Chainsaws - Storage short and long term

[SteveB43]

Hi All,
Finally decided to bit the bullet and get some 'help' with this year's crop of firewood logs. I've bought a Bosch Green electric chainsaw and would be very grateful for any hints or tips on storage.
Firstly short term, i'll most be using the saw at weekends so is it ok to leave the oil in the reservoir (it does leak out a little) and the chain tensioned as per manufacturer instructions with 0.5mm of play.
Then long term, in the spring & summer months, is best practice to take the saw apart, ie chain and bar off and drain the oil reservoir?

Any pointers gratefully received.
Cheers
Steve,

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I wouldn't have thought it makes much difference - your chain isn't under any tension as such. 0.5mm? are you sure it's not 0.5cm? Just a thought - I'm used to petrol ones.

 

[paulm]

Likewise think the chain slack should be about half a centimeter Steve, probably a typo ?

The diy electric chainsaw I had a few years back used to slowly empty the chain oil onto the floor and I couldn't figure a way to lay it down or other way to stop it, so just didn't fill it again before storage, only when I was going to use it, and would lay it on some old newspapers or cardboard to soak up the oil.

No need to do anything else in storage, just keep the bar cover on to stop the chain getting damaged or damaging you !

If it was a petrol one I might drain the fuel off to avoid it going stale but actually I don't usually bother doing that even in reality

Cheers, Paul

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Yes, I suspect the infernal centimeter has raised it's ugly head again.

 

[dickm]

Most saws seem to leak oil a bit when stored - my Dolmar is positively incontinent. About the only things to watch out for are putting the saw away with wet shavings still attached, a sure recipe for rust and (if you're unlucky!) rats/mice chewing the plastic bits of the body .
Definitely not a good idea to slacken off the chain - always the danger of forgetting it's slack and starting to use it without re-tensioning.

The 'murricans seem to be paranoid about leaving old fuel in petrol saws while stored. Don't know if their petrol spec is different from UK, but it's probably worthwhile draining out the fuel just so that's one less reason for the beast not to start when you need it. (and two-stroke engines can always think of reasons for not starting :evil: )

 

[acewoodturner]

Dick
As the op's saw is electric there is no need for draining the petrol!
The reason for draining the petrol and running it down till there is none left in it is that petrol degrades over time and the 2 stroke oil and petrol separates as well. The oil ends up as a jelly in the carb and this would need stripped down and cleaned in order for it to work properly. Anyone who is an occasional user of petrol chainsaws, lawnmowers, strimmers etc would be better off using Aspen which has no need for 2 stroke oil to be added and has a 5 year iirc shelf life. You also dont get the horrible petrol fumes as well. Anything powered by Aspen will start in the spring after being left in the shed over winter (providing it was working when you put it away that is!) Google Aspen for a local dealer. It will cost you approx £16 or £17 for 5 litres but that is cheaper than having your carb stripped down and cleaned with replacement gaskets to pay for.

 

[Mark A]

After using my Bosch electric chainsaw I take off the chain and bar, give it a quick blast with the air compressor to clean off the dust and chips, then store them in the cover (separate from the body of the saw as it takes up less room). I always top up the oil when I've finished so that it's ready when I next come to use it (about once a fortnight).

Incidentally, I use vegetable oil to lubricate the chain - it's much cheaper than the proper chainsaw oil and works just fine.

Hope this helps,
Mark

 

[SteveB43]

Thanks for the tips and comments everyone, sounds like leave as is, just make sure there's no residual moisture or wet wood clumps to hold back the rust. Good idea to use vegetable oil, I picked up some Stihl chain oil for £4.50 but have seen oil on sale for £9.00 per litre.
The c and m thing, well they're very close on my keyboard #-o

 

[dickm]

Dick
As the op's saw is electric there is no need for draining the petrol!
....Aspen which has no need for 2 stroke oil to be added and has a 5 year iirc shelf life. You also dont get the horrible petrol fumes as well. Anything powered by Aspen will start in the spring after being left in the shed over winter (providing it was working when you put it away that is!) Google Aspen for a local dealer. It will cost you approx £16 or £17 for 5 litres but that is cheaper than having your carb stripped down and cleaned with replacement gaskets to pay for.

Yes. I did know the OP had an electric, but someone had mentioned petrol ones in another post in this thread .

Intrigued by "Aspen". At that price, not very likely to come my way, but worth looking up all the same. Wonder if it is also kinder to the diaphragms in the carburettors than is conventional petroil?

 

[paulm]

I've used Aspen for a few years now, since paying for a strip down, carb cleaning and new fuel supply lines on an old husqi' saw, heck of a price at around £16 or £17 a gallon, but don't use that much really in a season so seems a sensible option ?

Cheers, Paul

 

[ColeyS1]

Isn't there an additive you add to petrol to extend its time before it goes stale ? Fairly sure I bought a little bottle when i got my chsinsaw....

 

[dickm]

Just been doing a bit of research on Aspen; apparently they supply an alkylate fuel, made from the lightest fractions coming from fractional distillation. According to http://publications.lib.chalmers.se/records/fulltext/local_72581.pdf, it has quite a lot of health benefits, but is expensive, and according to some stuff on the web, likely to become more so as it is being used in place of MTBE as an additive to conventional petrol. They make two versions, a ready-mix for two strokes and a simple one for four strokes. The ready mix actually contains conventional oil, and they also suggest that people who prefer a particular oil (Stihl is the usual one) can mix that into the plain version. So it's possible that there could still be problems of oil separation.
One thing that looks slightly suspicious is that there only seems to be one supplier of alkylate fuels, that is Aspen. So most of the references all lead back to them, which isn't scientifically ideal.
But apparently Strathbogie Saws in Huntly stock it, so maybe when the big Stihl gets attached to a chainmill, it would be worth a try.

(If you want an insight into some of the less salubrious parts of the US population, take a look at some of the discussions of Alkylate fuels on US forums. Scary)

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I posted once before, but it disappeared into the ether - I suppose a sound idea would be to use conventional 2 stroke through the season, and put aspen through it for the last use of the spring so that it would be clean internally when it was "laid up".