Some of our biggest struggles in spraying involve the start and end of each spray day.
When starting a new field after the sprayer is cleaned, we need to prime the boom. If it’s full of water, that water has to be purged and the question is always for how long and where to do this (pro tip at bottom of article).
At the end of the day, we should ideally clean the sprayer. During that process, we may struggle with waste disposal, including large rinsate amounts, and course, the uncertainty of whether the job is actually done (since clean water looks exactly the same as contaminated water).
If not cleaning the entire sprayer plumbing, we should at least rinse the boom, even if we’re returning to the same product the following day. It can prevent future problems.
These tasks are complicated by the increasingly convoluted plumbing featured on modern sprayers. Ask someone to explain their sprayer’s plumbing system to you one day. It’s a long story! A bright spot is the well-engineered, compact, and accessible Agrifac system.
Fortunately, virtually any sprayer can be modified to suit your needs. Let’s talk about a few ideas for a winter project:
Boom flush. It’s good practice to flush clean water through your boom at the end of spraying even if the main tank remains full of product. Some sprayers have an air purge system to eliminate liquid from the plumbing and that is a great feature. A water flush should follow that purge so that any residual pesticide is diluted and removed before it can dry on and become hard to remove later. First you’ll need a clean water tank on the sprayer (150 gal is enough). Second, plumb a feed so that this clean tank can be the sole source of the water supplied to the solution pump. Select this source, shut return lines down or off, and pump clean water through boom. Sprayers that have an auto-rinse cycle will likely be able to draw clean water, but may not be able to push it to the boom, directing it to the wash-down nozzles instead. Check to see what’s possible, and make the changes you need.
Clean water pump. Installing a second pump dedicated to the clean water tank has several advantages. We’ve talked about continuous rinsing before, here, and here, as a way to dilute the tank remainder faster. It requires installation of a second pump dedicated to clean water. Additionally, give this pump the option to deliver water to the boom, not just the wash-down nozzles. Now it can be used to rinse water through the boom. The main challenge is to obtain a pump capacity that can match the needs of the boom and/or the wash-down nozzles.
Boom ends. We’ve mentioned this part of the boom many times. Boom ends must be flushed regularly to get rid of product and possibly debris that gets stuck there. A simple way to achieve this is to use the Express Nozzle Body End Caps from Hypro. These bleed air continuously, and also prevent accumulation of dead-end contamination. They do need to be flushed, and this can be done by pulling a plug or rotating the turret to an open (no nozzle ) position.
Recirculating boom. This is a significant change, but worth considering. Conventional plumbed booms are separated into five to 13 sections. Each has two ends at which the spray stops and where air and contamination can accumulate (see point #3). Each section feed has a shutoff valve. Once the spray mixture leaves the pump and bypass valve, it is committed to leaving the sprayer. In a recirculating boom, the boom becomes a part of the tank and the liquid can return to the tank if desired. Spray is pressurized at one or both ends, and valve positions determine its flow. Sectional control is achieved with individual nozzle shutoff, air or electric.
Three advantages: (a) the boom can be primed with new product without spraying. The surplus goes back to the tank. (b) the boom can be flushed with water without spraying while material is still in tank, and without spilling anything on the ground. Again, the surplus goes back to the tank. (c) high resolution sectional control with individual nozzle shutoff is a byproduct of this design. Fast response, high res, saves money.
Steel lines. Steel cleans easier than plastic, and this material makes a lot of sense for booms. But it also makes sense for the boom feeds, currently handled by black rubber hose. This hose is a literal black box. We can’t see inside it, and we don’t know if and where potential contamination resides. It has considerable surface area. Consider replacing portions of your feed lines with steel. The boom is the obvious candidate. Aside from easier cleanout, it also helps with faster nozzle shutoff because it doesn’t expand with pressure.
A word about dumping the tank on the ground. It’s a bad practice for many reasons. Let’s examine just one of those. When you spray a product at 10 gpa, you actually cover each square meter with about 10 mL, or 1/3 oz, of spray mix. When you flush your boom ends on the ground, you’re probably dropping 2 or 3 gallons in the same area. That’s 1000 times the label rate at each boom end, 10 to 26 times per boom. If you dump your tank remainder and all the hoses, say 20 or 30 gallons, that’s 10,000 times the label rate if it covers 1 sq meter. That’s leaching, runoff, residual potential, and not a good story.
Many of the changes we outlined above help prevent that from being necessary.
Pro Tip: To find out how much water your plumbing (from the pump to the boom ends) holds, do this: After cleaning with water and before spraying an EC formulation (white milky appearance in tank, some crop oils are ECs) reset your sprayed gallons on your rate controller. Start spraying and watch for the last nozzle on your furthest and longest section to spray white. Stop spraying and check your sprayed gallons. That’s your volume. No matter the size of nozzle or application volume, it stays constant. To be sure the boom is primed with a new mix, spray until those gallons are reached and you’re set.
Not being able to finish a tank due to weather or any other reason happens to just about everyone. Is it OK to simply leave the sprayer as is, and resume spraying later after some agitation?
In many cases, the answer is yes. Most pesticide mixtures are stable in short term storage. On resuming spraying, an agitation could be all that’s needed to get back to where you started a day or so earlier.
But there are three important exceptions.
When the active ingredient is formulated as a suspension. Suspensions are typically wettable powders and flowables, and rely on a clay carrier to distribute the active in the tank. Because clay is denser than water, these formulations settle out quickly after agitation stops. Sure, they can be brought back into suspension with vigorous agitation. But in lines and booms, boom ends and screens, dislodging a settled clay carrier is much more difficult. It’s also hard to tell if the cleaning has been successful because the problem spots are hidden.
The best solution is to flush the spray boom with water before materials can settle and lodge. A visual inspection where access is possible, such as strainer bowls and boom ends, is part of the process to ensure the formulated product has been removed.
Learn to identify which formulations are suspensions. There’s lots of jargon out there. Look for terms such as DC, DF, DG, DS, F, Gr, SP. Even EC formulations are suspensions (oil in water) and require agitation.
When the active ingredient is chemically unstable. Some pesticides can degrade in the tank, usually due to alkaline (high pH) hydrolysis. The effect is very pesticide specific, but in general, insecticides (particularly organophosphates and carbamates) are more susceptible than other pesticides. This fact sheet by Michigan State University describes the impact of pH on a the half-life of a large number of pesticides.
Note that in the examples in the MSU fact sheets, pesticide half lives are typically days and weeks, and only rarely hours. Also note that while high pH is most often problematic, low pH can lead to faster breakdown in a small number of products.
Ensuring tank mix stability requires a pH meter or paper, and possibly a pH modifier such as citric acid. But do your research first! Here’s an article on pH and water quality.
When the tank previously contained a product known to harm the current crop. This situation is most common and most difficult to address. Some examples from western Canada are Group 2 modes of action sprayed prior to a canola crop. Why are Group 2 products implicated? Many are formulated as dry products on a clay base, and these can settle in boom ends, adhere to tank walls, or get stuck on screens. Their solubility is pH dependent, as we explain in this article.
Canola is particularly sensitive to this mode of action, and the most common canola herbicides, Liberty and glyphosate, are formulated with strong detergents that act as tank cleaners.
Even when applicators think that their tank is clean, they can’t actually be sure and can’t do much about it at that stage. The stripping of tiny amounts of residue off the tank walls, filter screens, or plumbing, can happen during a mid-day stop or an overnight break. Applicators eventually find out that this happened, usually about two weeks after spraying.
Our advice is:
After spraying a herbicide to which a subsequent crop may be sensitive, with the classic case being a Group 2 and moving to canola, be extra diligent with cleaning and pay attention to the tank walls, all screens, and boom ends.
The best way to solve issues is to avoid them in the first place. If the weather looks unsettled and may interrupt your spray operation, consider mixing smaller batches that can be sprayed out completely even if conditions change quickly. This allows you to rinse the tank and spray water through the boom, thus avoiding a contamination problem developing overnight.
If that’s not possible, at least do not let a tank mix sit in the boom overnight. Instead, use your clean water tank to push water through the boom prior to storage and double check the screens. The following day, prime the boom with your tank mix as usual and resume spraying the crop.
If you’re not sure that your sprayer can draw from the clean water tank and push through the booms (the wash-down nozzles are, after all, the intended destination for that water), decipher your system and add the necessary valves that make this possible.
A useful design that helps flush and prime a boom quickly is the recirculating boom offered by some aftermarket boom manufacturers. These booms are also more common on European sprayers. A nice feature of such designs is that the tank contents can be pumped through the entire boom assembly without actually spraying. This ensures that the boom is primed without any soil contamination. It also dilutes whatever residue there may be in the boom plumbing with the entire tank, likely reducing its concentration enough to be of little concern.
An additional feature of recirculating booms is that many offer stainless steel tubing throughout most of their feed and return length, minimizing the black rubber hose products that often adsorb, and later release, herbicide contamination.
Even if a wholesale boom or sprayer change is impractical, consider switching to steel boom lines and tanks tank to minimize residue carryover.
As is often the case in the spraying business, prevention is easier and less costly than solving a big problem later. Spray mix storage is one of those examples where a small amount of extra effort at the beginning can pay big dividends later.
One of my main activities in the winter is public speaking. Attending producer meetings gives me the privilege of meeting many farmers, learning about their operations, and sharing my research results.
I enjoy providing practical solutions to problems. But there are three issues that always come up to which I wish I had better answers. Here they are:
The Correct Spray. We’re stuck with compromises in this area. We need small droplets for coverage. We need large droplets for drift control. We need to keep application volumes moderate for productivity. We’ve basically asked the nozzle to shoulder the entire burden of our application needs, seeking a spray that hits all the right notes. Not too fine. Not too coarse. Able to work with fast and variable travel speeds and high, variable boom heights.
Based on our research in field crops such as wheat, canola, corn, lentils, etc., we can be confident that Coarse, even Very Coarse sprays, coupled with a reasonable water volume, are appropriate for most modes of actions and target situations. These sprays contain enough small droplets for good coverage, and their larger droplets work surprisingly well in most cases. Sure, a finer spray could save some water. And a coarser spray would reduce drift even more. But we need a compromise spray, combined with some lucky weather, to get the job done.
And yet we usually make spray quality recommendations with caveats, because droplet size alone isn’t enough. Drift is always a possibility, no matter how coarse we go. Coverage is not guaranteed, especially if the canopy is dense. Finer sprays will get deeper into a broadleaf canopy, but then we may have drift or evaporation to deal with. The nozzle size, volume, and travel speed relationship has to be just right so the spray pressure is in the correct range. And on it goes.
I’d like to give the overworked nozzle some help. We used to use shrouds to protect fine sprays from drift. Now it’s time to let air assist take over that task.
Air assist booms can accelerate (i.e., add kinetic energy to) small droplets so they’re less prone to off-target movement. Properly adjusted, air assist can carry these droplets deeper into the canopy and enhance their deposition.
A good air-assist system allows the user to select the strength and direction of the airblast to match canopy, boom height, and travel speed conditions.
Air assist is the workhorse of most fruit-tree and vineyard spraying. It has to be done right to provide all the benefits I mentioned, and certain approaches should be rejected. For example, there are some companies using air assist to promote very fine sprays with very low volumes. That’s the wrong use of the technology, and invites a backlash.
Instead, we need systems that work with existing spray practice to address some of its classic shortcomings, such as drift management, deposit uniformity, and canopy penetration.
Let’s see some products. It’s time to bring air-assist to the mainstream of agricultural spraying.
Boom Height, Level, Sway and Yaw Control. Boom height is so fundamental it’s almost boring. We’ve long said that it’s important to set the boom at the right height for proper nozzle overlap and drift control. It was easy with wheeled booms. But over the last 15 years, suspended booms coupled with fast speeds have caused booms to rise again (RISE OF THE BOOMS!).
Fact is that there are some tasks we’re asking of nozzles that they simply can’t achieve without level, low booms. Drift control is one such thing. Low booms are surprisingly effective at reducing drift, not only because winds are lower closer to the canopy, but also because droplet velocities are faster closer to the nozzle.
Angled sprays for fusarium headlight control are another thing that is more effective with low booms.
Spray droplets released from an angled spray soon slow down and get swept back by air resistance and begin to fall vertically, or move with wind currents, reducing their intended benefit. Low booms can prevent that.
Uniform and low booms also keep deposit variability more manageable. They can save energy needed for air-assist systems. The shorter the path to the target, the less air-velocity will be needed to get it there.
So how about it? Can we have boom linkages and suspension systems, coupled with sensors and hydraulics, that are stable and maintain 20” above canopy at 16 mph on uneven ground? Can we have systems that do this reliably enough that we’re prepared to invest in, say, expensive nozzle bodies? It’s possible.
Sprayer Cleanout. One of my favourite questions about cleanout is: “When do you know that you’re finished cleaning the sprayer tank and booms?” Inevitably, someone from the back yells: “In two weeks!” And we laugh, knowingly.
We have a terrible system of sprayer decontamination. It’s a process that is awkward, imperfect, and time consuming, often leading to poor practice. I’ll ask a group of producers what they do with their pesticide waste. The response is silence. I don’t blame them for not telling me that they dump the remainder on the ground somewhere, but I’d rather they didn’t. Sprayer designs don’t help.
What we need is a system that guarantees results. To start, a tank gauge that is reliably accurate to the nearest gallon would remove some of the filling guesswork and help minimize leftovers.
We need a remainder volume (volume left in the non-boom plumbing after the pump sucks air) that is known and small, because that remainder can’t be expelled and needs to be diluted. The smaller it is, the easier it is to dilute.
We need a wash system that requires little volume and works quickly, like continuous rinsing.
We need plumbing that is easy to understand and whose inside surfaces do not absorb pesticide, or hide it in corners and dead ends. Perhaps it’s a recirculating system. Perhaps it hasn’t been invented yet.
We need pesticide formulations that clean up easily. We need an easier way to inspect and clean filters. And we need a safe place to put any waste that can’t be sprayed out in a field.
I’d like to see a sprayer that can be decontaminated in 10 minutes without the operator leaving the cab, and without any spillage of spray mixture. Clean enough to spray conventional soybeans after a tank of dicamba. Clean enough to spray canola after a tank of tribenuron. I know it’s possible.
I also know what many of our European readers are thinking right now. Much of what I’ve discussed exists in the EU in some form or another. Why does the North American, and to a lesser extent the Australian market, not have these features?
Part of the reason is federal standards and regulations. Some European countries test and approve products for remaining tank volume, boom stability, and spray drift, for example. Others have sprayer performance criteria that must be met to be eligible for sale in that country. An increasing number have mandatory sprayer inspection.
These requirements serve to protect the producer and the environment. They’re an example of useful government actions. Despite, or perhaps because of, stricter rules, the entire EU marketplace is very competitive, with about 75 sprayer manufacturers. Bottom line: producers benefit.
We need leadership, preferably from a combination of government, industry, and producers, to achieve better sprayer designs. Our market has room for products that make it easier to prevent drift, protect water, and protect yields.
As they say, a rising tide lifts all boats. And it will certainly make my job easier.
One of our recent posts highlighted some great producer designed tender systems for the sprayer. We posted four submissions, and are continuing the series with new submissions in this post.
Our fifth submission comes from the folks at Pattison Liquid Systems of Lemberg, Saskatchewan
I recently saw Phil Lingelbach of Pattison at a sprayer clinic. Pattison has been designing and building transfer systems for years, and have valuable experience to share.
I asked Phil and John Young these questions about transfer system designs:
Why is filling faster important? How does it reduce your operating cost?
“Idle time costs money. Consider that trade in cost of an average high-clearance sprayer is approximately $185/hr on the meter. So 100 hours of idle time per year is costing nearly $20,000 in reduced trade-in value.
We also need to maximize “best spray condition” time. We know that application timing is critical to success, and need to take advantage of good weather conditions. Spraying under marginal conditions reduces the chance of good pesticide performance.
Efficient filling can also reduce labour costs, this is a “snowball number”. Every unnecessary hour spent spraying could be used to do something more productive, in essence a wasted hour costs you two.”
When designing a transfer system, what are the key considerations that separate a good from a bad system?
“Make sure that the water pumps pushes water to the inductor system. Do not use a water pump to pump chemical. Contamination is a huge issue with this.
Keep your transfer system away from the rear of an open deck to minimize dust exposure.
A good transfer system will be easy to clean and very user friendly, valves separated and clearly marked.
Get the biggest, fastest pump available. Loading water after the chemical is in is key.
Make it simple to operate, there is lots of hired help on the farm.
Design it to keep operator from being exposed to chemical. Keep trip hazards to a minimum.
Include fast product induction. There is no point filling water quickly and having to wait on a slow product pump.”
You mentioned the speed of filling product. What flow meters are most accurate and reliable?
“The Banjo Mag meters and the Raven FloMax 110 (combined with the 60P) and 221 are the most accurate that we have available, the Banjo is limited to non-petroleum based products though.
Both the Raven 60P and Flomax 221 are turbine style meters, to be used with all ag chemicals, – 2” models.
Banjo Mag meters should only be used with water based products – this meter is the best for measuring water when filling, comes in a 3” model.”
What are the best ways to clean a transfer system?
“The best way to clean your jug rinse tank is THOROUGHLY!! There is no such thing as overkill when it comes to cleaning this tank, we use a tank that has no bulkhead (total drain, no bulkhead for product to get hung up on) in the drain, a rinser designed for an 800 gallon tank, and very minimal fittings for chemical to get hung up on.
Use lots of water, when you think it’s clean, rinse it one more time!!
All our inductor systems come with a quick attach clean water rinse system, that allows the operator to flush the complete metering/inductor system.”
What is usually the limiting factor when trying to fill a sprayer faster?
“Hose size, pump size, venturi efficiency, and planning are most critical. Consider your needs – a system should be designed specifically to the needs of the operator.”
Do you need more than one inductor to handle multiple products in time?
“Usually one will be sufficient so long as the suction line is of sufficient size and length.
Our inductor systems are configured to handle more than one bulk product at one time. With just the turn of a valve you can switch from metering one product to another, or quickly change from metering a bulk product to handling jugs.”
We’ve recently been talking about how we can increase sprayer productivity by decreasing downtime. The main productivity robbers are time spent filling and cleaning. Using our productivity calculator, we’re able to show a 30% increase in acres per hour with some relatively simple changes to how we fill the sprayer. It’s important to actually measure the time spent filling, not estimate it.
A few days ago, Jeff Calder of Letellier, Manitoba (@jcalder1983) tweeted a water truck project he’s been working on, and it generated a lot of interest. We decided to follow a suggestion made by Ron Krahn (@RonKrahn) last fall to show various designs so that everyone can learn from each other.
This post will grow over the next few weeks as we gather more submissions. The first four submissions are below, the fifth and subsequent submissions will be here.
Please use our e-mail link on the site to send us your picture and descriptions, and we’ll post them as they arrive.
The first submission came from Landon Friesen (@landon707) who farms near Crystal City, Manitoba.
“We bought the front half of a old fuel tanker, stripped it right down to nothing, flipped tank end for end for better weight distribution, and extended the kingpin for bridge length. It’s just shy of 9000 gal to the lids (far from legal). Built the back frame/box etc.
Mix Tanks on rear platform, bulk totes up top, small boxes in the middle. Blast and paint are next. #westcndag
“Starting at the drivers side, all three internal tanks come together in a manifold, you can select which tank you’re drawing from or filling from. You can fill with a 3, 4, and 6 inch pump, connected to the manifold is a stationary pump for only filling ditches or water sources without pumps with a filter on it.
“Water then travels around the backside of the trailer under the 4 induction tanks, a check valve keeps any product from flowing back into the tanks to prevent contamination. Each induction tank has a 1.5 inch electric ball valve that feeds the three inch line.
“Each inductor has a tank rinse and a jug rinse. Tank rinse and jug rinse are powered by 2 12 V water pumps drawing from manifold on the drivers side of tank. All electric solenoids control which induction tank gets rinsed.
“Jugs are stored inside the large box under the bulk deck, keeps them dry and close by the the rear deck. Bulk containers go on the top deck, 900 L totes are gravity fed into the inductors, accurate measurements on the inductors let us know when to shut off the gravity valve, if barrels are used a chem pump is on the back now too.
“Inductors are handy because it keeps all products “preloaded” and separate for chem safety until you need them.
“After the inductors the hose travels to the suction side of the pump, was a 6.5 hp Honda and now replaced by a 13 hp Hypro pump, water or fertilizer then passes through a flow meter and out the 12 ft boom with hose doubled up for 24 ft reach across the ditch.
“Our goal was to have the tanker operator stand by the pump and control panel the whole time, no valves to turn, when you engage the “unloading” of a induction tank on the control panel the auto rinse is activated for that inductor, keeping it cleaned out for the next batch.
“We can fill a 1200gal sprayer with all chem in just under 5 min with all chem included, that’s from hose connection to disconnect. Gained many acres/day b/c of this trailer. Took us 2 years to build and I’d do another in a heartbeat!
“We use it for seeding in spring to bring liquid fertilizer to the drill, can keep a skid of seed out of the rain and blend N, S, and liquid P with the flow meter. Next to the sprayer it’s the most widely used piece of equipment on the farm!
The second submission was made by Jay Schultz (@WheatlanderJay) of Rosebud, Alberta
“Spray tender setup is near and dear to my heart and have set up 2-3 systems in the last few years with the help of my BIL Craig. I have the vision he has the know how. I scoured the internet for a few years for ideas and there is lots of great setups on various forums.
” My bulk chemical hose setup can suck out of three totes or barrels. It can dump into the chem handler using a 1 inch chemp pump or I can use the venturi to suck depending on what we want to do. This system is also plumbed with a fresh water line to be flushed. It also has a banjo flow meter. Banjo last a long time, other brands do not. BUT it measures EC not flow which does not work for all chemicals. Back up is measuring in the chem handler.
“When we use jugs we throw them in an old ICB tote so they don’t blow out down the road.
“We are using a chem handler 3 with all three inch hoses.
“When we have barrels and or jugs we have a pallet they we built sides for that also has a shelf. We can remove it with one strap and reload or use 4 totes.
“We have a long hose for filling that has hooks and bungy straps to hold it up. We empty the hose every time because its very heavy when full. To drain the water we just open a valve on the handler to let air in the hose. We installed an air assists clean-out on the sprayer side so we can push the hose back into the chem handler if we need. The water is always murky so there must be some chemical in the hose. This is also where we fill the tanks on the truck with a three way valve on the suck side of our pump and a three way valve on the pressure side. We have free form tanks, tank 1 is 2350 gal and tank 2 is 3100 gal I think.
“If you have broken feeder chains lying around, the slats make excellent ladder rungs.
“Showing the 3 way valve on the pressure side. Its positioned to fill the sprayer in the picture.
“They have since modified the chem handlers for this purpose but I teed into the venturi to use this for chem totes. I also had an old flow meter I added. I don’t trust it though.
“Our trailer is 48 ft which we bought used for about $8000. Its a bit on the long side for getting into fields. If we could slide the wheels forward it would help but this trailer we cannot. We can fill in about 20 min and our sprayer is 1135 gal. Some advice, when you buy a Rogator the tank size does not match the number on the machine. We though our rate was out but it was because the tank is 1135 gal not 1100 gal. We can spray 4 tanks out and have room for a sprayer clean. We fill the tender at home with a free form 9000 gal trailer tank that we also use for 10-34 during seeding. We fill with a garden hose but are setting up a 1 inch pump to pump out of our overflow spring water system.
“We also have a tandem flat bed truck with a 2500 gal tank. We use this for 10-34 during seeding and fall desiccation instead of our trailer. Craig and I were much happier with the setup on this unit. We also used an old chem handler we had sitting around. I teed into the Venturi as well so I could suck out of totes. We also put an air clean out that was plumbed from the truck air supply. When we load 10-34 the hose is messy and heavy. We just blow the last of it into the drill and no mess and easy storage.”
The third submission was made by Tyler Burns (@windypopfarm) of Wynyard, Saskatchewan
Dual 3” fill ports: ability to isolate the two tanks in order to fill each tank with it’s own port, front tank can be filled with on board 3” 13HP pump, back tank requires a ground pump to fill.
Main Pump: Banjo 333 Series Cast Iron Self-Priming Pumpwith 13 hp Honda electric start and pull rope capable of filling a 1200 gal sprayer in under 5 min if you’re only filling water and the filter is clean. Real time fill will range from 8 to 15 min dependant on what chem mix is being used. A future desired upgrade would be a 1200 gal SS tank on the empty upper front deck to pre-mix a complete tank so that every fill would be down to 5 min. This would require a knowledgeable person at the fill site though.
Auxiliary outlet: 2” clean water outlet often used for washing equipment, grain bag slip n slides or fire control.
Filter:3” Helix filter with extra filter elements if you need to swap in the field. Two outlet ports off of the filter. One going straight to the venturi assembly/sprayer fill line, the other going to the Handler 4 or tank #1.
Tank #1: The front 4000 gal tank placed just after the upper deck.
Tank #2: The back 3000 gal tank placed on the upper rear deck over the tridem axles.
Chem Handler: A Handler IV with attached Honda pump. The secondary pump allows for the ability to agitate a chemical mix or dissolve a dry component. The pump can also quickly empty the handler in stream with the clean water while the 13 hp pump is filling if you don’t want to use the slower venturi option to suction out the product. The secondary pump does not need to be running to get pressure to the Handler rise ports as you can open the valve on the outlet side of it to get a supply of water from the primary pumps flow.
Venturi assembly: full 3” venturi and bypass. Venturi can suction either 2 different chemical barrels or totes and 2” suction of the Handler IV. The chemical induction ports are all dry poppet couplers and the lines 1” induction lines can be swapped if you change products. There’s also a clean dry poppet port to connect to easily flush any of the induction lines.
Flow Meter: There’s a 1” Banjo flow meter to measure the volume of chemical induced. One issue with this meter is that it doesn’t work with all chemicals but I switched to this make because it doesn’t restrict the flow. As nice as it is to use a venturi to transfer chemical is it does significantly increase fill times. (5 min vs 8 to 15 min.)
Level gauge: the level gauge on the front tank helped to minimize overflows and to more accurately fill the tanks to the desired level.
Chemical Payload: Room to fit up to 4 pallets of jugs or 4 450L totes.
Cage: Empty jug and box cage.
Our fourth submission was made by Kelly Baillargeon (@k_baillargeon) of Edam, Saskatchewan
“We have set up many spray trailers the last few years, each design has had its improvements. We run two sprayers between our farm and custom spraying business. It is very important to our operation to carry the sprayers, it allows the sprayer operator to be able to head out in the morning full of chemical and fuel and spray the entire day by himself. Our trailers have a 3200 US gallon tank on them which will give us three full fills on our 1000 gallon 4830 John Deere sprayers.
“We purchased a triaxle water tanker trailer from SGI salvage two years ago (sorry no picture right now as it is tucked away in a shed) that can haul 8000 US gallons per load that keeps our spray trailers full of water and allows my brother and I to spray all day. We built a large cage underneath the tanker out of iron and expanded metal (8′ x 8′ x 2′) that allows us to throw all of our empty chemical boxes and jugs in it when the spray trailer is getting filled with water.
“We used to buy older flat deck trailers and build sprayer cradles for them. But two years ago we decided to buy two of these spray trailers from Flamans in Saskatoon.
“The trailers are built for hauling a sprayer with the cradle being able to be folded up while not in use, which makes it nice for putting into storage or if needing to use the flat deck to haul anything else. These trailers should last a very long time for us.
“We mounted one 3200 gallon tank on the nose of the trailer. This conserves valuable deck space, we used to use 2 smaller tanks, but this really compromised deck space on our trailer that can be used to haul lots of chemical. It is also much safer to have lots of room while mixing and filling the sprayer. We aren’t crowded or tripping over lots of hoses while working on the deck. There is a ladder stored on the side of the tank to be used if we are parked at a water source that we are able to throw a hose in the top of the tank to fill while we are out spraying.
“Each time we have built a spray trailer we try to make the design more simple. In my opinion the less total plumbing I have on the trailer, the better. This makes it easier to teach someone how to use it as well as less chances of making a mistake. I installed a Straight Shot chem station this time, we always used Chemhandlers before and didn’t have any issues. But I really liked the simple straight forward design of this chem station. It is built very compact, saving on more deck space. Everything is very clearly labelled. It has 3” plumbing and when bypassing the handler to fill the sprayer with water, there are no bends or restrictions in the water stream, everything goes straight through. I find that it fills quicker than our Chemhandler did because of this simple plumbing.
“We use a 3″ Honda pump. I replaced the Soterra flowmeter that came with the handler (I had lots of issues with them in a very short amount of time) with a 1” Banjo meter. This meter has no restrictions inside of it, but will not meter products that are not electrically conductive. I have a backup spinning wheel style meter that I attach to the hose when using these types of products. The venturi on this Straightshot chemstation sucks extremely fast. I am able to suck glyphosate out of totes at 78 litres/minute while filling sprayer with water at the same time. Liberty is much slower, about 45 litres/minute. Seat to seat fill times on my 1000 gallon sprayer is 5-8 minutes depending how many products are being used.
“A rubbermaid tub with measuring jug, fittings, gloves and other safety equipment is located right beside work station. The large tank also includes a sight tube on it to prevent overflowing when filling.
“I used “sweep” 90 degree fittings everywhere the direction of water flow changes, these fittings are “wide open” and do not restrict flow. Another lesson I have learned is to use the flange style fittings everywhere possible, threaded fittings work ok, but a few years down the road when you have leaks showing up, you need to take apart most of your plumbing in order to repair them. Flange fittings don’t leak as much, most repairs involve tightening up the clamp and if you do need to take it apart, you won’t have to take apart any other fittings to change the seal.
“A close up of the chemstation:
“There is a connection on the left side that is used to flush out the chem induction hose. The tank on the chem station rinses really well as it has two spinning rinse nozzles inside the top of the tank. There is also a fresh water hose on it to help with rinsing tank or washing your hands.
“Located at the back of the trailer, underneath the sprayer, is a large toolbox. I keep extra parts, safety equipment, small jugs of chemical, a firehose for fighting fires and ratchet straps for tying down chemical on the sprayer deck.
“The water tank is able to be filled from either side of the trailer from the ground by the nurse truck, depending how we are parked at the field.
“Long 3” flexible hose for attaching to sprayer:
“I bolted 4 large ratchets (2 at the front and 2 at the back) to the trailer deck for tying the sprayer down when in transport. I find straps are much quicker and easier to handle than using chains to tie down the sprayer. I didn’t want to weld the ratchets to the deck because then I would not be able to remove them if we needed to use the trailer for something else.
“When I have the sprayer loaded on the trailer, I have lots of available deck space to carry chemical. I have had as many as 4 1000 L shuttles on the trailer at one time with plenty of room to walk around and work safely.
