With petrol mowers, there are generally 2 ways of starting the engine.
- Recoil start
- Electric start
Recoil start
The recoil starter method is by far the most popular way of starting a lawnmower. There is a length of cord wrapped around spindle that when pulled, spins the crankshaft which in turn rotates the flywheel. With the ignition on, this causes the engine to fire up.
Older mowers required ‘muscle power’ to give the recoil cord a strong enough pull in order to start the engine but modern mowers with a recoil start are much easier to start.
Electric start
As with the way a car engine starts, an electric start on a mower engine works in a similar way. Rather than having a recoil cord to pull, you instead have an electric starter button or key turn which turns a starter motor. This is more convenient than having a recoil start but does come at a price usually. There’s also the need to keep the start motor battery charged although if you don’t, there’s always the recoil option to use as a backup.