Electric Chipper Shredders – Leaf Shredders – Compost Garden Chippers Reviews

For anyone who is interested in composting, one of the tools that helps a great deal in speeding up the process of making compost is a chipper shredder. And every fall the homeowner with a tree faces the job of getting rid of the leaves without filling the landfills.There are a number of different options for chipping your yard and garden waste. Without a doubt the large gas powered chipper shredders will do the fastest job and handle the largest branches. But the gas powered shredders are often out of the price range of the average home gardener. But the electric chipper shredders are priced much less, and can pretty much handle the yard waste for the average gardener. Here is a look at a couple of electric chipper models, along with features you may want to make sure you have in the chipper you get for your yard.

The first thing to note about any electric yard tool is that they are going to be limited to about a 15 amp model. Most house electric circuits are rated at 15 amps, and even if there were more current available, an extension cord would not do a good job of delivering the current. Work through the math, and you will find your are limited to about a little over 2 horsepower engine for your chipper. Some manufacturers will find a way to call that 2.5 HP peak, but the reality is that’s all you’re going to get from running off a typical 120V outlet. McCulloch makes a unit that size.

Contrast that with the 4, 5 or even 10 HP engines on a large gas powered chipper shredder, and you see why there is a difference in capabilities. But, you get the advantage of no gas engine emissions, quick starting, no oil changes, and much less noise, and you almost never run out of electricity.

But a 2.5 HP engine can do a serious job of chipping. One feature that will vary by manufacturer is the size of branch that can be chipped. 1 1/2 inches is about the limit for an electric chipper, this of course will vary some based on the type of wood and how green it is.

Electric Leaf Shredder $149.00 Store: Gardener’s Supply Company Electric Chipper $199.00 Store: Gardener’s Supply Company

For the most part, you will likely be doing more shredding of refuse and leaves, so take a good look at the hopper. Safety is concern number 1, make sure that you won’t get your hands in too far. But after that, take a look at the hopper design to see if it will handle the size of branches and leaves you expect. A good feature to look for is a tamper that allows you to push debris in without endangering yourself.

Some shredders have a bag to capture the shredded mulch, others just dump it into a pile on the ground. The bag can be handy, but they will tear and wear out eventually, so buy a spare or two when you get the shredder.

You may need to sharpen or replace the blades after some use. Look for either a reversible set of blades or blades that are easy to access for replacement.

You likely won’t be storing the shredder near you normal work area, so take a look at the wheels and the base. Make sure the wheels are large enough to roll easily over the garden terrain.

If you aren’t going to be doing a lot of chipping of branches, you can save some money by buying a leaf shredder. A leaf shredder will have a smaller engine, and wont have the chipping blade of a regular chipper shredder, but it can do a good job of shredding leaves for mulch or the compost pile, or even spreading on the fall garden to be tilled under.

They will often have a larger hopper, and one from Gardeners Supply or FLowtron has an adjustable shredding level, and it will straddle a garbage can so you can use that to capture the shredded leaves. With the leaf shredders you have to be a little more careful when feeding them, as sticks and small branches may start to clog things up. Some, like the Flowtron models, use lines instead of blades to do the shredding, something like a string trimmer. For leaves this works great, but it doesn’t do much with the sticks you often get falling off the trees along with the leaves.

For any of these shredders, they will be drawing a LOT of current, so do NOT go cheap on the extension cord you use for powering, make sure it’s rated for 15 amps, and don’t even think about cascading 2 of them. Just feel the heat generated in the cord when you are using it, that heat is power that could have been going to the shredder instead of heating up the cord. After investing all that money in a good electric shredder don’t have it underperform because you didn’t give it the power it needed.