ISO: Weed Sprayer (25 gallons) with Boom

I just bought a new RTV900 and now I need to start putting it to good
use.  What I'm looking for is a tank that can be mounted to the
bed and a matching boom from 10 to 12 feet wide.



What equipment have any of you had success with and who has it for
lowest price.  I've looked at Scorpion, Agri-Fab, and a few
others.  Which one works the best?



Thanks for your help.





NVBadBoy

NVBadBoy,</P>


First, welcome to the forum! []</P>


Although I don't have it (I already have a 25 gal pull behind), Hunterworks has a spreader that sounds like what you are looking for. http://www.hunterworks.com/inc/pdetail?v=1&pid=2086</P>


I have purchased stuff from there before and everything has been well made/fabricated.</P>


Brian</P>

We have had good luck with Democo products. </P>


www.demco.com</P>


A small sprayer with an electric pump would be great. You could even get booms for it. </P>

I purchased a 25 gallon Boomless Sprayer from Schaben Industriesat Columbus, Nebraska. Go to www.schabenindustries.com and I think you will see it. I changed it to a slide-in unit with a 110 gal tank. It really works good since I spray big areas. The RTV handles it really well and I can get close to trees without the hassel of booms and the spray swath is about 30ft. You can get the job done fast.</P>


Jim</P>

Thank you for the replies and the leads. I'm curious,
though. How good is a boomless sprayer compared to one with a
boom? Does it cover just as much ground as a boom would?



I have to spray about over 1 mile of private road, that is 20 feet wide
leading to the house. If I can get a boom with a coverage of 10
feet, I could finish the job in 2 passes.



What kind of coverage can I expect from a 25 gallon tank? Can I get close to 1 acre out of it?



The 110 gallon tank on skids, can that be man-handled or do you need a
forklift to get it in the back of the RTV? I have a Bobcat and
one of my attachments are the forks, and I suppose I can lift the
entire unit up into the bed, if I had to. But for my use, I think
a 25 gallon sprayer should suffice; correct me if I'm wrong, please.



Again, thank you for the help and I hope that I can make up my mind before next week. Weeds are growing an inch a day.





NVBadBoy

I'd get booms, the ones I have seen have been rather inexpensive. The coverage all depends on preasure and the spray tips, I'd probably get a 55gal. They are still small enough that 2 people can easily move them when empty. </P>

</P>

I'll probably end up going with the booms. I have no trees or
other obstacles to drive around when I start spraying. Now it
boils down to the size of the sprayer. This 25 gal kit, complete
with pump and booms will probably work. I'd like to know how easy
it would be to buy a larger tank, ie. 55 gal, and then hook up the
plumbing. Are most of these tanks already plumbed for the
fittings or do I need to provide some kind of bulkhead adapter?
As for the weight, I can always hook up a chainhost and then lift and
lower it from/to the RTV. A home-made stand that allows me to
back under the tank is the other option.



Thanks,



NVBadBoy

http://www.demco-products.com/Pages/Ag/lawnag.html#Lawn%20&%20Garden</P>


You could piece one together, but I am sure buying an assembed prodcut will be cheaper. </P>

I ordered the 25gal sprayer for the RTV this afternoon from
hunterworks.com. Light enough for one person to install/remove
and large enough for my needs.



Thanks for all of your help.





NVBadBoy

NV,</P>


You should be happy with your selection. Todd sells nice stuff.</P>


Not sure what the wiring harness is like for the sprayer but let me throw something out for consideration.</P>


I got the spreader from Hunterworks and the wiring harness ends in the middle of the back of the cargo box. The harness stays and has a quick-disconnect for the actual spreader. What I did was put a 6" round work light under the dump box. I then plug into the harness and voila!, I have a rear light for backing up or hooking up a trailer. I only need the spreader a couple days a year. The other 363 days, I have a light.</P>


Brian</P>

I received the sprayer and the boom this aftenoon. I have some
questions, though. It appears that the manual (2 pages) keep
referring to the sprayer as an ATV sprayer and it wants to mount the
tank to the rear tube of the ATV. Confused, and almost done, I am
now forced to stop because it doesn't mention where to hang the boom
and how to fasten the tank to the inside of the bed. I have to
transverse some steep hills and I can see a major mishap in the
future.



How did you attach your booms and the tank to the bed, and which is the
easiest and most secure route for the wiring harness. Pictures
would help.



Thanks,



NVBB

NVBB, I rigged up my sprayer by justsliding the tank on the passengers side.[I have a homemade toolbox down the drivers side]I ran my electrical plug over my seatto my power point.I would use a set of tie down rachets if I needed to hold it in place.I rigged amount for my boom off of my hitch using 1 1/4" steel bar and angle iron.I also ran a splice in my sprayer line by my seat with a water cut off so I could control the flow of herbicide from my seat. I just unplug it to cut off the12 volt power.If you don't have access to a welder,you could rig up a rack for mounting the boom with a sheet of plywood/2x4s extending out of your box. That is what I did when I had a Kawasaki Mule. Just make sure the plywood is thick and you could mount it by drilling a small hole or 2 in your box . I will think on this tonight and try to talk back tomorrow. Good Luck ,Bordercollie

Hi bordercollie,



I have a welder out in the shop so that's no problem. I'm trying
to figure out a method of mounting it that will not hamper any functions
on the RTV.



I did manage to take it for a test drive this afternoon and used 2
hold-down clamps for a truck shell. Kept it from moving and it
seemed pretty steady. Hunterworks shipped 2 wiring harnesses; one
with alligator clips and a switch and one for hardwiring connections
directly to the battery, both with quick disconnects on the pump.
After filling the tank with water I turned the pump on and
surprisingly, no leaks (other than one loose fitting). The boom
was working quite well, but I did notice that the pump was cycling off
and on once every second or so. It kicked on initially, the shut off at
40PSI and it dropped won to 20PSI until it kicked on again. Is
this common? There are 2 little valves at the 'Y'; one going to
the boom and the other seems to go directly back into the tank.
Then there is the hand-help sprayer plumbed in before the 'Y'.
What function does the hose going back into the tank have?
Auxiliary connector, maybe?



I'll be thinking of some other way to fabricate a sturdy bracket or
support for the tank and boom. I'll try and post some pictures
once I have decided which gadget I'll use.



NVBB

I would certainly e-mail Todd. He has been very responsive in the past.

Hi from Mississippi, NVBB, My 12 volt spray rig is really old... the pressure gauge quit working years ago so I replaced it with a plug. I don't not about my pressure except that it works.On my unit the return hose just takes the extra unused fluid back to the tank. If I turn off the Y going to the boom/spray rig, I can see the hose in the tank returning the unused fluid. I can also "prime"my old unit by turning the Y on and off on the rare occasion that I have to prime it. The other Y is how I control how much I put out. Also remember that a lot of herbicides will clog the screens in the Y if left in for long so you may have to clean them . If I had to have another bracket for my spray rig, I would probably rig up something like 2upside down Us with set screws [with a rubber bumper to protect the paint]to fit over the tailgate to bolt the boom to.I don't know what your boom looks like but that's what I would do with mine. Serveral fittings have also been replaced on my rig because of old age or else the hard life they have endured. I keep some fittingsin my toolbox just in case .My rig has taken a licking but keeps on ticking.HaHa I am sure that Drankin is right and that Todd can take the confusion out ofyour particular model. Good Luck and let us know how things are going. Bordercollie/cs/emoticons/emotion-54.gif/cs/emoticons/emotion-54.gif

NVBB,</P>


A couple thoughts.</P>


I don't have the sprayer from Hunterworks because I already have a tow-behind.</P>


For securing it to the bed, can you use a ratchet strap or 2 around the tank and down to the handles on the bottom of the box?</P>


For the pump, the constant cycling of the motor is common. Mine does the same thing.</P>


For the Y and one line going back to the tank, it's been awhile but if I recall correctly, they need to be set (opened or closed) for what you're spraying with. If the hand wand only, you close the valve to the boom. I honestly can't recall right now what conditions you're to close it back to the tank. I'm going to run mine later this week and will come back with my findings.</P>


Brian</P>

I have the complete 25 gallon sprayer and boom system from hunterworks and have been using it for about a year now. The pump is cycling because it is a pressure demand pump and thevalve you referred to in the tank return line is closed enough to build up pressure when the pump is running above the pressure limit switch built into the pump. That valve is used to regulate the spray pressure to the nozzles or to the wand, which ever you are using. The return line also provides "agitation" to the tank to help keep your spray material mixed with the water.</P>


The general concept is to keep the spray pressure as low as practical and still deliver the per acre volume of spray required. Keeping the pressure below 30 psi helps to reduce spray drift, by keeping the spray droplets large enough to "fall down" instead of "blowing away". Practice with plain water until you get the hang of adjusting the spray pressure and ground speed to achieve the proper spray concentration. </P>


In addition, I installed a few extra shutoff valves so I can spray with either boom only, center and one boom, or both booms and no center nozzles. For even more flexibility, you can get "plugs" for inside the nozzles to block offa single nozzleat a time. This allows me to spray narrow bands beside or behind the RTV. I also rigged up a mount for my GPS so I have a fairly accurate speedometer to more precisely control spray concentrations.</P>


The application chart with the instructions seems complicated at first, but once the light comes on, and you figure it out, you'll probably find that 11-12 gallons per acre is a good choice. That works out to 20 - 25 psi and 3.5 - 4.0 MPH. So if your spray diections show 1.5 - 2 quarts per acre, put 12 gallons of water in the sprayer adjust your return valve to get the desired working pressure based on the number of nozzles you are using, and then add the 1.5 - 2.0 quarts of spray material and you are ready to go. </P>


Drive at the desired speed and turn on the pump and you are spraying. At operating pressures below about 40 psi, the pump will run continuously and not cycle on and off.</P>


</P>

You brought up some good points. I've been running several tests
with water only, and I managed to establish a baseline where the
pressure in the tank is slightly below 30PSI with the by-pass valve
slightly opened. The pump is running continuously, and it does not
draw as many amps.



I am interested in these plugs that you can install in any of the spray
nozzles. I take it, that hunterworks has these plugs in their
inventory. I'll have to give them a call and see what he sells
them for. I thought about splicing in a ball valve into the
tubing going into each arm so I can shut off one or both sides as
needed.



So far I'm impressed with The Imp. It makes runs to the neighbor
a lot faster. No need to fire up the big truck and let it warm up
and then cool down again just to drive 1 mile. I'm using it to
move boxes (moving to a bigger place) from the house to the Conex
box. Beats having to use a cart. Now I can stack boxes in
the bed and drive a few hundred feet and dump everything, not
literally, of course.





NVBB

Ok. I'm not anonymous anymore....</P>


The individual shut off plugs I found at local Tractor Supply store when I was there buying shutoff valves, spray material, etc. Really all they are is a small brass disc that replaces the filter screen in the nozzle body itself. You take off the spray nozzle/tip, remove the screen assembly, and insert the brass disc in place of the screen. There should be a washer up in the body and another washer in the nozzle/tip, and the disc seals the flow between the washers when you re-install the nozzle/tip.</P>


Todd may have the brass inserts, I don't know the answer to that.</P>


I have been very satisfied with my spray rig, and in fact plan to run a tank full through it tonight. Trying to clean up some pasture, and then add the kill everything stuff, and spray some fence rows....</P>