Reviews & Guides

How to Clean a Leaf Blower Air Filter

  • Date: September 10, 2021
  • Time to read: 3 min.

How to Clean a Leaf Blower Air Filter

When it comes to any mechanical lawn equipment that you may have in your shed, the most important thing to do is to perform regular maintenance. Not only does this allow your equipment to perform optimally, but it also improves life expectancy of it as well. This is especially the case when it comes to your leaf blower. There are a lot of parts that need to be maintained and cleaned regularly, including the air filter.

Since airflow is the name of the game for a leaf blower, it is especially important to not fall behind on maintenance with the air filter.

How often should I clean the air filter?

This will depend on how much you use your leaf blower. If you are using it on a regular basis, then you will need to clean your air filter more often. However, if you only use it occasionally then you will not need to clean it as often. It will depend on the manufacturer, but the average usage before needing a good cleaning is anywhere between 10 to 20 hours of use.

Once your filter starts looking dirty, it is time to consider giving it a good and thorough cleaning.

So how do I clean my air filter anyway?

The first thing you will want to do is remove the air filter cover. Once you have accomplished that, then you will want to take the air filter out of the leaf blower. Be sure to remove or detach the sponge from the filter, these are the parts you are going to want to regularly clean.

Once you have the sponge in hand, get some warm water and soap. Take that warm water and soap and then lightly soak and clean the filter with it. You won’t need to soak the sponge for too long, probably no more than a few minutes at most. After you have given the sponge a quick bath, rinse it thoroughly with clean water.

Once you have gotten all the soapy water out of the sponge, the next step is to let the sponge air dry. Depending on the size of the sponge, it may take an hour or so for the sponge to fully dry. Then once you have a nice and dry sponge, it is recommended that you apply a couple of drops of oil onto the sponge before you load it back into your leaf blower.

The importance of replacing filters

Some leaf blowers have a paper filter. While you can simply knock the dirt out of them and put it back in, you will eventually need to replace the filter. If you seldom use your leaf blower, you can easily get away with replacing it once a year. However, if you are a professional then you will likely need to replace your filter once every month or two depending on what it is you do.

Easy steps, clean filter

As you can see, it isn’t difficult to clean the air filter. But it is an important thing to keep up with, as a leaf blower that is poorly maintained will not do a particularly good job with blowing leaves off of the property.