2 gal garden sprayer quit

[davyfireball]

I had a Green Thumb sprayer and it quit. Unable to get the pump to pressure. So I went to Walmart bought a tubeless tire valve. I drilled a 1/2 inch hole in the top of the sprayer and installed it. MY gosh that thing will spray now. I put 20 pounds pressure in it. Don't know how much she can stand. But there's no use in pushing you luck and maybe blowing it up.

 

[rustyfarmall]

A clever fix indeed, but how do you carry the air compressor?

 

[Billy C.]

I have done the same thing. I carry a portable air tank on the back rack of my golf cart to recharge the sprayer. The sprayer I used has a relief valve on it in case of too much air.

 

[old]

Just needs a extra long hose or extra long extension cord LOL. Or maybe a heavy duty drone to carry the air compressor around

 

[Russ from MN]

I have done the same thing! I bought one a few years ago that you could hook a water hose up to. Instructions say to put in
your chemical and then hook up the water hose, well some areas have 100psi of city water pressure! It seems to be a little
heavier tank, but like you say 20-30 psi sprays real well. We have about 4 sprayer with different chemicals in them.

 

[Russ from MN]

I forgot to mention that I have read that you should always put a little water in the top of the pump to lubricate the seal, and it might flush out a piece of crud holding the seal open.

 

[SDE]

I got a used sprayer at the RE STORE. It will not spray. I bought another at an Auction. Last night I was looking at the first one and thought about doing what you did, but I don't need two. might try it later though. It is nice to know that it will work.
SDE

 

[kcm.MN]

As far as air compressors go, don't forget about the old stand-by tire pumps that work off of hand power. :wink:

 

[showcrop]

Sometimes when you look closely at the plastic at the top of the pump you can just make out the word "oil".

 

[kevinthefixer]

In the early days of fuel injection I bought an injector cleaner. One bought a can of GM top engine cleaner, mixed it with gas and put it in a tank that looked suspiciously like a garden sprayer (one of the old metal ones). It had a hand pump that gave out after a couple years, so I did the same thing. I was blessed with a pressure relief valve already installed. It's still out in the shop, might still work I dunno, but they pretty much fixed the injector clogging problems about 20 years ago. Haven't used it in maybe 12 or 15 years.

 

[CKain(MI)]

Yes,,, I have done the same thing to several. Sprayers do not work 2 years these days....

 

[gtractorfan]

I made one sprayer out of two. If it wasn't dark out I'd take a picture. I connected a hose between two tanks, one is just for air. I made a fixture to hold two spray wands and use a ball valve for a shut off. Like you I have an air chuck on one tank with a pressure relief. I haul my contraption on a hand cart.

 

[JL Ray]

You should be safe at that pressure. We used to mold tanks for Gilmore, Leigh products and one time for Hudson. If I remember right we tested a tank once a shift at around 45 psi. That was 30 years ago and who know how thin they are molding them today. Remember you always have some guy thinking if I take some weight out (which means thinner walls) we can make it cheaper.
I do know that you should not go much more than that unless you have some specialized tank made for higher pressures. We would occasionally pressure one up till they burst. We would place them inside a 55 gallon barrel. It would be filled with as much water as you could fill it and when they blew up it made a mess of things. Normal the barrel changed shape and the cap would sometimes in bed pieces into the ceil. It was interesting to see some tanks would hold as much as 125 psi but there is not way I would have got near it. Most of the tanks are design such that the pump can not go over a designated pressure. They do that buy limiting the stroke of the pump piston.

 

[PJH]

Yeah, all of my hand sprayers need a little oil in the pump occasionally. It usually makes a new sprayer out of them again, but the one that I spray fly dope with needed a new o-ring this spring.

 

[davyfireball]

After I drilled a 1/2 inch hole. I looked at the top of the tank. I bet it was 3/16 inch thick. And I was thinking DON'T put much air in there. I have a lot 120ft wide x180ft so I just walk over to garage for a refill. But if I do get lazy I could use the portable air tank.

 

[David Snipes]

I had a plastic one that exploded on me. I pumped it up with its own built in pump. Fortunately I was not next to it when it blew.

 

[Geo-TH,In]

I got tired of 2 gallon sprayers quitting on me after a year or
two. So I bought a 5 gallon backpack sprayer. So far so good, it
has lasted for years. I would have saved a lot of money if I
bought a backpack sprayer instead of all the 2 gallon one I've
pitched over the years.

 

[4520BW]

I have used a 5 gallon metal fire extinguisher (the type you fill with water then add 100psi of air) and made one heck of a sprayer. Works good for bugs on trees and to spray across the fence to kill you neighbors thistle. Probably will spray about 40 feet.