Watch the Pressure! Don't Over Pressurize Your Sprayers

Posted by Andrew Greess on Jan 4, 2019

Most of us can relate to feeling the pressure, but what I want to talk about is how we can take the pressure off our spray equipment.

We find that a lot of times technicians like to turn up the pump sprayer pressure a bit too high! We understand why they may do this...it gets the job done a little faster. We at QSpray.com, however, can’t really recommend working with an over-pressurized pump sprayer. We see professional spray equipment come in for repairs all the time with the psi set significantly higher than it needs to be. The more pressure, the faster O-rings, gaskets, and other rubber parts wear out and need repair. The more pressure, the higher the likelihood of the product drifting from the targeted area. We aren’t spraying bugs off the house, we are creating barriers.

Another problem we often see is over-pressurizing spray equipment. If you give your backpack sprayer enough pumps and it still doesn’t work, pumping it more won’t magically fix the problem. The increased pump sprayer pressure will likely make it worse or make it a bigger problem to fix.

We recommend that technicians get in the habit of releasing pressure at the end of every stop. We’ve learned that at the end of the day isn’t frequent enough to remember all the time and can show you some great pictures of what happens when it freezes at night and the pump sprayer is still pressurized!

To learn more and other tips, check out our other Avoidable Problems videos. And stay tuned for our next video on Preventative Maintenance:

Andrew Greess: We see lots of issues with pump sprayer pressure. The first thing I want to tell you is don't over pressurize something. We have a joke in our shop that every time we build a sprayer and we send it out with a customer, we set it 75, 100 psi on a power sprayer because that's all you need.

We're not trying to knock the bugs off the house. We're just trying to create a barrier. Every sprayer that comes back in for service is at 200 psi. The joke is, there must be a pressure fairy that goes to everyone's garage at night and turns up the pressure. Now, what we know is the technicians turn up the sprayer pressure because they want to get done faster.

If you run it too fast, there are some risks. The higher the pressure you run your pump sprayer at, you're going to create some problems. First of all, you're going to reduce the life of all the rubber stuff: the gaskets, the O-rings, and the hose. You're reducing the life because you're running at an excessively high pressure.

You increase the risk of drift. Because you're using higher pressure, you're going to have smaller droplets. You could have drift onto the neighbor's property, or the dog dish, or the kid's bicycle, who knows what — all as a result of the over-pressurized pump sprayer.

Then, also, clearly, if you're away from the pump sprayer, you're going to have a much bigger chemical spill at higher pressure than you would at lower pressure. There are some clear risks of over-pressurizing your power sprayer. We also see it with backpack sprayers and B&G sprayers.

What happens is a technician is using his or her backpack. They're pumping it up and it doesn't spray, so they keep pumping it. If you know it takes, for example, 10 pumps to get your backpack to pump up and you pump it 10 times, 11 times, and 12 times and it's not spraying, don't keep pumping it. You're going to break it.

We see it all the time where guys will keep pumping it, and pumping it, and pumping it. Instead of having a five-dollar repair, they've got a complete rebuild because they broke something, so don't over-pressurize your sprayer. You know your equipment. If it's not working the way you want it to, call someone. Call your boss and say, "What do I do?" You can prevent a lot of downtime and a lot of costs by avoiding the temptation to turn up the pump sprayer pressure.

The other thing is we really want you to release the pressure at the end of every stop whether it's your B&G, your backpack, or your power sprayer. We used to say release it at the end of the day, but people would forget and they'd put their equipment away under pressure. Now, think about it. It's 120 degrees outside. On your truck, it's probably 140. The pressure is going to get even bigger.

Again, we're reducing the life of hoses, gaskets, and O-rings, but we’re also keeping guns, filters, and everything else under pressure, reducing the life of everything you got. If your pump sprayer is under pressure at night and there's a freeze, you're going to destroy something, guaranteed. I've got some good photos of that.

We recommend releasing the pressure at the end of every stop. You can either give them a little extra squirt or put it back in the tank if it's a power sprayer. When you avoid working with an over-pressurized pump sprayer, you'll eliminate a lot of problems.

If you missed any of the videos in this series, catch up on them here:

Experience Pays: Top 10 Avoidable Spray Equipment Problems And Ways To Avoid Them

Choosing the Right Spray Equipment Engines, Backpacks, Pumps, and Trailers

Spray Fittings and Tanks - The Right Small Spray Equipment Components Matter Too

Oh The Hose Reel Problems We’ve Seen!

Cut Out Design Flaws and Down Time with Better Spray Equipment Design

Common Sense Missing in Some Backpack Sprayers

Avoid Problems By Consulting Experts in Their Field

Bad Design = More Work And Money in Repairs

Need Easy Access to Spray Equipment Filters

Bad Spray Equipment Design Leads to Tank and Pump Troubles

Why Filtration is Critical in Weed Control and Pest Control Sprayers