Finally experienced the clogged muffler

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.

EatenByLimestone

Moderator
Staff member
One of my techs mentioned to me that his backpack blower, a Stihl sr200, was having trouble running yesterday at his last job. He said he could barely keep it running. We were having trouble scheduling all the blower work as that segment of the business has grown so much that we'd previously decided to purchase another sr200 so we could run 2 guys with them. Luckily we had decided to pick it up today. I had the dealer throw a new spark plug and air filter in while i was at the counter figuring it was something simple.

I dropped the unit off to him and grabbed the old one figuring it was something simple and I could do tailgate surgery. It wouldn't fire more than 2x in a row. He didnt say it wouldnt run at all! I checked the air filter. Still clean. Checked the plug, kinda ugly, swapped it out. No change.

Figured I needed it up and running tomorrow so I drove back to the dealer. He thought I was bringing the unit I'd just purchased back, lol. I gave him a quick rundown of symptoms, what I'd checked, and showed him the plug. He says, let me check something and grabs the blower. He went to the back room and pulled the muffler. Clogged. A quick clean out and I was back running! He says, thanks for stopping in, no charge! Now, I bought a unit off him an hour earlier, so he might have been feeling generous, but I'll still give him kudos for getting me back up and running immediately. And he'll get much more of our business!

I guess I'll need to do some spring maintenance on mufflers with these units. Easy to do when you know to do it!
 
See clogged screens/arrestors fairly often. Nice when it's and easy fix.