Just curious as to what you notice to change intake air supply. I usually cut 3 seasons and a typical year snow is what ends being able to safely move while operating a saw way before temperature impacts me. However, I was told a tree that should have been addressed years ago is now making a person nervous about an outbuilding and if I want the wood I can have it. They will move the snow and put it on the ground so I don't have any worry about a bad tree fall across the building. My question is having not cut much below about 20°, I've never messed with changing the air gate from the warm to cold on my carb. When do you alternate the air gate, what performance changes do you see, any other cold weather tips to save abuse on the saw?
I would check what the saw mfg. recommends but would imagine that the air gate would or should be in winter position to allow it to get warm air from engine to the carb. The main reason for this is to prevent carb. from icing up. Being a race engine builder for many years I can tell you that air temperature , density ,humidity just to name a few does make a difference in power but highly doubt you would notice any change in this case. Also if really cold you might also want to consider a winter grade bar oil , I know Stihl makes some ( no I am not in sales for them ) and not sure who else makes a winter grade. I have a gallon that I bought years ago and think I only used it once in extreme cold. If it's that cold I am going to be home burning wood and not cutting it. Maybe in my younger days but not now.
I've never had carb icing problems and have never used the gate. The only thing I notice is the saw will run leaner the colder it gets. I set them on the safe side when cold and don't touch in the Summer when the will be pretty rich.
I have never had a problem cutting in cold weather with the gates on the summer setting. The only time I've put them to winter setting was when it's really cold like zero degrees or below. Most owners manuals will tell you that you can switch the gate at 30 degrees. I do 90 percent of my cutting in the winter as I have more time and cold doesn't bother me. Tuning the saw for the colder, denser air is more important. Sent from my SM-G930VL using Tapatalk
I never had any issues my self with icing but never really cut when it is extremely cold unless it would happen to be a situation where I had to cut. Not sure if in the 20 degree range it it would be necessary to flip the air shutter or not. Yes in-deed , cooler air will lean an engine out since air is less dense you can shove more into the cylinder and with that you also can burn more fuel so fattening it up is a good call ; better to be a little on the safe side. If its that cold I will be sitting by the fire watching all my hard work go up in flames and enjoying a beer.
My 362CM 461 and 661CM manuals all say change to the winter setting below 50°F. I always do and never had an issue with any of the saws' performance in very cold weather. Not being a mechanic type of guy I follow Stihl's recommendations for fuel mix, shutter settings and the like.
I had my old 3700 out last week testing a chain at 16*. Saw doesn't have a winter shutter and had no problems. I lifted in the first cut to make sure the tune was safe.
I put my winter shutters in when’s it’s below 30 and use Stihl winter weight bar oil. Works great for me. hopefully I’ll be taking the shutters out real soon, but problem got about 6 weeks or so. We'll see what the ground hog saws about that
