Hi There,
Trying to get the aisle without creating a dust storm. Any cordless blowers to buy or avoid?
Thanks!
We have two, battery powered, one old Black and Decker, a newer Milwaukee.
Either does the same good job.
I think any one brand available where you are would work fine for you.
Best to wear a dust mask and googles, stuff pieces of Kleenex or TP in your ears.
They have new small but strong vacuum/blowers today, battery powered.
Milwaukee has one used in construction work and they love it.
The ad doesn’t say blower, but the fellow that was using one told me about it.
Double check that if you check them out.
Also the reviews are mixed:
https://www.acehardware.com/departme…E&gclsrc=aw.ds
The box even works as a stool to stand on.
Some day we may get one of those.
Avoid all of them. You cannot avoid a dust storm using a blower.
If you insist on using one, please do so only when all horses are out, and use respiratory protection for the worker.
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Completely agree! The particulates will also go everywhere else, and make a mess- but, into the horses and stableworkers lungs is the WORST!!
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Ghazzu is so right (I realize she is a veterinarian)- no one thinks about how long that dust hangs in the air and it gets in the water buckets…just everywhere, so even if the horses are out, it may still be hanging in the air when they come in.
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Yes, I forgot to ad, we use it where there are no horses or stalls.
We have used one in front of the tack/feed/washroom on the end of the barn/arena, not close to any horse living areas and with worker, me, protection.
There it doesn’t take but a couple minutes to blow things clean, or like we joke, distribute the dust.
Ours are really to blow clean the porches after mowing.
They are meant for outside use, or very well ventilated areas.
Not a fan of the cordless ones.
Yes, any blower will put a film of dust on the water buckets.
But the problems I had with a Ryobi one in a barn where I worked was that
- The battery pack was heavy and the lightness of the nozzle end of the machine made it unbalanced. The single handle, your needing to point the front end down, while lifting the heavier back end, and rotating it back and forth ends up being hard on your wrist… I would never choose a machine that was even minimally damaging to my body. That’s just wrong and not something I’d want to use every day.
My advice to you is to put one together with the battery pack and pretend to blow down the whole isle in Home Depot and see what your arm says about that. it might disagree with me!
- The blower and battery both were not very powerful. You wanted use it on “high” to really move the dirt/shavings/hay, but then you found yourself running out of juice. Or you could run it on low, be more careful and slow and get to the end of the aisle. This was for a 14’ or 16’ x 200 aisle; it was a good-sized job.
I have used corded blowers for a long time and been more pleased with the power and the lighter weight/more balanced feel of these versions.
Agreed about the dust storm. I use a blower every day, my aisle and matted areas are clean clean clean, but my shelves, buckets, walls, rafters are dusty dusty dusty!!! I have to make sure the horses are far away before I use it, and I have to scrub the water tub after.
I did buy a gas powered echo that has a vac option to vac instead of blow, its great for debris, horrible for dust! Dust just billows out of the collection bag.
And I loff my ryobi cordless vac. I think the extra big battery helps balance and makes it easy to hold, but I use my gas Stihl every day, its more of a hassle but I can blow the rafters better, blow debris off the roof, etc. Just more handy with all the extra power.
Like many power tools, personal protective equipment is a must. (eye, ear & nose) As is conditions of use, don’t smoke while refueling for one. We have a Stilh BGA 56 … with an extra battery. Balanced and powerful. one battery is usually enough. But nice to have the second one.if the job isn’t done.
This is interesting, I was all about to get a blower for our new barn - now I’m questioning it.
Is old-fashioned sweeping, or using a shop vac a better option?
I have this ryobi cordless blower and LOVE it
https://www.homedepot.com/p/RYOBI-125-MPH-550-CFM-40-Volt-Lithium-Ion-Brushless-Cordless-Jet-Fan-Leaf-Blower-4-0-Ah-Battery-and-Charger-Included-RY40470VNM/311417033
It is as / more powerful than a corded blower and you can adjust the angle of the nozzle to the user so that it avoids the kind of physical strain others describe. We have rubber pavers on a 36x48 aisle. Sweeping them takes hours. I can blow out the aisle, hose it down, and scrub with a car washing brush and rinse in under 20 minutes to make the pavers look like new. I do the full routine 1-2 times a week and on other days the blower alone keeps them immaculate.
I haven’t had an issue with dust settling in unwanted places but I am careful about how I direct the air and avoid using the turbo setting which seems to send things all over the place. I have black stall grills that would show any dust.
I also have a shop vac but those cannot handle hay …at…all.
I have an old B&D 18 Volt one. It gets the job done in my 36’ long center aisle. I have mats, so only blowing leaves/spilled hay/sawdust/hoof cleanings off… I do not seem to get a lot of dust in the air.
