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I have a Flymo L400 mower with a Tecumseh TC300 engine. Before buying this, I noticed a few mowers had a snorkel, and I had no idea why they had one. After a couple goes on the L400, I quickly understood why there was a need for a snorkel.

So, is it possible to add on a snorkel to this engine? I know I could just stick on a flexible tube and duct tape it, but I'm looking for a more elegant solution.

Don't understand what you are talking about, snorkel? The only thing that I know of that uses snorkels are ATV's so they can run them in deep water. So why would you need something like this a lawn mower? :confused2:

That was exactly my thought when I first saw snorkels on a mower! The reason is that my mower does not have a grass collector, and the air filter on my mower is very close to the ground, so it picks up a lot of grass. Every time after I use the mower, I have to remove the air filter, clean it out and put it back in. Examples of what I mean are this, this and this.

2" PVC and a motorcycle breather

Victa, the worlds best push mower,( sings Advance Australia fair in head, stands up & salutes the flag ) worked out that mowers need to pull air from up the top of the handle bars way back in 1956 and have been doin so since then which is why their engines run for 50+ years with very little problems.
Honda have just finally cottoned on and now do snorkels as standard fitment to the commercial range.
In fact all Australian made mowers with Australian engines have snorkels fitted.

So go ahead and fit one, best thing you can do for your mower.
Just check the plug as the snorkel does restrict air flow which can cause the engine to run a little rich.
Honda used to do a snorkel accessory which always came with a warning about jets but having fitted 30 or so Victa snorkels to Hondas I have never found one that was so rich it needed new jets.
Caveat is that they all did run a little rich, not enough to be a problem but enough to take them outside EPA regulations.
The Honda kit is $ 120 down here which is why I use the Victa one $ 20 second hand.
Best is to fit a filter at the top of the tube and whatever you do, do not run a filter at both the top & bottom or you will be runnig rich.
Convoluted tubing works better as it is less likely to crush and flexes with the mower.
Swimming pool filter tube should work really well is you can not find any handy tube.

Eddles said:

That was exactly my thought when I first saw snorkels on a mower! The reason is that my mower does not have a grass collector, and the air filter on my mower is very close to the ground, so it picks up a lot of grass. Every time after I use the mower, I have to remove the air filter, clean it out and put it back in. Examples of what I mean are this, this and this.

Click to expand...

I do see what you are talking about, just never seen one over here in the states or a reason for a snorkel.

Yes it is a bit of a rort.
OTOH it does mean I get lots of call outs for "black smoke coming out of my mower and it is running very slow".
So I show them how to clean out the pre filter, book in a servoce for latter on and don't charge a call out so get a life long customer who thinks I am great even more so when he finds out the place he bought it from charged some one else $ 90 to come out & do the same thing.

It is staggering.
I do annual services on B & S engines and they are just about choked closed.
Honda's are even worse. Some have so much crud in there you have to pry the filter out .
I have never had to replace a Victa ( or Rover or Super Swift or Greenfields ) air filter because it was dirty, ever.
Usually they get so many spider webs in there , red backs primarily , that the dirt & grass stuck in the web is all that needs to be removed.
Done some mowers 30 years old still with perfect original air filters.
They do get replaced as part of a 10 year service along with the 5 "O" rings ,fuel lines & cut out boot.
That will keep the power torque running well for another 10 years.

Here is what we used o get down here


The filter sits in the cylinder up the top

I would think its the location where you live. Here in upper NY we live by a large fresh water lake Ontario. I do change air filters yearly but they are far from plugged. Even filters that never get changed are never plugged. We just don't get that much much dust in the air. Then winter equipment like snow blowers don't have any air filters at all.

I like the idea of adding the snorkel to my riders, when I cut the fields at my farm the ground is very dusty under the grass and it seems we are stopping to clean and or replace the air filters two or more times a day. I can see how raising the air intake higher up might help. Time to do some figuring.
Tom

Don't be surprised if snorkels appear in the Houston area with the word BILL on them.:laughing:

Dang it, can't seem to get the picture to show unless it is like that. Grrrrr

I've never had to replace an air filter because it was clogged up with dirt and dust. I normally blow them out with compressed air once every two months or so and I can see some "stuff" coming out but nothing that would render them garbage. On a snow blower there isn't any...just a heater box...no air filter and never a problem. My blower (with HS50 engine) was made in '78 and runs like a champ...BTW.

I can say with confidence. I clean out my air filters bi-weekly. And so much dirt, dust, grass clippings, weed seeds, etc is in there that it's a noticeable difference in performance .. mower gets run 9hrs a day 5 days a week

Rigged up a snorkel for my "home maid brush mower" to try to keep it from getting clogged up and I will say it worked like a charm. I used a filter adapter from a bad carb and a three foot long piece of plastic electrical flex tubing. A couple of pieces of PVC pipe I had floating around and it was done.
Used it the past few days while clearing tall weeds and lite brush around the farm.