Primer Bulb

What is a Primer Bulb? A Primer Bulb is a round bubble made from rubberized material placed on the side of a small engine. Primer Bulbs are used to start your equipment more easily and efficiently. However there are many small engines that do not use primer bulb and can be started without the use of the bulb. They are mainly used on small two cycle engines, but sometimes you can find them on four cycle engines. They are usually found in colors of clear, black, and red with clear being the most popular color because it allows you to see the fuel inside the bulb. You will usually find them on weed eaters, tillers, leaf blowers, snow blowers, mowers, chainsaws, edgers, power washers, and other equipment that use small engines. The primary purpose of the Primer Bulb is to draw fuel from the fuel reservoir to the carburetor. This is needed because it allows you to start the small engine with less engine pulls than without one. Once the engine is started the motor starts a vacuum from the fuel reservoir to carburetor allowing the small engine to get a constant supply of fuel. The primer bulb is more useful in cold weather climate than in a warm weather. They are also very useful if you run your fuel tank completely dry. After you fill your gas tank again it allows you to pump fresh gas back into the carburetor. Be careful when pressing the primer bulb because to many pushes can cause the engine to flood messing up the ratio of fuel to oxygen. One to two presses of the bulb are usually are all that are needed. A common problem with small engine equipment is that with weather and / or repeated use of the primer bulb it can become damaged with a small hole or cracking. Once your primer bulb has a hole or crack in it, it will break the vacuum pull from the fuel reservoir to the carburetor allowing air into the fuel system. This will usually cause intermittent running problems or the small engine will not start at all causing the bulb to need to be replaced, so the small engine will run correctly. The life expectancy of the bulb is about two years depending on the material used in the bulb. Most commercially designed small engines are made to be able to replace the bulb easily, but some non-commercial engines require you to replace the whole mechanism. If you need to find a primer bulb you can usually find one offline and at online small engine sales, repair, or rental stores. Common small engine equipment manufacturers that use primer bulbs are Stihl, Poulan, Husqvarna, John Deere, Ryobi, Homelite, Briggs and Stratton,  Tecumseh, Lawn Boy, Featherlite, Echo, Mccullough, and Toro.

The Homelite Company was started in 1921 with Charles H. Ferguson’s plans to design a small, lighter weight gasoline operated generator at his place of residence in Port Chester, New York. The Home Electric Lighting Company has since become known as Homelite. Throughout the years, Homelite has delivered many new and innovative products to homeowners.

Homelite Consumer Products manufactures a full-line of hand held outdoor power equipment including: string trimmers, blowers, chain saws, hedge trimmers, pressure washers, water pumps, a new line of generators and outdoor accessories for the retail consumer and for the hands on do-it-yourselfers. Homelite primer bulbs are own the majority of all their equipment. Homelite Primer Bulbs use a universal size as most other small engine manufacturers.