Pest Management Professional, March 2014
equipment There are five aspects of sprayer maintenance that can prevent problems in addition to saving money Take care Sprayer cleaning and maintenance saves money and increases reliability Dr William H Robinson Y our sprayer probably works every day without fail Because of that dependability perhaps you take it for granted and develop bad maintenance habits Perhaps youve even been ignoring some of the warning signs that cleaning and maintenance is needed Following are five aspects about your sprayer you might overlook or maybe didnt realize could prevent problems and save you money One of them will prevent a problem that can occur in the first five minutes after you take a new one out of the box Two of them will save you money starting with the way you fill the tank at the start of the day and how many times you fill the tank before you think about changing the nozzle at the end of the extension You can add two of them to your monthly maintenance routine to make certain it works every day 1Be gentle with the hose gasket A typical sprayer will come in a box and some assembly is required before operating it Connect one end of the hose to the valve and the other end to the top of the tank The first connection you can make tighter but not the hoseto tank connection Resist the temptation to make this tight Simply hand tighten and then use a wrench for no more than a quarter turn Any tighter and you might crush the soft nylon gasket in the end of the hose potentially restricting the opening and blocking the flow of liquid from the tank The gasket forms an effective seal with the brass atop the siphon tube and the pressure of liquid in the tank and hose However once the gasket is crushed it remains that way It doesnt return to its original shape The good news is if you inadvertently crush it replacing it is usually easy 2Fill the tank as directed The label directions for most residential use insecticides require mixing them with 1 gallon of water to make the finished concentration Adding water to a sprayer typically means filling it to the 1 gallon mark Easy enough except some technicians fill it to the seam around the top of the tank Its easy to see and close enough to the 1 gallon mark you say What difference could it make Well a lot Filling the tank to the seam can cost you 16 ounces of finished spray Not only have you lost Continued on page 90 Dont overtighten a hose gasket 88 March 2014 Pest Management Professional www mypmp net
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