STIHL leaf blowers include various petrol, electric and battery models.
There are three lightweight hand-held petrol blowers which are suited to domestic and commercial applications, with air output ranging from 700 to 810 cubic metres of air output per hour. These machines are commonly used by Wellington households, schools, and garden care contractors. More heavy-duty operators commonly elect a backpack mounted blower which can deliver output of up to 1860 cubic metres of air per hour, with a popular model (BR 450 C-EF) having an electric start function.
There are two sized electric blowers available too. These machines are very popular for indoor applications (no fumes) or small domestic applications close to the home or garage.
Battery powered blowers are becoming very popular given they are powerful (845 cubic metres per hour for the BGA 85) lightweight, quieter to run, and cheaper to run and maintain than petrol models. The compact BGA 56 weighs in at only 2.1kg (excluding battery) and is ideal for the homeowner - with three different nozzle length settings. Commercial street cleaners in central Wellington have been recently using the BGA 100 in conjunction with the AR 3000 backpack battery to deliver a flow rate of 1030 cubic metres per hour. The quietness, comfort and long run times of these machines is an obvious benefit in this sort of application.
There are three models of vacuum shredders, two petrol and one electric. These machines can be used in either blowing or vacuum modes. The machines are near identical to the straight blowers, except for the option to attach vacuum tubes to the air intakes, and catching bags to the blower output (essentially using blowers in reverse). One notable difference is steel blades in the air intake which aid the movement of debris through the machine - subsequently breaking leaves into smaller pieces.
Common accessories for the blower / vacuum range include several different curved and flattened nozzles to suit specific cleaning applications, plus a gutter cleaning kit that assists with removing dirt and leaves from Wellington’s most clogged gutters - up to three meters high.