Buying machines online can be very convenient, the majority of the time it’s effortless, a few clicks and you have a shiny new machine on the way to you. A few days later or sometimes even the next day a huge package arrives at your doorstep and the delivery driver disappears to continue his delivery round. So far the online experience is great, you’ve saved yourself £10 and your new lawnmower is in a box on your doorstep. However it’s just you and this huge package, your machine inside waiting to be assembled.

Packaging

You open the box to a huge clutter of cardboard, polystyrene and plastic sheets. You lift your lawnmower out the box only to realise the handles are not attached and the grass bag is in pieces. You finally fit the handle bars, only to find the cables to engage the drive and cutters are not attached either. Furiously you’re flicking through the manual trying to the find the page with English instructions. You put out the packaging just in time for the council to take, at least that’s one job out of the way.

Trouble!

You’ve forgotten to buy oil, so you drive to the local DIY shop to get some, get home and put engine oil and petrol in the machine then decide to test it out. The machine fires, the engine is revving normally, you celebrate, fist pumping the air “Haha Easy!” you exclaim! You stride with confidence pushing your new shiny mower to the lawn to test it out. Blades are whirling you’re ready to engage the drive. You push the handles up… Nothing. No drive at all on the machine. You double check the cables frantically adamant that you have done everything correct. This is where things start to get tricky for you.

The online retailer is referring you to a local dealer. The local dealer cannot look at the machine for 3/4 weeks and wants payment for the work done. In this situation the online retailer is responsible for warranty work on your machine. So where do you stand? The answer to this is quite simple – you bought the item from the online shop and your contract is with that company. You do not have a contract with the manufacturer. The online retailer has the legal liability to fix the item. If the item is faulty then you will have your legal rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 against the retailer. You would have to send the Lawnmower back to them in the original packaging at your cost – but you’ve already thrown this away. If it’s something you’ve done in the assembly of the machine, it will be your cost.

Be Protected

We strongly recommend that people use local dealers to not only benefit the local community but to also make the experience easier for you. With Jenkins Garden Machinery all machines that leave us go through a Pre delivery Inspection. This Pre Delivery Inspection can give you and the manufactures confidence that the machine has been assembled by a qualified mechanic. We dispose of the packaging for you, as well as filling the machine with oil and supplying out a bottle of fuel. This then helps prove that the warranty claim is a warranty issue. If you also a buy a machine through a local dealer and something does go wrong they will rectify this problem as soon as possible. As you are our customer you are our priority.

Ben has completed the challenge of completing one mile every hour for 24 hours. He knew this challenge would be tough but he didn’t realise just how much the challenge would consume those 24 hours.

We raised roughly 536KG of food for the Ammanford food bank. Video of that coming shortly! We’re hoping that will help make Christmas a less stressful time for families in the local area. A huge thank you to everyone that donated food or money. Another big thank you to anyone who wished me luck and kept me during the challenge.4

The first few miles were easy as expected. I was full of energy and had 4 hours of rest from finishing work. I tried to keep a steady pace throughout these first laps knowing that I have many more miles incoming! I quickly discovered that trying to keep my legs warm between is extremely important as already by the 3rd lap the warming and cooling causing my quads to slightly stiffen up.

The next three laps, heading into the early hours of the morning, I was still going strong. However, I was fighting a mental battle. I was sat downstairs on my own in a darkened cold room, my wife and dog were upstairs fast asleep, nice and warm. Tiredness was starting to kick in as I’d been up for roughly 21 hours at this point. Food had completely left my thought process; I was focused so much on keeping my legs warm. Laying on the sofa whilst setting an alarm so I didn’t fall into a deep sleep, trying to get some sort of nap between runs. The adrenaline created from the running made a nap near impossible as I’d be wide awake for about 15 – 20minutes after a run. Once that adrenaline wore off, I’d hit a wall. Pushing myself to get changed into my running gear at the 3-minute alarm was torture. Boy do I wish I had eaten something throughout the night as later I paid the price!

The next three runs were more or less the same as the previous three. Mentally this was the hardest part of the challenge. Forcing your tired body to get changed from warm comfortable clothes to cold, thin running gear took a lot of determination. I couldn’t let this challenge beat me so I pushed on. The weird thing about this is that the night running was probably the most enjoyable part of the challenge. From 12AM to 6AM I don’t think I saw anybody, the the exception of the odd driver, I could hear the hooting of a nearby owl, dogs barking, and the odd creature running across the street. However, once I hit the warm air inside my house, the thought of going back out in the sub zero conditions was heart breaking.

Morning! At last! What a morale boost that was! At this point I’d been awake for 24 hours. Suddenly I was revitalised, the morning sun hit me and I felt awake, energised, the hardest part was over… Or so I thought. My times became quicker, I felt unstoppable. 9am saw me reach the half way mark, my legs were not in pain and I honestly felt that if the other 12 hours felt like the first 12 it was going to be a breeze. I finally settled for a breakfast of pancakes that I snacked on between 8am and 10am.

Laps 13 and 14 were like the rest of my morning laps, slightly slower as I knew I still had many more laps to come! Breakfast was easily digested so stitches weren’t a problem. Plenty of fluids were also consumed along with a cup of coffee to keep me awake. Then lap 15 struck… towards the end of the mile my legs just went to jelly and I could no longer run up the road to where I live. As soon as I got in, I started my stretches and I could tell that I had no energy. Not eating throughout the night was now showing its effects. Top this off with being awake for 28 hours it was a huge morale breaker. I honestly thought I couldn’t continue any longer. My wife was straight on the case! She told me whip up an energy-packed lunch that’ll get me across the finish line!

I quickly scoffed down my mega Budda bowl that my wife made me and left the house for lap 16. I had to walk that lap unfortunately, the combination of a full stomach and jelly legs meant that really a run was out of the question. Lap 17 my legs also weren’t up for a run, still they felt heavy, stiff and weak. I decided that lap I’ll bring my dog for a brisk walk. Although I was determined to run the following laps! Lap 18 I was starting to feel myself, legs were back to some sort of normality again, despite a slight ache in the quads. Back on track and determined to smash the challenge!

Lap 19 I was back on it! Running at a decent pace, slight aches in the quads continued, however I noticed a pain in both my knees starting to sneak through. The temperature was also starting to drop below 0 again, so again that was really affecting my legs stiffening up between runs! As the laps continued my knees grew painful and slower I ran. Lap 21 was almost at walking pace, it felt like I was running through custard at the parts that were slightly inclined. Running downhill felt like my knees were cushioned by needles, it was not pleasant.

At 7pm the weather was very misty and sub-freezing outside. This caused ice to stick to the floor which I quickly discovered upon leaving my house. I made it to the bottom of the road when Whoosh! Landed straight on my backside. Despite wanting to finish the lap as quick as possible to get back and watch the world cup, I thought I better walk to avoid risk of injury. I made it to lap 21, having been awake for over 35hours… I wasn’t going to quit the challenge at that point! The last two runs were strange, I was so determined to finish that all pains and aches had disappeared. All I could I think about was a warm shower and my bed. The relief I felt when finishing the last lap was overwhelming. I was glad that the challenge was over, and slightly disappointed that I didn’t manage to run all the laps and had to walk. However, on further reflection, to say I completed all 24 intervals after being awake for 38 hours is something I can be proud of.

We at Jenkins Garden Machinery want to give back to the community this Christmas. Our aim is to raise a ton of food for the Ammanford foodbank.  As Christmas is generally a busy period for the foodbank with regards to donations, we aim to donate money so that when the food that is donated at Christmas is used, the foodbank will have funds to use to top up their shelves. We can also accept food donations, the food must be in date by 3months and we cannot accept fresh fruit and veg unfortunately .

To help awareness and add a little extra challenge, Ben has volunteered to complete the 1 mile every hour challenge. This challenge requires you to run 1 mile every hour for 24 hours. Although its not the most physically demanding challenge, it certainly tests your determination and mental strength. The challenge will start on the 10th December at 10pm and end on the 11th at 10pm. As it’ll take roughly 10 minutes to run a mile Ben will have about 50 minutes between runs meaning eating and sleeping will be difficult during those 24 hours. All of the runs will be recording and shared to both the Jenkins Garden machinery story on Facebook and to Bens personal Facebook account. We have a Stewardship page set up where all the money donated will be used to buy food that is needed by the food bank.

A link to the donation page is here

The Cobra CHIP650L is a 6.5hp Petrol Wood Chipper. It is small and compact but powerful enough to easily shred branches up to 80mm / 3″ diameter. The unique hinged design of the chute allows easy access to the blades.

The petrol chipper comes with a 196cc 6.5 Hp Loncin Engine meaning that it can easily shred 3″/80mm diameter wood. The Twin Reversible Blades allows for extra safety as chippings will not be flying back at you. However we still recommend that you wear gloves, ear defenders and eye protection when operating any wood chipper.

It also has a safety brake mounted on the front chute, this safety mechanism helps ensure the users safety and any pressure on that beak and the machine will switch off. The unique shape of the hinge also allows easy access to the blades, this is extremely useful for when you need to clear blockages or check the condition of the blades. It comes with a 2 year domestic warranty.

We always get positive feedback from previous customers on this product and we are confident that it can be good addition to your machinery. Please come down and check out the petrol wood chipper as it’s here in the show room!

Jenkins stock a range of leaf blowers, it can be hard at first glance to know which type and how much power you need. Don’t worry, we’ve got your back on this one! Here’s a break down of the leaf blowers we have here at Jenkins Garden Machinery.

ECHO! Our premium brand are known for reliable and sturdy machines. Their leaf blowers are no different, they offer a powerful blow and also have a vacuum variant in their arsenal. Clearing is a stroll in the park with this make.

ECHO PB-2520

If you’re looking for an easy-to-use gas powered leaf blower, you might be interested in the Echo PB-2520. Echo has a solid reputation for reliability, and this device is in the price range for most anyone with a tight budget for garden equipment.

EGO LB5300E Blower

The LB5300E is a great addition to your home garden needs. Featuring variable speed control, the high-efficiency brushless motor combines with jet turbine technology to allow effective clearing of leaves, gutters and even blowing excess grass off your lawn mower.

The Turbo Boost feature puts out 900m3 of air per hour, meaning small and medium sized gardens are perfect for the LB5300E Blower. You won’t find many petrol-powered blowers on the market with more power than that! You also get free shipping with the EGO products!

Stiga SAB 700 AE

Light, powerful and long lasting, the SAB 700 cordless leaf blower makes clearing leaves and debris a breeze. When powered with a 48V 4Ah battery, it delivers impressive running times of 120 minutes at low speed, 26 minutes at medium speed, and 18 minutes at full speed. Its efficient ventilation grid at both sides and on the lower part improves airflow and efficiency, and you can easily choose between three speeds using the intuitive keypad.

We cannot stress enough that the storing of your machinery is probably the most important action you can take to increase your machines life span. Not only will the machine will be running come spring time, but can prevent minor issues developing into major ones whilst it is stored away. A common misconception is that if the machine is not being used it cannot break or deteriorate.  It’s an occurring theme during March/April that machines do not want to wake from their hibernation. One of the most effective ways to prevent this happening is having the machinery serviced during the winter months. That is why Jenkins Garden Machinery have a cheaper service rate in the winter than the rest of year. A properly serviced machine can give you, the owner, confidence that’ll start again in the spring time. Keep reading to see what our winter service includes.

Issues over winter

Leaving a machine over winter that has not had a service will more likely see these common issues crop up.

* Cannot Start– Could be several problems, the important part however is that 90% of these problems could have been prevented with a service. Stale fuel could have been rotting the insides of the machine slowly all through winter. The engine could have seized up due to poor quality oil or lack of oil. Spark plugs may have needed to be replaced for winter storage. The list goes on but they’re all preventable with a Jenkins winter service.

* Loss of power – After a long time in storage the machine may wake up less powerful than before. Again these are mostly common problems that we see in machines that have not been serviced. Loss of power to the engine reoccurs as belts, blades & cables may be worn or broken. Filters could also be the cause of lack of power.

* Hunting –  this is a term used to describe the sound of the engine when it is constantly working faster and then slower in a sort of rhythm. This is mainly caused by the engine not getting a constant and consistent stream of fuel. This of course then causes the engine to constantly work faster and slowly to try and find a rate which will supply a consistent stream of fuel. Unfortunately for the machine their is a problem somewhere inside the fuel mechanics which we would identify with a  winter service. Causes of this are numerous, but mostly occur because of stale fuel or dirty fuel tanks, both of which are looked in the service.

So how does a Jenkins winter service help prevent the above problems? Well we’ve got this handy guide for you!

What is included

This is a typical Chainsaw Service. The machine is stripped down by our professional engineers. They then inspect the internal components to identify any underlying problems. As you can see it’s detailed examination, but we want to make sure that your machinery is running in top condition.

No repairs will be made on the machine without your permission, so you will not be surprised by an unexpected bill at the end of the service.

Oil change-  This applies for all machinery such as chainsaws, strimmer’s, lawn mowers & ride on machines. Changing the oil before storing it away for the winter helps keeps the engine lubricated. You can also sleep safely knowing that the oil is of top quality.

Spark Plugs – We will replace your spark plugs as these are common problem for machinery not starting! We’ll save you the hassle and do this in the service. Depending on the fuel you use you may get a build up of carbon on the spark plug, this then causes the spark to weaken. Worst case scenario leaving the machine unable to start. The picture here shows why every machines’ spark plug is checked!

Check filters – All filters will be cleaned or replaced, depending on the condition. Another important component to prevent dirt and debris from entering the engine and causing permanent damage. Lawnmowers are especially more prone to having dirty/damaged filters due to them being low to ground where debris is being thrown about. The below image shows a clean filter and dirty filter, can you guess which one was causing a problem?

The black filter is covered in oil and dust which was part of a lawnmower. It may have been caused by a mower that had been toppled or put onto its side causing oil to leak out. Having a filter this dirty could prevent the mower from starting as the dirt and oil is blocking air and oxygen getting to the fuel. This would have gone unnoticed but luckily the owner brought into us.

These problems are often hidden within the internal components of the machine, our engineers leave no stone unturned and spot these problems!

Recoil Rope – Nothing is worse than the feeling of humiliation as you pull the recoil rope with all your might for it to snap. Sending your arm hurtling backwards as you spin out of control whilst the lawnmower sniggers at your bad luck. Well we’ll prevent the chances of that happening. If your rope looks damaged or in bad condition we’ll fit a new one. As the rope is used regularly it is often spotted before it does snap, however we’ll still check it out to save you any embarrassment.

Cooling Fins – These often get blocked up by bits of grass and dirt. We’ll give them a clean and make sure that cool air is getting to the engine. Preventing the chances of over heating. It also prevents any rust forming and protects the shell from corrosion. Corrosion could cause the joints to slowly weakened which then causes loose handle bars.

Check Safety Switches – We’ll make sure that all the safety measures that came with the mower are working as intended, safety of our staff and customers is paramount. Garden machinery has a lot of sharp, fast moving parts so where we can mitigate risks to the user, we will.

Sharpen Blades  – More than just sharpening the blades we will also balance them. Balancing the blades means that potential damage to the crankshaft of the engine can be avoided as well as the potential for throwing a drive belt. Did you know that the main cause of fungal infection in a lawn is blunt blades? Sharpening the blades will allow for a much cleaner and even cut, we’ll do that here in the service. Below is an image of a typical blade that is brought in through service. Blades are often hidden away so are not always inspected. Here at Jenkins Garden Machinery we will make sure that the blade is nice and sharp to ensure you get a clean cut come spring time!

Grease moving parts – Does your machine sound like a Sherman Tank, screeching and grinding? Are the wheels just grinding and skidding across the grass, leaving you pushing with all your might? We’ll make sure parts are greased up and moving freely. Leaving the experience of cutting your lawn a much more enjoyable one! Cables will also be greased to insure that the throttle cable, drive cable and stop cable work effectively. For handheld machines such as chainsaws, the bar and various other components will be greased. This ensures when they are used again it’ll be running nice and smoothly.

Belts – Belts will be checked and replaced if needed. Any stretching or deformities in the belt can put pressure on the engine and pulleys as it causes vibrations. These Vibrations rip through the machine that can even cause a loss of drive. Ride on mowers and lawn tractors have more belts than any other machinery. We ensure that every belt is checked before it leaves our store. Below you can see a damaged belt. That kink would be hitting against the pulley wheels which over time could cause serious damage to the machine.

The Belt to the left has been burnt out. This would not have been found if our engineers did not inspect the internals of the cutting deck.

The Belt has become worn due to the belt being burnt out by the pulley, as you can see it gets thinner towards the frayed end.

Test Battery & Charge– The sun is shining, the grass is long and dry, perfect day to cut that grass. You dig your mower out of the shed, go to start it up and meh… dead battery. We know the pain, we’ll take action to reduce the risk of this happening!

Clean the Fuel System – The fuel system will be cleaned out, if you use fuel that has ethanol present there is a chance that the carburettor will deteriorate slowly due to the effects of ethanol. It’s a problem that we are expecting to become more prevalent with the introduction of the E10 Fuel in Britain.

Height Check – The final check will be making sure that the lawnmower’s height change system is working, it’s extremely important to have a lawnmower that is able to change it’s height to the job you need. It’s no good having a mower stuck scrapping and hacking at the floor!

Test – Now the maintenance team have done their job they test out the machine, all the machines would have been tested before we call you to say they’re ready.

As you can see the list is fairly extensive. Depending on which machine is being serviced this does change. But all our engineers will make sure they do an extensive service. You can book your machine in for a service here!!!