Subject: Re: Electric Chipper/Shredder

From: [email-masked] (CLNichols)
Date: 25 Mar 1995 11:50:20 -0500

Subject: Electric Chipper/Shredder
>From: [email-masked] (QTSINC)
>Date: 24 Mar 1995 14:05:57 -0500
>Message-ID: <[email-masked]>

>I am in the market for an electric chipper/shredder.  I have sent for
>brochures from Patriot but am wondering if anyone else owns one/has had
>any experience with one.  I am not a fan of gas powered machinery in
>general so I will go to electrical route or won't go at all.  Any
>suggestions or tips appreciated.  

Last year I bought, and returned, an electric chipper/shredder from
Gardener's Supply.  It had only a 1.5 hp motor and in general did not
perform close to what I expected.  It chopped neither branches nor leaves
very well, clogged with the leaves, and tossed 5" chunks of branches out
of the stick feeder at me.  It was difficult to push small branches into
the feeder, and if a branch wan't perfectly straight  (and what branch
is?) it wouldn't  go into the feeder either.  Before I would purchase
another chipper shredder I will rent one.  And I'll bet that I would end
up with a gas powered one, or at least a much more powerful motor.

Cindy

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From: [email-masked] (QTSINC)
Date: 24 Mar 1995 14:05:57 -0500

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From: [email-masked] (jack paul)
Date: Sun, 26 Mar 1995 20:00:52 GMT

>up with a gas powered one, or at least a much more powerful motor.

I agree with Cindy, don't waste your money. I have a 5hp gas powered
chipper/shredder and at times even *it* struggles. IMHO, unless all
you want to do is shred "dry" grass & leaves (and Cindy claims they
don't even do a good job with leaves), don't buy an electric unit,
you'll regret it. Take a lesson from Tim 'Tool Time' Allen and go
for the power! 

Jack & Linda Paul
Hereford, Pa. USA
[email-masked]

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From: Jacqueline Bocian <[email-masked]>
Date: 29 Mar 1995 07:53:17 GMT

I concur with the anti-electric chipper/shredder crowd.  I bought an
electric leaf-shredder from Sears.  I usually have to run even the
dry crispy leaves through twice to get a product I can tell did not
just fall off a tree!  If you don't want to invest in a gas c/s, 
you can look in your local paper for a peripatetic shredder, who will
come to your house for a small fee and bring his/her machine, and do
all of your saved material at once.
Jacqueline Bocian

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From: [email-masked] (Steve Offiler)
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 1995 17:52:45

>>>suggestions or tips appreciated.  

I saw a couple other posts supporting gas-powered chipper/shredders.  
You state quite clearly it's electric or nothing at all.  These folks 
are correct in telling you the performance of an electric is far below 
gas, but....

The problem is power.  Simple.  The absolute maximum horsepower you can 
pull out of a standard 110V outlet is just over 2HP, and to avoid blowing 
fuses most manufacturers don't provide 110V products beyond about 1.5HP.  (*DO 
NOT* believe the lies touting greater than 2HP on *ANY* 110V appliance, but 
that's another story).

When I was shopping for my C/S, I noticed one electric in the local 
WantAd's(can't remember the brand name, sorry) with a big, beefy, 220 volt 
motor.  Now *that* might be one to look at.  220V is very uncommon for plug-in 
appliances, with the exception of stoves, dryers, a few A/C's, and 
serious stationary power tools.  Therefore, to even justify its existance in 
the marketplace it must have something going for it (performance, I hope).  
You'd have a lot of additional hassle to deal with:  special extension cord, 
220V outlet.

I ended up with an excellent used 5HP (gas) Craftsman, but you don't want to 
hear about that.

Steve O.

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From: [email-masked] (Steven M. Begley)
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 01:59:46 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> Jacqueline Bocian <[email-masked]> writes:

I'll add my $.02. 

I have a 5hp 4 stroke gas chipper/shredder. It has a heavy 
chipper head/flywheel and "eats" just about anything I can feed it. I think 
anything less than 5 hp would be a waist of time & money spent on it, at least 
for my yard, which is a little under an acre.

It takes about 850 watts to generate 1hp. Do the math and you'll see why an 
electric unit can not possibly be powerful enough for any serious work.

Stven

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From: helen ruth etters <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 14:29:20 -0500

> I ended up with an excellent used 5HP (gas) Craftsman, but you don't want to 

But I do.  About what do they cost?   Are they easy to use?

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From: [email-masked] (Steve Offiler)
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 13:33:58

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Steven M. Begley) writes:
>From: [email-masked] (Steven M. Begley)
>Subject: Re: Electric Chipper/Shredder
>Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 01:59:46 GMT

>electric unit can not possibly be powerful enough for any serious work.

Thought I'd add a quick comment here.  The purist might arque, correctly, that 
one HP is precisely 746 watts, not 850.  However, there is an underlying 
message in Steven's post.

AC electric motors will actually draw slightly more current than they turn 
into useful work (this is called "power factor" but it's whole other story).  
One true HP, 746 watts, would be 746 W / 115 V = 6.49 amps.  BUT a typical 1 
HP motor draws more like 7.4 amps, and 7.4 A x 115 V = 851 watts which I 
believe must be the basis for the statement above.

In reality that 851 "watts" calculated above isn't wattage, it's 
"volt-amperes", but again, that's another story.  You're doing very well if 
you can get a *true* 2HP motor to run on a typical 115 volt, 15 amp circuit.  
You're pretty close to blowing that fuse.

Now, watch the manufacturer's claims about HP!  I've seen vacuum cleaners that 
supposedly have 4HP motors.  Total marketing bull %$^&.  y

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From: [email-masked] (Steven M. Begley)
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 01:59:46 GMT

I'll add my $.02. 

Stven

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From: helen ruth etters <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 14:29:20 -0500

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From: [email-masked] (Steve Offiler)
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 13:33:58