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Safety Disclaimer

AcreMowerLab reviews mowing and property-maintenance equipment. Nothing on this site replaces the operator’s manual, the safety labels on the machine, or instruction from your dealer. Read the manual before you use any machine, and follow it over anything you read here.

Slopes are the biggest risk on a rider

  • Never mow a slope steeper than the maximum listed in your mower’s manual. If the manual lists none, ask the dealer before you ride a slope at all.
  • Mow up and down slopes with a riding mower or zero-turn, not across. With a walk-behind, mow across the slope.
  • Zero-turns steer and brake through their rear wheels. On slopes and wet grass they can slide without warning, so keep well back from ponds, ditches, retaining walls and drop-offs.
  • Use the rollover protective structure (ROPS) and seat belt where the machine has them, and follow the manual on when a folding ROPS may be lowered.
  • Use our Slope Calculator to measure your steepest section, then compare it with the manual, not with a general figure.

People, kids and pets

  • Never carry passengers on a mower, a cart or an attachment.
  • Keep children and pets indoors or well away while anyone is mowing, and never let a child operate a mower the manual says they are too young for.
  • Disengage the blades and look behind you before reversing.
  • Robotic mowers: run them when the yard is empty, and keep the lift sensors and PIN lock switched on.

Blades, trimmers and thrown objects

  • Walk the area first and pick up stones, sticks, wire and toys.
  • Wear eye and hearing protection, long pants and sturdy closed footwear with walk-behinds, brush mowers, trimmers and blowers.
  • Stop the engine, remove the key or battery and wait for the blade to stop before clearing a clog or working on the deck.

Towing and attachments

  • Stay within the towing capacity and hitch weight in your mower’s manual.
  • Loaded carts and spreaders push a mower downhill. Take slopes straight up and down at low speed, and never ride on a cart.

Tillers and digging

In the US, call 811 a few days before you till new ground or set posts, so buried utility lines can be marked. See call811.com.

Pressure washers

  • Never point the spray at people, animals or yourself. The stream can cut skin and inject water under it.
  • Run gas pressure washers outdoors only, far from doors, windows and vents. Engine exhaust contains carbon monoxide.
  • Plug electric units into a GFCI-protected outlet.

Fuel

Refuel only with the engine off and cool, outdoors, and store fuel in an approved container away from living spaces.

Official sources

Limits of this site

AcreMowerLab does not publish engine repair procedures or advice on lawn chemicals and application rates. Specifications on this site come from manufacturers and retailers and may change. You use any product at your own risk. See our Terms of Service.