Garden shredder: how to choose a quality unit

The owner of a private house or cottage, regardless of the size of his personal plot, must constantly think about how to get rid of the waste that occurs during each period of work in the garden or in the garden. Trimming branches of bushes and trees in the spring, removing weeds and grass trimmed from lawns in the summer, gardening, foliage, vegetable leaves and wilted plants all accumulate on the territory of the garden or garden a large amount of garden waste. This garbage can be quickly and efficiently processed by a garden shredder for grass and branches.

What is a garden shredder?

Garden shredder is a special unit that helps to efficiently process grass and other waste that accumulate in large quantities in gardens and vegetable gardens. Each device necessary for such a household plot is equipped with a panel that allows controlling the grinding device. The principle of operation of such a device is simple and in many ways resembles the work of a food processor:

• all gardening waste is loaded into a special funnel in the upper part of the unit;
• branches and grass are passed through special elements that cut the garbage mass;
• shredded waste in the form of sawdust is loaded into special containers.

By shredding the waste that inevitably appears as a result of growing garden and garden crops on the site, you can solve several problems that concern each owner at once:

• the use of processed grass for gardening as a natural fertilizer will occur much faster and better;
• compressed shavings of trunks and branches of bushes and trees can be used as fuel;
• waste processed by the grinder is much simpler and cheaper to remove from the territory of a summer residence or garden.

In the ratings of the best models of shredders for gardening, the main quality criteria are several basic details of the model.

Options for garden shredder drives

The drive mechanism (engine) can work due to electricity or the use of gasoline. Each option has certain advantages and disadvantages.

Electric drives, as a rule, are installed on garden shredders whose power does not exceed 2.6 kW. Among the advantages of such units are:

• small size, the ability to quickly transfer the garden electric shredder to any desired location on the garden plot;
• light weight, which allows even a person of small physical data to cope with a garden shredder;
• very low noise level during operation;
• ease of maintenance and operation of a technical device;
• environmental friendliness and the complete absence of harmful emissions during operation.

Such electric mobile garden waste recycling plants are suitable for small areas. Their disadvantages include:

• power limitations;
• inability to use in case of lack of electricity;
• breakdowns in conditions of voltage drops;
• mandatory presence of high-quality extension cords for voltage supply.

When choosing a garden shredder with an electric drive, it is necessary to take into account the high cost of electricity with the constant use of technical equipment.

Gasoline engines are more powerful suburban installations for the disposal of waste gardening and gardening. The obvious advantages of gasoline shredders are:

• full autonomy and the ability to use in the country, where it is not uncommon to cut off electricity and power surges;
• a large engine allows you to process not only grass, but also wood of small tree trunks;
• The cost of a garden shredder with a gasoline drive is much lower than with an electric one.

However, such country assistants have their own negative, from the point of view of the owners of personal plots, moments:

• in order to use a gasoline unit for a garden or a kitchen garden, a certain skill and knowledge on the operation of the device for shredding garden waste is necessary;
• increased costs of servicing the gasoline shredder (oil and lubricants) on which the stability of operation and the life of the device, which allows shredding garden garbage, depend;
• the price of a good gasoline model of any brand exceeds electric devices;
• weight and dimensions significantly exceed the parameters of electrical devices.

A special topic for criticism of gasoline choppers is their increased noise level and harmful emissions of exhaust gases into the atmosphere.

Designs of grinding mechanisms

Another element that directly affects the quality of the garden shredder is a system of cutting mechanisms. The vast majority of shredders for the garden and the garden have two designs of such knives:

• disk design;
• milling mechanisms.

The disk design of knives is a disk that rotates at high speed and is equipped with knives. Knives are located around the entire circumference of the disc and are made of tool steel. Such mechanisms have a certain list of advantages:

• affordable price;
• ease of maintenance when it is necessary to sharpen knives.

A garden shredder equipped with a disk system easily cuts medium-sized fresh branches, grass and fallen leaves.

There are disc designs that have two types of knives located at a certain angle:

• upper larger blades for preliminary cutting of large branches;
• lower knives allow you to grind waste to a finer state.

When using this mechanism to dispose of large debris, dry thick branches and tree trunks, knives can become dull quickly. For this kind of solid garden waste, it is best to purchase a device with a milling grinding system.

Milling mechanism for garden shredders. Garden waste recycling technology, equipped with a turbine system with milling waste cutting, is a powerful and efficient mechanism. Such a design, as a rule, occupies higher lines of chopper ratings in comparison with units with disk systems of knives, and has a number of obvious advantages:

• milling structures for cutting garden waste will cope with thick and dry branches and even with the processing of wood of tree trunks up to 45 centimeters in diameter;
• the presence of a special mechanism for retracting branches eliminates the need to constantly push garbage into the funnel of the apparatus;
• the presence of reverse and adjustment of debris fractions in some milling models allows you to grind waste to the required size.

There are turbine universal garden shredders. These are devices whose construction includes two turbine shafts at once. On each shaft milling designs of knives are located. The counter rotation of these structures allows you to chop even the hardest waste.Such devices for the processing of garden and gardening waste occupy, as a rule, the highest lines of ratings in a number of equipment of this kind.

How to choose the right chopper for the garden

Modern specialized retail chains and pages of online stores offer a huge selection of garden equipment, including garden shredders. To facilitate the selection, it is worth studying the overview of garden shredders, which are classified by capacity, scope of use and design features:

• amateur shredders for a garden or a garden (a grinding ratio of 5: 1) are designed to perform small amounts of work that will cope with the processing of small branches, grass and foliage;
• the middle class includes garden shredders (grinding ratio 8: 1), which process waste from large shrubs, branches of adult trees and fallen fruits with seeds;
• professional machines for grinding garden debris (10: 1 grinding coefficient) are made exclusively from gasoline engines with a milling and turbine system of knives and can easily process the hardest waste.

It should be understood that professional shredders, which occupy the top lines of ratings, are much more expensive than other devices for recycling garden waste. When deciding how to choose a garden shredder so that its useful activity is maximum, it is not enough just to study the ratings of units for processing garden waste. To choose the really best garden shredder, experts recommend:

• accurately determine what kind of garbage is recycled, and in what volumes the apparatus is purchased;
• determine the price category of the grinder;
• make a list of necessary characteristics: weight, dimensions, mobility (availability of wheels);
• it is worth choosing a grinder with an inclined funnel design, which will greatly facilitate its use;
• take into account the presence of a special pusher for garbage in the configuration of the garden shredder;
• purchase a device that allows you to adjust the speed and size of the fractions of the waste;
• Considering the conditions in which it is planned to operate the chopper, select the type of power supply for the drive;
• determine the waste cutting system based on the potential conditions of use of the grass shredder and branches;
• to evaluate the material of which the cottage unit housing is made, metal cases are reliable, but at the same time have a lot of weight, and plastic ones are much lighter, but less durable;
• to clarify the presence of a protection system, simple and complete instructions for use, spare parts and additional components, allowing to expand the scope of use of the device.

Choosing a device for processing garden waste, it would be nice to study the rating of the main manufacturers. The specific operating conditions, price category and set of necessary technical characteristics will become decisive when deciding which shredder for the garden or kitchen garden should be chosen.