Sprayer TSC Boom Sprayers

[MikefromMI]

A lot of people are doing this. You can save a lot of money. Used plastic 55 gal drums can be found all over for 5 -10$. I just didn't have the time back then. But it is really the way to go. Plus you can add seperate containers incase you want to mix something else while your spraying. Do a search... There's details all over this board.

 

[OkieG]

Eric,
The 50 gallon Fimco from TSC is the sprayer I have. It's probably 4 or 5 years old. I bought the PTO pump they recommended, which is the HyPro 6500. It pumps 9.7 gpm, which is more than enough for the sprayer.

This is the only sprayer I've used, so my breadth of experience is limited. However, the Fimco seems to work well. It is used to spray a couple acres 2-3 times a year. It's been reliable.

Three drawbacks for me:
1. When a tree trunk catches the 10' long boom, sometimes the nozzle on the end will be pulled off as the boom arm folds and brushes past the trunk. No big deal, but I have to stop and clip it back in place. I haven't found a way to keep that from happening.

2. Some sprayers come with a diverter valve and a handheld sprayer wand attachment. The Fimco did not. Seems like a cool option. My preference, though, is to load the last gallon or so into a separate hand pump sprayer and walk to the spots the larger sprayer can't get to.

3. The sprayer is not set-up to easily drain left-over liquid. I like to have a little left over for hand spraying. It's not too hard to splice fittings into the rubber hoses underneath the sprayer to make a drain hose. That's what I did this Spring. I mounted a brass (corrosion resistant?) water faucet to the metal sprayer frame and connected the drain hose to it. Now, at least, I can drain the extra chemical solution and not get it all over myself.

Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with the sprayer.

OkieG

 

[Eric_Phillips]

The price tag on te TSC sprayers have been making it difficult for me to get past my wife. Now that she knows she can use it to water the horse ring I have been given the OK to buy one. The thing is I need to get the weeds killed ASAP so I can start preping the ground for lawn around the house. So my problem with building my own is time and I don't weld so making a platform to carry the sprayer is a problem unless I buy something like the carry all form TSC. Does anyone have a source with excellent customer service for buying sprayer parts? The whole thing does not look difficult to build. The most engineering comes in the folding or break away boom. Right now the only obsticle in the area is my house so I think I can miss that so I can build a very simple boom for right now.

It sounds like there are no major problems with the Fimco sprayer. I have been reading several threads dealing with the PTO pumps and it has sunk in that I must do something to it when not in use. The Nutra-sol sounds like a good idea if the wife is going to be watering the horse ring.

Thanks,
Eric

 

[MadReferee]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Does anyone have a source with excellent customer service for buying sprayer parts? )</font>

I bought all my sprayer parts from Agri-Supply. There latest mini catalog is on-line. Good prices and great customer service.

Agri-Supply catalog

 

[Eric_Phillips]

Thank you for all the help. I ended up getting the Fimco sprayer form TSC. My wife decided the couple hundred dollars saved by trying to build my own right now was not worth the stress. To make it more useful I will be outfitting it with a PVC boom so she can water the horse ring when we get it put in.

Thanks,
Eric

 

[OkieG]

Eric,
The OEM nozzles put out a fairly fine spray. I believe several sizes of tips are available. You may need larger tips to dampen the horse ring very well.

Why a PVC boom?

OkieG

 

[Eric_Phillips]

My idea for the horse ring is to disconnect the stock boom and add a piece of PVC pipe that has holes drilled in it. Dealing with the nozzles and the pto pump as many times as she will be watering the ring will be too much work. Gravity will work just fine.
Eric