Once you have used a power broom you’ll have a hard time living without one. If you have an artificial turf section of lawn or athletic field to take care of, you’d be one of the most common power broom owners. But power brooms do so much more than help care for artificial turf. In this article we’ll go over some of the most common uses of power brooms, how to care for your power broom, and what you’ll need to consider when shopping for a power broom.
What Does A Power Broom Do?
First, the most common use of a power broom is taking care of your artificial turf. If you have a high traffic area or walkway in your artificial turf, you’ll notice it will start to lay down or appear to get a memory. This is much like what happens with real grass. The benefit of artificial turf however, is that it only looks bad, and doesn’t turn to a dirt path. If you have a power broom, either a rental or your own machine, it’s one of the only ways to keep your high traffic turf looking its best.
Power Brooms For Turf Maintenance
There’s a reason professional groundskeepers use power brooms on professional playing fields. The wear and tear of heavy use athletic fields doesn’t just happen to the pros. Soccer fields, football fields, field hockey fields, etc. all will need a power broom at some point. If you have a power broom available for use at all times, you can easily adjust your schedule to set aside time at regular intervals to power broom. This will not only make a turf surface look better, it will help the field last longer and keep play fair and enjoyable for everyone on the field.
Alternative Ways To Use Power Brooms
If you have a parking lot or sidewalk you need to maintain you might want to consider a power broom. If you live in a cold climate you may find the power broom is a godsend when it comes to clearing those dustings of snow you might otherwise need to use salt to clear.
A power broom can simply sweep away the snow and minimize your use of snow melt to the worst storms. When you have a power broom you’ll also make spring cleanup a breeze. No longer will you be stuck sweeping up the sand by hand on the sidewalk and the grit in the parking lot.
Using a power broom is the fastest way to eliminate the mess of the winter and the dirt of the summer. Likewise, if you live in a dusty area like the southwest United States, you may find a power broom is the exact tool you need to clean up after a dust storm blows through.
How To Maintain A Power Broom
Like any tool in your toolshed, a power broom needs maintenance. This will of course differ from power broom to power broom. For example, if you have a gas powered power broom you’ll have different maintenance requirements than an electric. Additionally, with an electric power broom, you’ll need to keep your battery packs in top shape, and eventually replace the battery packs to keep your working time at the maximum between recharges.
With a gas powered power broom, you’ll want to perform an annual maintenance at least once a year. It may sound strange, but yes, sometimes you need to perform annual maintenance more than once per year. If you maintain multiple athletic fields, or find yourself using the power broom more than once a week, you may find you are a candidate for maintenance every six months or so. This will consist of an oil change, lubrication at all the lubrication points, and a fundamental checkup of the various serviceable systems. This varies greatly from one power broom to another.
Why Do Power Brooms Have So Many Attachments?
In some cases like the Echo power broom, you may find yourself using the power broom motor for some of the other available tasks. Once you realize the variety of attachments, it soon becomes apparent the Echo is the Swiss army knife of backyard maintenance tools. This variety of uses means you may use the motor for more than a power broom. You can use the string trimmer attachment, brush cutter, and so on.
Additionally, if you are like many groundskeepers out there, you may want to have a power broom brush you only use on artificial turf. With the Echo you can purchase multiple power broom heads, and swap them out whenever you need to switch from snow removal and sidewalk duty to artificial turf duty. The modular nature of the Echo power broom is one of the major reasons this is often the unit available for rent from hardware stores. When one component breaks or needs service the whole machine is not out of service.
Though power brooms are mostly popular for use in artificial lawns, you can use them on your real lawn as well to sweep out unwanted sticks, leaves and debris. These are the constant frustrations of homeowners that make your lawn not quite perfect.
Best Electric & Gas Power Broom 2023 Reviews
Invalid table id.What To Look For In A Power Broom
When you shop for your power broom, you’ll want to look at a few basic features. We find that size and power source are the most important attributes of a power broom. In addition, always look at reviews, warranties, price and other generic ways to make your decision. Power brooms are an investment, but they will make your backyard look beautiful.
Power Broom Size
First, how big is the power broom head? How wide? How large is the area you need the power broom for? This question can send you in a number of different directions. IF you are maintaining an athletic field, you may want a large purpose built power broom meant for maintaining an athletic field like a Briggs and Stratton or even a John Deere attachment. These can easily be found at your local dealer.
Perhaps you know you’ll be using the power broom for clearing a sidewalk in winter. In that case, you’ll probably want to buy a smaller sized power broom. Whereas if you’re clearing a parking lot in spring you’ll probably want yet another size power broom. Keep in mind even when you buy the larger tractor attachment size power brooms, you’ll still want an Echo PAS 2620or a small walk behind like the GDAE10broom on hand for those tight spots around the goal posts on an athletic field, or along the curb lines of a parking lot or driveway.
Power Source (Electric vs. Gas)
Next, you’ll want to consider electric versus gas powered. Since there really are not any electric versions which merit consideration, only buy one if you absolutely need to. Once they have been around a bit longer, you might find they become a better fit. One company to watch is PerfectGroom.
This up and coming company has several electric models available. Namely, the 40Lpower broom and 25Lversion are growing in popularity. The major difference between the two is the size of the mesh bag attachment. Neither models have much of a track record on the market. If you have experience with either, we’d love to hear more about it.
How Much Does A Power Broom Cost?
Power brooms are generally priced between $250 – $500. Electric versions are more expensive than gasoline power brooms. Electric power brooms are a relatively new invention. Therefore, much like gasoline vs. electric lawn mowers, the electricity-powered models are a higher price. We expect the average prices to even out in the coming years once electric power brooms are more common.
Power Broom Summary
Now you understand that power brooms can be used for many things. They’re a jack of all trades backyard tool. You can clean artificial turf, remove snow and even move dirt on live grass. Power brooms come both gasoline and electricity powered. We recommend gasoline power brooms because they are more reliable and less expensive. If you plan to use a power broom more than 2-3 times, buy one instead of renting one. Expect to spend somewhere between $250 – $500 on your power broom. Consider the size and power source you’d prefer before making a purchase decision.
