Sprayer ATV sprayers

[rswyan]

A couple of days ago the weather was looking pretty decent for the next 24 - 36 hours so I thought I would try and get my Roundup spraying done. I had sprayed a urea solution (46% nitrogen) on the lawn the day before and I hadn't bothered to clean out the tank afterwards, knowing that I would spray the next day if the weather looked good.

Before I started mixing the Roundup solution I decided that I would flush the tank, boom, and wand out with water. I pulled the tractor with sprayer attached around to the front of the garage and turned on the water and stuck the hose in the tank to fill it. As the tank was filling I turned on the pump, boom and wand to flush things out. After water started running out of the fill hole I cut the spigot off and just let the boom and wand run, while I sat there in a lawn chair reading the Roundup directions, periodically looking up to check the progress of emptying the tank. At some point I looked up and noticed that the tank was pretty much empty, the boom was no longer running but there was still a stream coming out of the wand. So I got up and shut off the pump, closed the drain valve and turned the spigot back on to fill the tank half way.

With the tank half full I decided to turn the pump on to adjust the nozzle on the wand before I had the tank filled with Roundup ......... nada ...... the pump is running but nothing is coming out. Tried the boom, wand, and bypass - all of them produced zip. It had been been working fine just a minute or two before ........

So I go call Fimco ..... I'm thinking it's the check valve again (my original pumps check valve had died last year and Fimco just replaced the whole pump) .... I want to confirm it's likely the check valve, which "Jim" (?) on the their tech support line says is a good candidate ..... and also offers to send out another check valve (freebie - even though technically I think I was over 1 year) I happily take him up on it (replacements are $20+) - it arrived today.

Over this last weekend I decided to take my original pump apart and have a look-see to check if I could see anything visually that might be amiss. I disassembled the pump - pretty easy - 6 bolts - and pulled it apart. No obvious tears or punctures in any of the rubber valves (there are about 6 or 7 of them) - but the valves and insides were coated with this white residue.

I tried cleaning it off with a toothbrush and some Dawn dishwashing soap in water. That really didn't touch it - the white residue reappeared after the parts dried. So then I decided to go a little more industrial-strength on it and got out my bottle of "Rubber Re-Nu". This is a solvent-based product that is used to "renew" rubber rollers on printers and copying machines when they get old and hard. It works very similar to lacquer thinner on rubber (which I ended up using as well) - it softens it up and gives it a new "tacky" surface. This worked much better and I was able to pretty much clean off all the white residue.

I put the pump back together but I still have to swap it out with the non-functional pump that is currently on the sprayer and test it to see if it works - probably won't get to that until Wednesday night or Thursday morning. Once I do, I'll post my results.

 

[Travis_R]

I bought the 16 gallon electric ATV spot sprayer from Northern Tools last year........I COULD NOT BE ANYMORE SATISFIED..............I WOULD ABSOLUTELY BUY ANOTHER FROM THEM, ONLY BIGGER, LIKE A 26 GALLON..................Mine has more than paid for itself, numerous of times............I strap it down (straps came with sprayer) on the back of my Honda 500 Foreman 4x4 and get to spraying round up in ditches, around trees, and the yard......I even make money with it.............My uncle used it yesterday to spray around his 80 acre fox pen, where he runs his Walker dogs........I gave $89 or $99 last year......It is $122 i think now.......

Travis R

 

[PineRidge]

A couple of days ago the weather was looking pretty decent for the next 24 - 36 hours so I thought I would try and get my Roundup spraying done. I had sprayed a urea solution (46% nitrogen) on the lawn the day before and I hadn't bothered to clean out the tank afterwards, knowing that I would spray the next day if the weather looked good.

Before I started mixing the Roundup solution I decided that I would flush the tank, boom, and wand out with water. I pulled the tractor with sprayer attached around to the front of the garage and turned on the water and stuck the hose in the tank to fill it. As the tank was filling I turned on the pump, boom and wand to flush things out. After water started running out of the fill hole I cut the spigot off and just let the boom and wand run, while I sat there in a lawn chair reading the Roundup directions, periodically looking up to check the progress of emptying the tank. At some point I looked up and noticed that the tank was pretty much empty, the boom was no longer running but there was still a stream coming out of the wand. So I got up and shut off the pump, closed the drain valve and turned the spigot back on to fill the tank half way.

With the tank half full I decided to turn the pump on to adjust the nozzle on the wand before I had the tank filled with Roundup ......... nada ...... the pump is running but nothing is coming out. Tried the boom, wand, and bypass - all of them produced zip. It had been been working fine just a minute or two before ........

So I go call Fimco ..... I'm thinking it's the check valve again (my original pumps check valve had died last year and Fimco just replaced the whole pump) .... I want to confirm it's likely the check valve, which "Jim" (?) on the their tech support line says is a good candidate ..... and also offers to send out another check valve (freebie - even though technically I think I was over 1 year) I happily take him up on it (replacements are $20+) - it arrived today.

Over this last weekend I decided to take my original pump apart and have a look-see to check if I could see anything visually that might be amiss. I disassembled the pump - pretty easy - 6 bolts - and pulled it apart. No obvious tears or punctures in any of the rubber valves (there are about 6 or 7 of them) - but the valves and insides were coated with this white residue.

I tried cleaning it off with a toothbrush and some Dawn dishwashing soap in water. That really didn't touch it - the white residue reappeared after the parts dried. So then I decided to go a little more industrial-strength on it and got out my bottle of "Rubber Re-Nu". This is a solvent-based product that is used to "renew" rubber rollers on printers and copying machines when they get old and hard. It works very similar to lacquer thinner on rubber (which I ended up using as well) - it softens it up and gives it a new "tacky" surface. This worked much better and I was able to pretty much clean off all the white residue.

I put the pump back together but I still have to swap it out with the non-functional pump that is currently on the sprayer and test it to see if it works - probably won't get to that until Wednesday night or Thursday morning. Once I do, I'll post my results.

Rswyan if you have another problem with that electric pump lets get you switched over to a more reliable PTO pump. You would love the difference in pressure.

 

[Rolando]

I've been looking at the sprayers at the TSC web site and was thinking I would get one of the trailer-mounted tanks. My question is, how do you decide what size tank is appropriate. I notice they have 30, 40 and 60 gallon trailer tanks. I'm guessing that it should be the amount that you would use in one session of spraying so ideally you end up with an empty tank.

I have a small 12 acre pecan grove, about 90 trees, that I'll be spraying. Is that enough information?

Can these tanks also be used to do some remote watering? Can the wand be used like a hose spigot, maybe by taking off the spray head?

 

[PineRidge]

I've been looking at the sprayers at the TSC web site and was thinking I would get one of the trailer-mounted tanks. My question is, how do you decide what size tank is appropriate. I notice they have 30, 40 and 60 gallon trailer tanks. I'm guessing that it should be the amount that you would use in one session of spraying so ideally you end up with an empty tank.

I have a small 12 acre pecan grove, about 90 trees, that I'll be spraying. Is that enough information?

Can these tanks also be used to do some remote watering? Can the wand be used like a hose spigot, maybe by taking off the spray head?

I spray roughly six acres of lawn and go through 130 gallons of solution. That is I fill my 65 gallon tank twice. I can live with that.

The wand or gun that I use has an adjustable spray-head and is capable of putting the chemical out at a pretty good distance. Our rig relies on a PTO driven pump, but the pressure stays constant.

 

[rswyan]

Rswyan if you have another problem with that electric pump lets get you switched over to a more reliable PTO pump. You would love the difference in pressure.

Thanks Mike. When the pump is working as it should I'm not really having much trouble with pressure - I get maybe 15 to 20 psi running the 7 nozzle boom. Really don't want any more than that - since more pressure = finer droplets = more chance of drift.

When I'm running the wand only, I think it will run 30 to 40 psi (open) which is enough for the spraying I do - all of it is fairly low to the ground. If I were trying to spray up into large trees (like spraying BT or something for gypsy moths up in my oaks) I'd need more psi to get up higher (and that day may come) - as it is now I probably can get up 20' to 25'.

What I'm really interested in is getting a larger tank - the 25 gallon is just too small for trying to spray 5 or so acres of lawn. I'm thinking I will end up going with something in the 65 to 100 gallon range. I sprayed both the upper and lower front yards today and I had to mix probably 7 or 8 tanks of solution - too much stopping/startingmeasuring/mixing to suit me. I'd guess I could cut the time it takes me in half if I had a 3x or 4x larger tank.

 

[rswyan]

Rolando,

How much soultion does it take to spray the pecan grove ?

My advice would be to buy a larger tank - you can always not fill it all the way. But if you get a small tank and it takes more than the tank will hold you will have to do the filling cycle multiple times - which I personally find to be a PITA and a time-waster.

 

[rswyan]

Ok, here's the update on the check valve cleaning/revitalization:

Long story short - it worked great !

I tried hooking up my original pump with the rehabbed check valve. When I switched it on I got nothing - pump wouldn't even run. It may have been the 12v cigarette/accessory plug on the lead to the pump - I did have to replace it later in the day.

So when the original pump wouldn't come on I pulled the rehabbed check valve and stuck it in the replacement pump that had quit working a few days ago. I turned it on and the pump ran - but no pressure initially. After about 15 or 20 seconds the pressure on the gauge came up, I assume as things seated in (or as the pump pulled solution up through the pickup tube)

So if your Fimco/Flojet electric pump appears to be running but no pressure save yourself $25 and pull the check valve and clean it up a bit - it will only take you 15 - 20 minutes to pull it, clean it, and reinstall.

It looks like these things are prone to to getting residue and deposits on the internal rubber parts - I'm not sure if it's the herbicide solution - or the Nutrasol cleaner I've been using. I'm going to switch to the ammonia cleaning solution recommended in the link Pineridge posted and see if that makes any difference.

 

[PineRidge]

What I'm really interested in is getting a larger tank - the 25 gallon is just too small for trying to spray 5 or so acres of lawn. I'm thinking I will end up going with something in the 65 to 100 gallon range. I sprayed both the upper and lower front yards today and I had to mix probably 7 or 8 tanks of solution - too much stopping/startingmeasuring/mixing to suit me. I'd guess I could cut the time it takes me in half if I had a 3x or 4x larger tank.

The good news is that with your sprayer mounted on a carry All, like it is, you certainly have room for a much larger tank. Do I sense a road trip to TSC coming soon?

I bet that they have some end of the season discounts.......