Your Weed Sprayer - Even the Little Stuff Matters

Your weed sprayer makes you money.  If it is running.  If your weed control sprayer is down for repairs, it is costing you money.  It is important that you are aware of where your downtime risks are on  your weed spray rig.
This photo of a weed spray trailer is a good example:

The mechanic for a local government agency called us to look at a weed spray trailer he was having problems with.  His purchasing department went low bid and bought the sprayer you see here.
There were many problems with this weed sprayer.  The one that scared me most was the cheap plastic fittings under the trailer. In order to get the cost down, the manufacturer used cheap plastic fittings below the spray trailer.
If or when one of these fittings crack (think summer heat, bad roads, debris on roads, etc.), the entire contents of the tank will spill. There is no way to shut it off.  You've just dumped 200 gallons of herbicide on a public street.   Can you say evening news?


When purchasing a weed control sprayer, it it important to know everything you are getting.  If you already have the sprayer, do a thorough inspection so you know what you have.  If you see weak points or risk factors, fix them.   The cost and time involved in a chemical spill cleanup are much greater than the cost of buying right the first time or fixing it before you have a problem.

Read more: http://www.qspray.com/blog/#ixzz2HUpXtkga

Right of Way Weed Sprayer

Weed Sprayer Right of Way, 200 Gallon.  We delivered this sprayer to Arizona Department of Transportation this week.  Photo shows Sarah Karasz, ADOT Natural Resources Supervisor in front of the sprayer.         

ADOT will use this sprayer to spray weeds along the side of AZ highways and to de-ice bridges this winter.  Some of the features:
- 200 gallon tank, with auto opening lid for easy fill
- Deicing Boom
- Guard Rail Boom
- ROW Weed Boom - 4 different tips, on actuator for spray angle adjustment
- Electric rewind spray reel, with remote control rewind
- Separate clean water system
- Custom Control box: engine start/kill, pressure adjustment, on/off for each tip/boom, ambient temperature, road temperature, tank lid up/down, boom spray head up/down.

We are proud of this sprayer and think it is our best work.  Check out photos on our page:

Weed Control Rig - Major Damage Is Expensive

Weed control sprayer diaphragm pump was totally destroyed, costing the company money, downtime and missed appointments.  Pump was run without oil.  Photo (click to enlarge) shows 1) metal fragments 2) scored shaft both from unlubricated operation.

Diaphragm pumps are great pumps for weed control spray rigs, deep root feeding rigs and landscape sprayers.  The pumps can handle a wide variety of materials while supplying good volume and pressure.  These pumps require oil for lubrication.  Most have an external oil reservoir that is visible to the spray tech.   The first lesson is that techs MUST check the oil reservoir BEFORE starting the pump.  If there is no oil, or there is a white milky liquid, do not start the pump.  The photo shows what happens if you do.

The second lesson is that sometimes the diaphragms fail while the applicator is working.  The pump will continue pumping.  There may be a change in pressure or the sound that the pump is making.  Train technicians to be aware of these things and to return to the vehicle and check the pump if they think there may be a problem.

The third lesson is don't wait for diaphragms to fail.  Perform preventative maintenance regularly.  Replace diaphragms (and other key parts) BEFORE they fail.
Finally, the pressure control valve on this pump was stuck in the highest possible position. The technician was spraying weeds at 360 psi!  Technicians must be advised that if they have a problem, they are to report it promptly.   This expensive issue could have been avoided had the technician been better trained.

Weed Control Sprayers

Client brought a weed control sprayer in for repairs.  The power sprayer used a fiberglass tank split into 2 tanks.  The tank was fine but the problem was the plumbing.  The company that built the sprayer ran the plumbing lines for the 2^nd tank through the middle of the 1^st tank.  One of these lines cracked, causing contamination as the chemicals mixed.  Here are some photos:



Notice how the pickup line runs through the wall into the other tank.


The small capped line at the top of this photo is the bypass line.  Notice how it runs through the wall into the other tank.  This line had cracked inside the other tank, causing contamination in that other tank.  We capped it and reran the line on the outside of the tank.

 
The photo on the right shows the exterior of the tank.  The red arrow shows the bypass line that we capped off.  We re-ran this line on the outside of the tank the way it should have been done originally.

The blue arrow shows the pickup lines for the two tanks.  You can see how both lines run into the close tank and therefore one of the lines runs through the first tank into the second.

This is obviously terrible design that caused downtime.  Cross contamination can be an expensive proposition (think post emergent in your preemergent tank).

The only reason we can think of for this design was to put all the hoses and fittings inside the tank to make the sprayer easier to ship.  This seems backward to us.  A rig should be designed for long term, productive use not for 1 time shipping.  Figure out a better way to ship it.  When we ship rigs we have specially designed boxes that go over the sprayers to protect them.

Spray Equipment - It's Cheaper to Prevent Problems

Many of the problems we see with pest control sprayers and weed control spray rigs are avoidable.  Company owners and managers should train spray technicians to examine spray equipment to identify and prevent equipment problems before they impact customers and budgets.
This photo shows a worn belt that should be replaced BEFORE it fails in the field, costing the company money.  In this instance, the technician was on the ball and prevented a problem from occurring.

Do you have similar stories?  We would love to hear them.  Please post your