Researchers attempted to answer this question by studying 44 professional chainsaws.The researchers aimed to determine the service life and maintenance costs of professional forestry chainsaws. The data was sourced from a large workshop which maintained the chainsaws of forestry teams in north western Italy. The results showed that chainsaw service life exceeded 3000 hours and the saws were used for between six and nine years.
The maintenance costs averaged Euro 820, which was approximately 120% of the investment costs of the saw. The annual usage was the highest and the maintenance cost the lowest for mid-size chainsaws (between 2 and 3.5 kW). The engine and the carburettor were the components requiring the most maintenance (45% of the total), with the average chainsaw requiring 31 maintenance interventions during its life. The cost for each maintenance intervention varied between Euro 7 and Euro 50. Engine repairs incurred the highest costs. Parts made up two-thirds of the total repair costs and labour costs made up the remainder.
The research results were published in the Croatian Journal of Forest Engineering, 34 (2) (2013). The title was “Long term repair and maintenance cost of some professional chainsaws”. The authors were A Calvo, M Manzone and R Spinelli. Source: http://www.crojfe.com/articles-754