lawn equipment should be stored in a place that shields them from the elements, like a garage or shed. If your lawn equipment came with a case or a cover, now’s the time to use it. This will keep moisture out, protecting your stuff from rust and corrosion.

Proper winter prep before storage ensures that your equipment will be in working order come springtime. If you take care of tasks like blade sharpening now, you’ll also have less work to do before you can get to taking care of your lawn come April and May.

Winter Checklist: Prepping your Snow Blower for Winter

Don’t wait for the night before the first big storm of the year to see if your snow blower is in working order. While you’ve still got a bit of decent weather left, set aside about an hour and a half to take care of these tasks:

• If you didn’t drain the fuel at the end of last year, start by making sure your snow blower runs. Leftover fuel – especially fuel that hasn’t had a stabilizer added – can go stale, gumming up your blower’s carburetor and causing rust. If you left gas in your snow thrower last year, your first step should be to make sure it starts up and doesn’t sound rough. If it all checks out, you’re in luck! Shut it off. It’s time to get it prepped!
• Move your snow blower to a flat, stable surface, and inspect it for damage. Check the belts, the fuel tank, nuts and bolts, and shear pins if your blower is a multistage model. You may need to tighten down some loose bolts or replace something that’s corroded or worn. Need a snow thrower part? We’ve got you covered! Check out AppliancePartsPros.com’s list of snow removal equipment components on our website. We can ship to your door in as little as two days!
• Check the skid shoes and flip or replace them if needed. Not all blowers have skid shoes, but the ones that do work best if they’re running on a side with little wear. If you’ve already flipped them once and there’s wear on the other side, replace them.
• Check the tires. If you’ve got a brand new snow thrower with airless tires, this step may not be necessary, but otherwise, be sure to check your blower’s tire air pressure. Even when properly stored, tire air pressure will fluctuate, so consult your blower’s manual and top those tires off. You’ll thank yourself later if you make sure you have the proper tire pressure now – it seriously improves handling.
• Check and change the oil if needed. Use the dipstick to check the color and content of the oil. If it’s dirty or especially dark, you’ll need to change it out. Luckily, oil changes on most snow blowers are pretty easy. Consult your manual for specific instructions, but most snow blowers have an oil drain plug at the bottom. Drain the oil into a pan, replace the plug, and then fill it with fresh oil per the manufacturer’s specs.
• Top off the fuel and give it one final test run. Add some fresh fuel to top off the tank, test the equipment out to make sure it runs, and your snow thrower is ready to go!
• Make sure walkways, driveways, and anywhere else you’ll be using your snow blower is free of debris. Before the snow starts piling up, pick up any branches or rocks and move them out of the path that you’ll be clearing. This will protect your snow thrower from damage and you and your loved ones from potential injury.

Winter Checklist: Getting your Generator Ready for Winter

If you don’t keep your generator prepped and ready year-round, here’s what you’ll want to do in the lead up to winter:

• Make sure your generator is accessible. If it’s stored in your garage or your shed during the summer, make sure it’s easy to get to and move. You may want to go ahead and get it set up, now. Your generator should be kept at least 20 ft away from the home – not installed in the garage or near any doors or windows – and bolted or locked into place.
• Make sure your generator is unobstructed. Clear away leaves, branches, snow, and any nests left by visitors before running your generator. Make sure the airflow in your generator isn’t obstructed.
• Check and change the spark plugs if necessary. If plugs are blackened with carbon or don’t seem to be performing optimally, they should be replaced. Most manufacturers recommend replacing generator spark plugs annually.
• Check and change the oil and filters if needed. And purchase some extra to keep on hand. Most home generators can last for several days of steady use – anywhere from 50 to 200 hours, depending on a number of factors – but it’s still a good idea to keep extra on hand if you’re without power for long.
• Top off the fuel, and use a stabilizer to keep that fuel in good shape.
• If your generator has an electric battery starter, make sure it’s charged and in good working order.
• Run the generator for 15 to 20 minutes at full capacity, both to make sure it can run and to keep the battery charged. Check your manual to see how often you should repeat this step throughout the season – some manufacturers recommend doing this weekly, others, once every few months.

Hopefully, you won’t lose power this winter, but if you do, don’t fret! There are things you can do to protect your home, your appliances, and the food inside your fridge when your power goes out. Have a look at our in-depth guide to protecting your appliances from a power outage for more information.

Wrapping Up

Take care of these chores now, and you’ll have more time to spend bundled up warm indoors once the cold weather really hits. If you’d like to learn more about protecting your home, your equipment, and your appliances from the elements this winter, why not check out the other articles on our blog? We’ve got tons of guides for cleaning and maintenance on appliances and around the home, and if you need a genuine OEM part to replace a failed component, check out our storefront at AppliancePartsPros.com.