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It’s inevitable that as you go about your lawn-trimming duties, your mower will get dirty. The deck arguably gets the worst of it, with dirt, grass clippings, and all kinds of yard debris caking on it and possibly gumming up the blade’s movement. Fortunately, lawn mower deck cleaning — one of the key steps in maintaining any lawn mower — is not only possible, but incredibly easy to handle at home. With that said, there are tools and equipment that can make it even easier while ensuring your mower’s deck is properly cleaned.

Before diving in, it should be explained why exactly it’s so important to keep a mower’s deck clean. Aside from aesthetics, a clean mower deck is less susceptible to rust and corrosion. Grass clippings and lawn debris stick to the deck largely thanks to accumulated moisture, which will eat away at the mower deck, the blade, and other metal components if left alone. This can also lead to mold growth and restrict airflow while the mower is in use, putting stress on the engine. Additionally, stuck-on deck debris could carry bacteria and fungus that, when exposed to cut grass, could infect and harm your lawn.

To avoid all of these drawbacks, routine lawn mower deck cleaning is essential

To get it done right, these are some of the most useful tools to have in your arsenal.

Before starting mower deck cleaning, you need to prepare the mower for the job. That means disconnecting the spark plug wire to prevent accidental starts and then emptying the gas tank if you haven’t already run it dry. This is essential because tipping a tank full of gas can cause fuel leakage and damage the mower’s internal components. The easiest way to clear out the tank without wasting gas is to use a designated fuel siphon pump, which isn’t hard to find. Better yet, it’s not a terribly expensive tool to get ahold of either, with websites like Amazon offering pumps for less than $10.

With your pump and gas can at the ready, you’re prepared to empty your mower’s fuel tank. For two-hose models, one hose connects to the tank while the other connects to the gas can. As seen above, some utilize a more syringe-like setup with only one hose. With the hose in the gas tank, simply squeeze or lift the handle to draw fuel out. Once the tank is completely drained of gas, you’re safe to remove the hose and close the tank. For syringe models, you can now release the gas into a gas can and subsequently begin lawn mower cleaning.

There are a few ways to remove thick layers of stuck-on debris from a lawn mower deck. For some, one of the most underrated home improvement tools, the simple scraper, is enough to get the bulk off. Meanwhile, others prefer to use the built-in mower deck wash port and let their garden hose do the work. If you really want to get as much caked-on grass off as you can and do so with a bit more ease, you could invest in a designated lawn mower deck scraper. As their name suggests, these scrapers are designed specifically for cleaning mower decks.

The key distinctions that make mower deck scrapers worthy investments are their size and shape. Some offer extended handles to make scraping the deck easier without too much bending or kneeling. There’s often a curvature of some kind to the heads of these scrapers, too, matching the contours of the mower deck to get bits of grass that a regular flat scraper might not reach. These tools range in price: a steel lawn mower deck scraper costs $9.69 on the Walmart website, while the Grass-Hawk dual-bladed mower scraper is on the high end at $19.38 at Home Depot. 

With the aid of a scraper, most of the stuck-on lawn clippings will come off the mower deck. Still, this isn’t the end of the cleaning journey. From here, it’s a good idea to use another hand tool to refine your cleaning approach. A handheld wire brush is great for removing layers of dirt and grime that are too thin and stuck-on for a scraper to completely remove. Fortunately, this is another tool that doesn’t cost too much to add to your collection. An example like the Warner brass fine wire brush only costs $4.98 at Lowe’s.

As far as use, a wire brush isn’t difficult to figure out. Being mindful of the mower’s blades, just scrub the brush on the mower deck in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction until it looks nice and clean. To take it a step further, you could invest in an attachable long handle, provided your brush has screw holes or a peg to accept it. This way, you have some added reach and don’t have to get down on your hands and knees to vigorously scrub after every lawn mow. At any rate, don’t forget to clean out the bristles once you’re done to keep debris and bacteria from returning to the deck next time.

Even with the majority of the debris cleared by the scraper and brush, it’s still worth taking one last pass at your mower deck before putting it away. As mentioned, the mower deck wash port can help with cleaning, but there’s another way to use water to your advantage. A pressure washer is a great final method to clear off your mower deck, removing any remaining dirt and grass that somehow made it past the previous two tools. A sufficiently powerful unit for such a task can cost well under $200, include everything you need to get started, and come from reputable brands like Greenworks and Westinghouse. This is a comparatively costly buy, but it gets the job done.

Just as there are pressure-washing mistakes that can ruin a car, there are some missteps to avoid when pressure-washing a mower deck. The biggest is spraying areas that shouldn’t be sprayed, like the engine. Introducing water into these areas can inhibit a mower’s function, creating a bigger issue than a dirty deck. There’s also the concern of too high a PSI, as you just want to clean, not remove paint or otherwise damage parts of the mower. To stay on the safe side, this more light-duty task calls for around 1,300 to 1,800 PSI, with anything over 2,000 moving into risky territory.

For the most part, a scraper, brush, and pressure washer should get just about everything off of your mower deck. With that said, there may be some hard-to-reach places they miss. On top of that, this job makes a mess, leaving you with an unsightly pile of lawn clippings on your driveway. On both fronts, an outdoor blower can make all the difference. Yes, even a cheaper, smaller, battery-powered unit that only costs around $50, like the one from Pulituo on the Walmart website, or the $98.24 Black and Decker unit from Home Depot.

First and foremost, a unit from any of the major blower brands is great for blowing grass and debris from areas on the mower that the other tools couldn’t reach. In fact, the aforementioned Black and Decker model even has a tapered cone for pushing air into small, narrow areas. As far as ground cleanup goes, blowers are generally intended to move grass and leaves off driveways and sidewalks. Of course, if you’re dealing with a pile of thick, wet grass, blowers below 100 mph may struggle. A higher-powered blower over 100 mph could be necessary, or at least some of the grass moved by hand first, with the blower used for a final clean.