Cleaning your mower deck will keep your mower running well for as long as possible. Here’s how to do it right.
Grass clippings can cling to metal mower decks, leading to premature rust. Cleaning your deck properly will help it last for years without issue.
By Tobie Stanger
With grass-cutting season season upon us, make sure to clean the mower deck regularly for optimal performance. Properly removing grass clippings and other yard debris from the deck is important for smooth, even mowing. If you don’t, your mower—and therefore your lawn, and maybe your budget—may suffer.
“I’ve seen mowers rot away,” says Dave Trezza, who leads lawn mower testing at Consumer Reports. Grass clippings and other yard debris, especially when they are moist, can deteriorate the metal deck of a lawn mower if they are not cleaned away regularly, he says.
Caked-on clippings will also affect the mower’s performance by preventing proper airflow. So it’s important to clean a mower after each use, Trezza says. And avoid mowing the grass when it’s wet, such as early in the morning when there’s dew.
How to Clean Your Machine
If your battery- or gas-powered mower has a washout port, it means the manufacturer designed it to get wet. So the job is as simple as inserting a garden hose and letting the spray do its work. That’s easiest to do just after mowing, when the clippings are still moist.
If there’s no washout port, follow these steps for a battery mower and a gas mower.
For a battery lawn mower: Do not hose it down unless the owner’s manual explicitly states that you can. Instead, remove the battery and tip the mower on its end. Then use a soft brush or cloth to wipe away clippings. For clippings that are clumped on and difficult to clean off, you can use a hard plastic ice or paint scraper or a bristled scrub brush. Avoid using a metal scraper or other tools that could scratch (and cause eventual rusting) of a metal mowing deck.
For a gas lawn mower: You likely have the option to hose it down. Trezza recommends flipping the mower on its end if it’s designed to do so (usually for storage). Otherwise, you can lay the mower on its side. Make sure that when it’s on its side, the carburetor and air filter are facing up, which keeps oil from getting into the fuel system. As a further precaution, disconnect the spark-plug wire. You can then hose the mower down. Or, as with a battery mower, you can remove any dry, hardened clippings with a plastic scraper or scrub brush.
After you’ve finished, you could spray silicone lubricant on the underside of the deck to reduce clipping buildup next time you mow and to make cleanup easier.
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