Being one who dislikes Facebook, I am glad this list remains active
(although quieter than I prefer).
On to the question at hand...
I have used the E-Z Vac model 40E by E-Z Rake for leaf pickup without a
mower deck, but I have no experience with the CV70 Turf and Hard Surface
vacuum by Ecology Products. IMO it is not the tool of choice for your job.
E-Z Rake offered an optional attachment kit (model 200) consisting of
about 15 feet of 4 inch hose with a wand to be used in place of the 6
inch hose going to the mower deck. I created a similar concept using 25
feet of 5 inch hose (on clearance significantly cheaper than 4 inch). It
vacuums up loose dry leaves wonderfully, but wet or matted leaves are
far slower. Also, the hose picks up piles of leaves much faster than a
carpet of leaves.
Watching the lawn services around here (East TN) cleaning up leaves, I
think it is the nature of lawn/leaf vacuums to perform far better
picking up piles of fluffy dry leaves than matted carpets of wet leaves.
The same crews who mow right on through monsoon grade thunder storms,
seem to let the leaves dry for days before vacuuming them. And then they
use two or three workers with leaf blowers to fluff the leaves and pile
them near the truck. The vacuum is more of a leaf loader that also
shreds to reduce the volume on the truck.
I think you would be better of looking into some type of tow behind or
sleeve hitch hay rake or pine needle rake. A landscape rake (like
Agri-Fab 45-0366) might be a thought. If you can devise a way to "dump"
it when full, a tine style dethatcher might work. Or maybe attach a
rubber edge to a snow/dozer blade and squeegee them into a pile?
Tim M
On 5/2/2019 1:04 PM, Darryl McMahon wrote:
> Back to ET topics.
>
> Last fall, we had snow on the ground by mid November, and my two
> biggest leaf shedders dropped their leaves after that. I have
> finished the exercise of raking and revealing the snow-ice layer below
> on one patch of ground. I can live without doing the rest by hand.
>
> Has anyone used the vacuum unit for Elec-Traks for picking up leaves?
> How well did that work? (and if the answer to that is positive, does
> anyone have one they would like to part with?)
>
> I don't usually mow with my ET, too many small obstacles embedded in
> our yard and a significant amount of the space is garden.
>
> If there are other good ideas, I'm open to trying to cobble something
> together for the job.
>
> Darryl McMahon
>
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