Originally Posted by ragtoplvr
Originally Posted by jeepman3071
Something a bit unrelated, but after mowing it's a great idea to take a leaf blower and clean underneath the machine. It really helps keep the grass and grime from building up and causing issues.
I have a friend that parked his mower in the garage and the grass on the deck caught on fire. It did over 50K in damage to his house. The fire department said it is sort of common, it happens usually once ever year or two. My mower had a layer of grass over the belts. It was so thick the belts were mostly entombed. I knew it was there, did not worry about it. I actually thought it was an advantage since I have had a stick knock the belt off and take a chunk out of it. When I cleaned it some of the grass had been so hot it was pretty brown, almost black. I mow fescue, it is pretty moist, saved me I think. So now my friend and I both blow off the deck after every mowing.
Rod
I've had mine catch fire twice.
The first time it was a hot day and the grass was dry, plus I mow several acres. I shut it off and started walking to the house, turned and looked back to see smoke, as I walked back to it flames erupted. I was lucky, just happened to park it near the hose so I put it out quickly, it still melted many plastic parts.
After that I always parked it near the hose to cool off before blowing it off and putting it away. The second time it did the same thing, only I was ready and put it out immediately.