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Leesburg, Ohio | The keys to a clean sprayer and avoiding chem damage:
1. Do not let stuff sit in your booms, EVER.
2. ALWAYS use Dawn (about a half pint or more) in every load to help avoid chem residue buildup in the system.
3. Always plan to be completely empty at the end of the day (yes, it does require thinking ahead...it's not that hard)
4. Always rinse out before leaving the last field of the day.
It does not require huge volumes of water to do a good rinse, if you have good rinse nozzles in your tank. I use about 30-40 gallons per rinse cycle, and run 2-3 cycles each time I rinse. I can do this entire procedure in about 10 minutes, run the cycle three times in the last field, and not use up a 150 gallon rinse tank of clean water doing it.
Here is my rinse procedure:
1. Have product tank empty on last field of the day.
2. Run 30 gal clean water from rinse tank through product tank rinse nozzles.
3. Turn off rinse nozzles and turn on agitation.
4 Add Dawn or tank cleaner to product tank and let agitate for a couple minutes.
5 Turn off agitation and spray rinsate out onto field through booms.
6. Repeat.
7. Repeat again if changing crops or if sprayer will sit for more than a couple days.
I clean filters at least daily, and when changing crops.
When changing crops, uncap boom section ends and flush with clean water.
Something that has helped me make it easier to come out as planned on each load, and to be empty on the last load of the day, it to always fill the spray tank to the same level each time.
I accomplish this by using a small rope tied to the main sprayer fill valve handle, and tied to the handrail by the tank lid.
I do the normal fill procedure from the ground, and as the tank approaches 900 gallons (it is a 100 gallon tank) I climb up on the sprayer catwalk, open the lid, and watch the final fill level, and pull the rope to shut off the water just as it touches the neck of the tank lid. It actually holds 1050 gallons according to the spray controller, and this helps me come out almost exactly even on every load, and is invaluable when planning loads to be empty at the end of the day.
I have found that on my 4830 Deere with 90' booms, it only takes about 18 gallons to charge the booms. That means if I run 30-40 gallons of clean water through them. I have flushed the boom volume twice. Doing that seems to be just as effective and much more practical than filling the tank/using large volumes to rinse, which means you can do it easier, and more often.
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What have guys done to make cleaning/rinsing sprayer out easier ?
