7 HP Tecumseh with auto throttle/idle-down, 1-gallon tank. I've burned up that gallon in as little as an hour splitting hard, stringy Red Elm... and it's run all day on a gallon splitting straight-grained ash... just depends on the wood.
...I usually only run about half throttle.
Air cooled engines are designed to run at full throttle (or more correctly, maximum RPM’S), especially while under a load. Because air cooled engines (usually) use a fan on the flywheel and some sort of shrouding to direct the air, running your small engine at half throttle causes it to run hotter because of the reduced air flow, causing it to wear faster… much faster. Also, running at half throttle can starve the engine of lube… a “splash” type will not be properly lubed under load at half throttle, and if it’s a “pressure” lube type the oil pressure will be low at half throttle. As far as fuel usage… A small air-cooled engine under load will use more fuel at half throttle to accomplish the same amount of work because it doesn’t have the benefit of RPM and torque. So if you put all this together… running a small air-cooled engine at half throttle causes the engine to run at a higher temperature, with less lube, using more fuel, for a longer period of time, at a higher wear rate, to accomplish the same amount of work. Contrary to the belief of many, running small engines at something less than full throttle is many times harder on them than running wide-open… it will reduce their useful life dramatically… it seriously makes no sense.
Running your splitter at half throttle also can cause problems with the hydraulics. At less than rated RPM the pump can never develop maximum pressure or rate of flow… that causes the pump to work longer for any given amount of work, causes the oil to be under load longer for any given amount of work and with the reduced rate of flow the oil will not be cooled as efficiently.
I've got both a 5k and a 10k Onan generator. They both are air cooled and designed to run at half speed. I've also got an 18hp Briggs IC on a log splitter that runs at half or slightly higher. It's air cooled and in it's 21 year of operation getting at least 75 hours per year.
I think a little mis-information is being posted about air cooled engines.
… I've also got an 18hp Briggs IC on a log splitter that runs at half or slightly higher. It's air cooled and in it's 21 year of operation getting at least 75 hours per year… ...21 years of operation and it's still running strong. The 18 Briggs IC does have an oil pump and oil filter so it is a pressurized lube system .
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