Should we limit leaf blowers to a few hours per day? (Topic Closed)

Have you ever considered that asking someone to turn off their leaf blower is the same as someone asking you to stop working in the middle of your day. When you live in the city you deal with city noises. I remember when I used to complain about the yard people who worked at 7 in the morning. Now that I am working I wish I could sleep in to hear them again. So try to realize that these people are working to make a living and be grateful you live in America where we have that privilege.

Hey Heidi,

I don't think the alternative has to be that those guys loose their jobs. They could e.g. use quieter leaf blowers (e.g. electric ones) or reshuffle their gardening schedule to only switch on leaf blowers during designated hours (it is not that those guys do nothing but leaf blowing).
This mostly a situation of a sub-optimal utilization of a common resource (quietness). For me to work I need it to be quiet, they need to cause a lot of noise with their current equipment. Do you really believe that the current setup is optimal and cannot possibly be improved?

It's a good idea to suggest the hours of blowing off leaf. But since every one have different bearing on noise, so the hours alone could not solve the noise problem. Maybe another way to deal with these pretty leaf, is to sweeping the leaf. It not only reduces the noise but good for your body as well

I don't think everyone uses leaf blowers correctly.

The companies that do the gardening for my neighbors spend about 3 hours blowing around what seems to be nothing, and then mowing the yard. (Wouldn't the mowing have caught the leaves up at the same time?). To me it's just a big reminder that someone is wasting a bunch of energy and not being very "green" in the process.

I remember a thing called a "Rake". I used them to make great big piles of leaves on my lawn. They work great! (and are GREEN.. no noise pollution and no air pollution either)

Leaf blowers create too much noise and too much smoke and air polution. I would be happy if their usage in residential areas is completely banned.

You'll be happy to hear that the city of Sunnyvale already has an ordinance regarding leaf blowers. It was published in the 2000 Winter Quarterly report. It states that leaf blowers cannot exceed 65db and can only be operated 8:00am to 8:00pm. If they are using old blowers, they are most likely putting out more than 65db. I just print a copy of the article and leave it on their windshield -- that usually does the trick. Either they buy a quieter machine, or they simply don't come back.

Good luck!

I moved to Mountain View from DC three months ago and I have to say my least favorite thing about this town is the armada of leaf blowers and mowers. I dread 8 a.m. (or sometimes earlier) when I start hearing that sound. I spend a lot of time at home and it seems to never end all day long. I don't think limiting it to 12 hours a day (from 8 a.m.-8 p.m.) is the answer. I say a ban or perhaps a small mid-afternoon window for leaf blowing if it must be done. Is it possible to start an initiative? Someone told me Piedmont banned leaf blowing.

I have a good relationship with my neighbors, who unfortuntately hire a debris blower, who pollutes the air on a weekly basis. Of course, this causes all of us to need to wash our houses more often. Does anyone know of a diplomatic approach to get the neighbors to stop hiring the debris blowers?

We should limit the noise Harleys make too and that pesky wind that mother nature controls is troublesome also. You live in a community and from what is being reported one that maintains their yards. Be happy they have the time or money to take care of things even though it is a bit annoying in how they do it.

Some cities have indeed successfully limited or eliminated leaf blowers. The usual pattern is: suggestion; uproar; successful legislation; then everyone calms down. Homeowners and lawn companies move to cleaner, quieter methods, and the quality of life improves all around.

The workers aren't exactly thrilled with these machines, believe me. The constant vibration can damage the nervous system, and the threat to hearing is pretty obvious. Except where cities move to protect them, they just don't have a lot of choice.

Over and above the noise issue is the air pollution - horribly inefficient 2-stroke engines with excessive dirty exhaust. At the very least they should be banned on Spare the Air days.

I called the city of Mt. View, you can blow leaves from 7am to 10 pm. Now let's hope common sense prevails, but I think people have to compromise

Also I'd much rather live next to someone who cares about their yard & may be noisy doing it, than the ones who could care less and have weeds growing everywhere.

Something that hasn't been mentioned is if blowers are banned gardners will need to raise prices to cover the added time required to clean up. Sure maybe some or even may can afford that but some will just pave or cement areas. No muss no fuss and as a landlord I would raise rents to cover increased landscaping costs or pave areas. Fairly certain a bit of noise is a fair trade with regards to the alternatives

Weeds growing does not equal non-usage of a leaf blower. Wouldn't using a leaf blower cause more disbursal of weeds? I still do not know what a leaf blower is used for. Thankfully my new place has better insulation!

The leaf blower, I see them use is bowing the leafs on to the
street, or into your yard and left there...

what good does this do, I vote to stop useing the (Leaf blower)
in Sunnyvale...

I agree, if used wisely it works, but most of them blow the crap all over and then they ar e gone, leaving a mess in someone else's yard, they need to ban them,as I am getting tired of crap be blown all over here.. And yes I have them to be careful,but they act like they do not understand english. Use a broom or rake,as I do , start doing your part to be green.

That what I said,,, I do my yard on the weekends and use a
rake and a broom, if I can do this... why can't the gardeners,
I work and some times when I get home I see the mess that was
blown over to my yard. to solve the problem band Leaf Blower.

This is what I said to my neighbor, if your gardener does not stop blowning leafs over to my yard. I will take the blowner away from the your gardner...

Have you EVER seen a pile of debris gathered by a leaf blower? REALLY??? That's because they, as well as the Easter bunny and the tooth fairy, DO NOT EXIST in reality. A leaf blower BLOWS debris off of the customer's property and ONTO his/her neighbor's properties. The gardeners are looking for a quick, very visual way to prove that they've been working -- not only do we all get to listen to that lovely, straight-to-my-spinal-cord noise, but we get to see the clean sidewalks and driveways of the gardener's customers! Oh joy ... so, bottom line is that we get to listen to our neighbor's gardeners blowing THEIR leaves, debris and assorted crap onto OUR property!?

MY VOTE in my town of Mountain View is that ONLY electric blowers should be permitted and could ONLY be used between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, and NO USE permitted on federal holidays. Those things called B-R-O-O-M-S seemed to work just fine when I was younger and had "lawn jobs" in highschool and college.

Although, I agree that brooms & rakes do work fine, but I think it depends on the gardner. Ours is great about picking up the leaves after blowing them, our bin is full.

It's a shame to hear your experience with gardeners has been so negative. But it's important to know that such is not always the case. Please allow me to offer another perspective:

Our gardener services four houses in a row on our street. It really wouldn't do him much good to "blow assorted crap onto" the next neighbor's yard, as he's responsible for that neighbor's yard as well. He picks up the debris and puts it in our recycling bins.

I understand that you used a broom when you had "lawn jobs" in high school and college, but it's unlikely you were raising a family at the time and using the income from your lawn jobs to pay your bills. Our gardener has two kids in college. He does as good a job as he can, as fast as he can, trying to make ends meet. I admire him and I respect him for that. He's not "looking for a quick, very visual way to prove" he's working - he actually works, does a very good job, and has nothing to prove.

By the way, I work at home composing music, so I suffer as much as anyone with the sound. I don't like it, but I understand and I live with it.

Just another way of seeing things...

Besides blowing leaves it also spreads rats,birds and dog feces all over spreading germs and there other creatures out there!!!
Think about it GET RID OF THEM>

Leaf blowers are a perfect example of when we have too much technology. It is completely needless and unnecessary piece of equipment which doesn't perform the duties it is supposed to effectively. The equipment was not even intended for this purpose originally, but some wise ass decided to screw with people's peace and quiet and sleep. In the old days people used brooms and got around just fine. In other countries even today people have never heard of leaf blowers and are surprised when they do and think it's rediculous. Recently, a gardener was running around the nearby hospital's parking lot for nearly 2 hours blowing away and U R telling me he could not have done that with a broom in the same amount of time? Common! The gardeners on my streets unanimously choose to come around 8-9am out of all times during the day. When asked to come in later, they always refer to their clients who ask them to come at that time. What is wrong with them? How about some common courtesy? I don't show by their house at 3am with a chainsaw and display its capabilities! I could as well, as 3am is really nothing for me.. I feel like my rights are being violated everytime someone forcefully wakes me up with a piece of such a bs equipment. U give rights to gays and lesbians and other so caled "minorities". How about those people who just want to sleep?.. As opposed to someone's comment previously I'd rather see everything growing in weeds, but please, keep it quiet! The weeds are more natural than leaf blowers anyway.

To fried_rice2010: Right F*cking On!!! Well said!!!

...and then there is all of the pollen and I am sure other carcinogens laying on the ground getting blown up off the street as well. Don;tt thinI'm wrong either, whether it be brake dust with it's heavy metals or soot from diesel trucks it's in there!

News item: "Grandmother Proves Rake and Broom as Fast as Leaf Blowers".
www.nonoise.org/quietnet/cqs/leafblow.htm#grandma

They are completely illegal in certain citites (Santa Monica). Other cities ban the gas-powered ones (Palo Alto).I think Los Altos limits the time to 10am to 4pm.

As an asthma sufferer, I could do without the dust, and the noise is quite annoying. I read a study that songbirds in cities are measured to be louder than their country cousings, because they have to overcome the din.

when it useful!

to make us forgiven of lawns

It would make you happy

sunway:)

this is a huge topic huh?I do know they are annoying,but people have also hired these people or they would not be there.I do hate how they usually just blow eveerything into someone elses yard or into the middle of the street half of the time.They should be regulated to work within certain hours just like construction workers in residential areas.

I THINK YOU ARE ALL JUST COMPLAINING LOSERS AND NEED TO GET A JOB..FROM = YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD GARDNER..-THANK YOU.. ;)

sydshow, look at yourself. U R someone who doesn't have a life and just goes around forums trying to bring up own self esteem by insulting other people, which essentially makes U a pathetic loser. It might not be an issue for U, but it is for other people. If the noise doesn't bother U while U sleep, I'll be happy to show up at your house and strike a cowbell next to your ear about 5014 times. I'll top it off with a good old fashioned gas leaf blower to your other ear for another 3 hours, just to even it out. U think U can handle it? That's the biggest response U R gonna get from me, cuz from this point forward I will ignore U... God, ignorance of some people just amazes me..

Hello I think thoes things are loud and anoying but if u don't like that noise maybe you should offer ur time to help ur neibors by cleaning his yard for them

Great idea!! But I rent. My backyard is a huge pile of rocks and clay soil. I have a lovely vegetable garden in pots because my soil was and is unamendable. Yet every 2-3 weeks some stranger(whom I've never met)shows up in my BACKYARD blowing refuse all over! Did I mention my rent was just increased by 55%!!? I feel entitled to some bit of privacy. I do think they should limit the blowing considering in just blows the crap somewhere else. I am certain people would be much more tolerant if the blower was a SUCKER!!!

I'm no gardener, but I do own a business that requires loud machinery including leaf blowers. The reason we use leaf blowers is time and money and conveniance. If you want us to use a rake, it's like me telling you use your BIKE to go to work. When your car is there and ready to make things easier for you. Of course a car (hybrid or not) is way less GREENER than a leaf blower. And as far as they are annoying I will agree with you. But so is the traffic your making by not using your BIKE. And also if your not the one using the actual leaf blower it will not affect your hearing. Let me keep going. Why don't we still DRAW with a pen graphic designs instead of using your computer. Why don't we send letters through the mail anymore instead of email or text. Why don't we still ride horses when we go see a movie. It seemed to work before. Oh wait it would take you an hour to go 20 miles on a horse or longer. You might miss the movie. Or smell like horse! In every job time is money. Everyone should know that. And they do save time. Lots of time. As much time as my HORSE-CAR analogy. TECHNOLOGY. Creating new things to make things easier and faster for all of us. And yes your workday starts at what? 7-9am right. Well so does ours. So what you want is us to start at 10-11am so you can sleep in. And what, end at 3pm so when you get home and want to relax after such a hard days work (try manual labor!) you don't have to be annoyed when your trying to relax? Please. That gives us what 4 hours of work a day. Can you make money off of 4 hours of work a day? Nope, you be homeless or living with your parents. You want to know why things are so "bad" these days. It's because of things like this. NO ONE anymore has any consideration for other people. I try my best to make everyone happy when I'm working, I mean EVERYONE. Yes we will sweep if someone has a problem. But it shouldn't have to be that way. We should be able to use our technology too. But of course it's all about YOU. Who cares about the lowly gardeners right? Are they some how below us? Don't worry you don't have to say yeah. You can keep it in and make some kind of excuse. It's okay. Whatever makes YOU feel better. Have a good day!

Your horse/car analogy is inapplicable. It is more like toothbrush vs electric toothbrush: too lazy to move your hand in circles, have to have machine do it for U. Absolutely useless for most, but hey, we're technologically advanced, so we R gonna use it because we can. Just because we're technologically capable of doing something does NOT mean we have to do it!
Also, as much as I've seen gardeners work their leafblowers, and for the length of time they were doing it, I just can't see how sweeping would be any slower. Even if there's only two leafs on the parking lot, they're still gonna use the blower like mad. Blowing for 2 hours on an average sized parking lot can't be done in the same time with a broom and without creating a small pollution epicenter? Anyone walking by will be spitting left and right cursing off the prick who is creating all that mess. And how is leafblower comparable to a hybrid? They serve different purposes. Let's compare a blower to a friggin oil well or a supersonic jet or whatever else is not green in your mind. Get you analogies straight!
Of course I understand gardener's perspective, business is business and it's gotta run no matter what. But is it а way to conduct a business with a complete disregard to the surrounding environment and people living nearby? I'm not talking about you per se, but this is generally the gardeners' attitude. Once again, I don't distract U in your sleep. Why then do I deserve to be distracted by you?
And YES there's got to be regulations restricting the noise and/or hours of operation. There are endless regulations for infinite amounts things in various industries and of course the receiving side is never happy, but they have to cooperate, because the regulations are there for a purpose and also they are the law. There's a reasonable time in a day when a noise should be allowed in the residential area. And 8am is not reasonable and is not justified.

I think we would have the best chance to reach a satisfactory resolution if we were careful to speak respectfully and without put-downs, give those on the other side of the issue the benefit of the doubt, and realize that none of us is perfect in our treatment of the environment. It is likely that neither side will get 100% of what they want.

Are you kidding me>

PokerFace - Toothbrush to electric toothbrush is not even close. I don't think your arm is going to get tired from using a normal toothbrush is it? No. An electric toothbrush is supposed to clean your teeth better, not be easier. And even though you may think a rake/broom may work just as well, it doesn't. A leaf blower does get more of the debris than a broom. Think about it, they don't have to clean just one small patch of lawn or driveway like you may when you rake your leaves. They might have to clean 5-10 different properties through the day. They might be a little tired after sweeping all of those. You might say, well it's good exercise, let me rake my leaves. Work is not exercise. Lance Armstrong isn't riding the Tour De France because it's good cardio :-P. Your not ever gonna see that they work better, because your so blinded by the noise. I'm not saying occasionally a broom/rake can't be used. Sometimes it is the tool for the job. But when they are needed, we should be able to use them. Not 2AM. But between the NORMAL hours of everyone else. You know what those hours are. And wait a minute. Sunday your day off? I'm sure some people have leaf blowers to clean off there own driveway on the weekends. Why can they use it? Also the leaf blower is the car (hybrid) and the broom is the bike. It makes perfect sense. If you ride your bike, we'll use our broom, and we'll both save the enviroment. Just like we'll be tired and sweaty from using the broom, so will you from riding your bike. Leaf Blower/Car= Easy, pollutes the air. Bike/Broom= Hard, helps enviroment. Can you see it now? I think Mighty_1 is right. Any one who has a problem with it should go tell the gardener put down the leaf blower and I'll help you sweep these leaves. Good joke right? Barbf you are also right nobody is going to get 100% of what they want. But is asking to do a job no matter what it is between the hours that everyone else works
that much to ask. It's kind of ridiculous. In my opinion 8am is not that early to get up anyway. 5-7am Is getting up early.
Try this, next time you see someone doing something that annoys you, but there just doing there job and they have no other choice. Put yourself in that position, try to think how would I feel if I were him. Do you really feel like sweeping all of this? I know what your thinking they need to think about the people sleeping also right? Yes they do. Or should. But how do they know your sleeping? They don't right that's why you want a law that makes sure you can sleep. Fine, but we should be able to use these between 8am-5pm, which is normal working hours. You want more?? 9am should be the most you get. I'm not saying I'm totally right and your totally wrong. But it's just doing your job, and basically you guys want to make it harder.(Use the broom) Picture someone trying to do that to you.

Should we limit the leaf blower conversation to a few lines per month?

Hi Pokerface, I say this in jest so please take it that way. You obviously have way too much time on your hands!!

Perhaps doing the leaf blowing at a little later hour and some broom sweeping from 8-9 AM would be a good compromise.

I agree with Danny v.Getting e-mails about people bickering is not what I signed up for.

Thanks Poker Face --- couldn't have said it better ... oh, and to that other respondent who put you down, if I sit in my car on your front patio or your front yard and gun my engine continually, THAT would be a similar experience as the leaf blowers blowing dust and crap all over my patio and my parked car as well blowing that dust and crap into my home and assaulting my ears ... using a leaf blower doesn't help to pile up the debris - it just blows it around until the next dose of leaf blower repositions it or if it's dry enough, the wind will redistribute it ... when I did "lawn jobs" as a teenager, I used a broom and added the cuttings to the garden soil ... leaf blowers just create MORE pollution (visual/air/noise) while providing NO positive results (other than saving a gardener a little bit of time) ... and when they're blowing full-blast, it sure SOUNDS like the gardener is working like hell!!!

Really --- how about if you leaf blower users design a leaf SUCKER (I think they're called "vacuum cleaners" when used indoors!) that makes the same noise as a leaf blower and at least something constructive is coming from the irritatingly nasty noise of those machines!!! And I'm not surprised that some of the leaf blower users aren't bothered by noisy things - they've got permanent hearing loss from not wearing ear protection for all these years while saving themselves a few minutes of "broom-time" ... sad ...

Yes we should do that i also have a very selfish neighbor that does not respect that my has been cleaned earlier and he throws everykind of stuff he blows in my garage. nobody has the right to jepardize other´s people house.

Wow!!!!some people are not happy unless they have something to complain about. Fine no more leaf blowing ok ok fine fine!!!
Now what? 1 2 3 4 (seconds) I knew it!!!! You are now sweating to come up with another complaint. My god!! ohhh!!! ahh!!!! it feels soooo good!!!Here it comes. And Nowwwww ANOTHER COMPLAINT
What a relief.

I live in an apartment building and every morning I get woken up by the loud annoying noise of the leaf blowers, especially in the summer when we keep the windows open. Most days they come back in the afternoon and blow some more, and some days they come back after 7pm to blow even more. I don't think there are enough trees in the entire city to produce that many leaves that they need to blowing leaves almost all day long every single day!

What really bugs me about these leaf blowers, other than the loud disturbing noise, is that they appear to be useless and don't really do anything. I've watched the workers use these leaf blowers on many occasions and all they seem to do is to blow the leaves around in the air with no purpose. Not once have I ever seen any of them actually pick up and remove any leaves or other debris. They just blow it around or to the side so that the next time the wind blows the leaves return to where they were. I guess this is one way to insure job security so they have to come back the next day and blow the leaves around again. How about actually picking up the leaves and removing them? When I used to use a rake, I always gathered and then removed the leaves from the grass.

So these leaf blowers make a ton of annoying noise and disturb the peace yet they don't get rid of the leaves nor debris. Now I want to ask those proponents of leaf blowers if they would use one inside of their own homes to clean the dirt, hair, and debris from their floors and carpets instead of using a vacuum cleaner? No? Why not? When I watch the workers blow the leaves around without ever picking them up, isn't that the same as just blowing the dirt on the floors of your house to the side with a leaf blower without ever picking up that dirt?

I say give these gardeners rakes or a vacuum to suck up the leaves. Blowing them around makes no sense. Ban these noisy useless leaf blowers.

Well stated!

Leaf blowers ! Hello - Noise Pollution !

Very well ...

Over 40 cities in California have banned the use of leaf blowers within 500 feet of a residence because of the noise and the enormous amount of air pollution they produce. I think Santa Clara County cities should ban their use as well. The gardeners are outside my apartment building right now, I have all the windows closed and I can still hear the noise and smell the fumes. It is very unhealthful for the people operating those machines as well - they are at ground zero with the noise and gas fumes, plus I don't think they save time. They are here forever blowing those machines. As much could be accomplished with a broom or rake and be healthier for all involved.
Spirit

Leaf blowers:
a) are more convenient to use than their alternatives
b) do the job quicker than their alternatives
c) can handle dirt and debris better than alternatives
BUT:
1) create excessive noise, and "noise pollution" is a considerable issue in our urban environment
2) create air pollution in our neighborhood
3) spread dust in the air which eventually settles on our cars, windows, etc
4) spread germs and particles in the air, bad for our lungs, and dangerous for people with respiratory problem
5) are harmful for their operator because of close-range noise and vibration

My observation is that sometime and somewhere leaf blowers are useful. But, MOST times and in MOST places, they do more harm than they do good.
So, I vote for banning leaf blowers all together.

Earplugs are great things to reduce ambient 'noise'. Considering a move to an isolated area could work. Not being at home, ie., at work...would be productive, more than complaining about people working for a living, making lots of decibels.