Tools and Materials
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Wood Chipper Maintenance
We’ve got general maintenance steps for a gas-powered wood chipper, but your chipper manual and engine manual each have procedures specific to your chipper. Always follow the safety and maintenance instructions for your machine.
Before doing any cleaning, inspection or maintenance on a wood chipper, turn the machine off. Make sure all moving parts have stopped. Allow the engine to cool for at least five minutes and then disconnect the spark plug wire.
Never run the engine in a garage, even with doors and windows open, or any other enclosed space.
1. Clean and Inspect the Wood Chipper
Inspect the machine before every use and make sure it’s ready for work:
- Brush away any wood chips on the machine.
- Use a soft-bristle brush to clean around the engine control linkage, cooling fins and muffler.
- Make sure the areas around the oil reservoir and gas cap are clean.
- Check the fasteners on the machine and tighten them as necessary.
- Make sure all guards are in good shape and in place.
- Check the oil level and add engine oil, if necessary.
- Check the air filter and clean or replace, if necessary.
- Lubricate moving parts as recommended by your manual.
2. Maintain the Wood Chipper Engine
Engine manufacturers recommend different maintenance periods for their engines, including every 25, 50 or 100 hours of operation or on a monthly and yearly basis. Follow the schedule and steps for your engine. Here are the most common chipper engine maintenance items:
- Drain the oil and add fresh oil. Dispose of the used oil properly. If the machine is new, you may need to replace the oil after five hours of operation.
- Replace the paper component of the air filter.
- Clean the foam air filter element, or if it’s damaged, replace it.
- Clean or replace the spark plug and adjust the electrode gap, if necessary.
- If your machine has a fuel filter replace it according to your manual recommendations.
- If your machine has a spark arrestor make sure it’s not damaged.
3. Check the Wood Chipper Blades and Knives
Shredder blades and flail blades, if equipped, turn small landscape debris to mulch, while chipper knives or blades reduce larger branches to wood chips. After repeated use, the shredding blades and chipper knives dull and might become chipped or damaged. You can often replace the shredding components and sharpen or replace the knives:
- Remove the chipper chute to access the cutting wheel.
- Immobilize the cutting wheel and loosen the hardware securing the blades and knives to the wheel.
- Inspect the blades. If the shredder and flail blades are dull, replace them. If the chipper blades are dull, replace them with new blades or have them professionally sharpened. With some machines, you can sharpen dull chipper knives yourself. Check your manual for the correct tools, sharpening angle, etc. Some blades are reversible. You can flip them to the sharp side to avoid sharpening, but at some point, both edges will need sharpening.
- If any blade or knife is damaged, replace it before using the chipper again.
- Reinstall the shredding blades, knives and chipper chute.
Be careful handling the blades and knives. They might be sharp.
Wood Chipper Storage Tips
Storing your chipper correctly ensures it’s ready for use the next time you need it. Steps vary based on how long you store the machine as well as the machine itself, but here are the common practices:
Prepare a Wood Chipper for Short-Term Storage
Short-term storage ranges from a couple of days up to a month:
- If you’ll be using the chipper in a couple of days, close the fuel valve and allow the machine to burn off the fuel remaining in the engine. If you won’t be using the machine for up to 30 days, your manual may specify adding a fuel stabilizer and running it through the engine for a few minutes before closing the fuel valve and burning off the fuel.
- Turn the chipper off, allow it to cool and disconnect the spark plug wire.
- Brush off any debris.
- Store the machine in a dry place, away from heat and ignition sources, out of reach of children and out of direct sunlight. If you’re storing it with fuel, make sure the storage area has good ventilation.
Prepare a Wood Chipper for Long-Term Storage
Long-term storage is for a period longer than 30 days and requires some additional preparation:
- Add fuel stabilizer and run the engine to burn off the fuel and stabilizer mix as indicated in Step 1 in the short-term storage instructions.
- Turn the chipper off, allow it to cool and disconnect the spark plug wire.
- Change the oil and dispose of the used oil properly.
- Lubricate the engine cylinder. Take the spark plug out and apply about an ounce of oil into the plug socket. Reinstall the plug and slowly pull the starter cord a few times to spread the oil.
- If your machine has a battery, follow the battery care instructions in your manual.
- Clean off debris and store the chipper in a dry place, away from heat and ignition sources, out of reach of children and out of direct sunlight. If you’re storing it with fuel in the tank, provide good ventilation.