Pump up sprayers?

D

dodge trucker

Tractorologist
Member
Who makes a good one?
I'm tired of buying junk.
I've had a couple of (forget the brand, think they were Hudson) stainless steel "commercial" ones that last a couple of years at best. And to this point, I have only used them a couple of times per year. Expensive junk.
I had one here that was advertised as rated for bleach and marketed for uses other than weed spray. That one was plastic and pretty cheap.like cleaning wooden decks and such.
I don't know what ever happened to that one

I have a nice looking Sears one here probably 50 years old, has a galvanized tank that don't leak yet, but needs a rebuild. Don't know who made it for Sears.

I've been taking care of my Mom's and monster in laws yard the last several years, well my moms off n on when the intermittently dependable neighbor wouldn't... Now he's moved out and my mom's yard is mine to maintain now full time again. Plus now my kid bought a trailer he wants to rent out and at least til he gets it rented I've been drafted to maintain that yard too. So I got the idea to get a backpack style sprayer. Anyone have experience there? Who makes a good one?
I thought about getting a battery powered one, but unless I get a $400 Milwaukee one that takes the same battery as my cordless drill etc many of them the battery is built in so if it gets to where it won't take a charge no more basically it's throw away the whole thing.
I see Menards had a crap load of plastic tanked chapin brand ones for $13 on sale. Regular hand carry ones. I've paid more for spray wands before. This is a regular style 2 gallon "hand carry" one. Cheap enough I can toss them every year if need be and not lose much sleep over it.
They had 2 different battery powered ones, only one of each of those in stock. One normally on "clearance" from $99 on sale for $94 missing the tank cap.... Built in battery. Not much of a deal.
The other one they have has a similar style battery to my Milwaukee but it's their own battery that isn't apparently interchangeable with any common brand of rechargeable cordless tool ones ..... So I decided that if I'm gonna get one I'll get a manual pump up one.... Don't have a battery or motor to go bad in the first place.
Last week I saw a Stihl brand one at farm and fleet,/ but when I went to look at one closer yesterday, they didn't have any more/ and the guy in the department knew nothing that they ever had such a thing in the first place. I think he was kinda new.
So I went back to Menards and got a chapin brand backpack style hand pump up one ($80) and a $13 hand carry version.
I haven't taken either out of the box yet / if I come up with something somehow better I can still return them.
I will mostly use these for roundup for fence lines and along the edges of the house and garage to try and cut down on the amount of weed eater work I have to do. Most of the backpack style ones I have looked at are 4 gallon, I could probably spray the yards with something like that with just a couple of refills each, with something like weed b gon, but I usually use a hose end sprayer for that.
I need to spray some brush killer around the fence line at the monster in laws backyard, she's got some woody crap that I need to get rid of that becomes intertwined with the fence....
I may use whatever I get also to spray the north side of the house and garage with something to soften the moss that grows on the north wall of everything around here (why it does that I don't know) before I hit them with the power washer

I have a 20 gallon tow behind but in the kids rental to be and the monster in laws backyard are both too small to get a rider mower into in order to pull around.

What do you guys use? Any certain brands to use or not use? I talked to the lead man at the IDOT yard next to work and they don't really use hand sprayers as they do all the roadsides with a tractor and huge tank but he said he'd rather use a hand carry tank because he's seen the backpack ones leak more than not. ( No specific brands were mentioned as being worse than others but no, I don't want to take a bath in Roundup....)

They don't have any portable sprayers besides 1 hand carry style, that they keep diesel in to clean the chute on the hot box (pavement heater) after they use that to patch a pothole ...
 
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I went with a battery backpack sprayer and would never look back.
Though I will say battery sprayers are heavier. I'll even set it on the floor of my golf cart for doing edges of the driveway .
So much easier plain and simple. I have a couple of the pump up types , nothing wrong with them if that's what you want.
Also have a Harbor Freight backpack. Very inexpensive at $17-25 bucks and works good .But with many backpack units (non battery) you have to keep pumping the handle constantly to make it spray as they don't pressurize the tank. So there no break from pumping though they aren't hard to do.
Again just my opinion. All comes down to how much you want to spend and how much you have to spray. Below is the one I have.
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I only have an acre and the little electric sprayer that comes with Spectracide weed and grass killer works good. About all a I have to spray is weeds that grow in the gravel, and pea gravel around the patio. Takes 2 AA batteries.

DAC
 
I did a lot of research before buying my first backpack sprayer and it has worked flawlessly. Can't remember the name but I do know the pump is not submerged in the fluid. Unfortunately the kids will probably get it as carrying it is no longer going to happen. I like the idea of the rechargeable on the golfcart. I also have a pull behind that I've had for decades and I'm thinking of just using the spot sprayer on it with a longer hose. The down side to that is when the chemical gets low you have to be careful so the pickup is down hill. The best thing would be to buy a rechargeable and hook it up to the electric golfcart.
 
I told my kid that I bought one and he said he borrowed a buddy's and doesn't know the brand of his buddy's sprayer but it's a backpack style manual pump up one and that it "isn't very comfortable for a big spraying project".
I'm not yet "sold" on the one I got, I haven't opened it yet, so if someone gives me something on one that sounds better and isn't $400 I may check it out and return the one I bought.
If I only had to use it on my yard I couldn't justify having. But given that I have a few to do now it's different.
 
I use a little (2 gallon?) hand pump, hand held one for spot spraying burdock etc. that pops up in the pasture. It works great but tends to get pretty heavy after a while when I'm trudging around. If it held more it would save having to go back and refill it, but then it would be too heavy for me to enjoy using it. Just another thing that "they" don't tell you about this aging process, LOL.
 
oldedeeres said:
I use a little (2 gallon?) hand pump, hand held one for spot spraying burdock etc. that pops up in the pasture. It works great but tends to get pretty heavy after a while when I'm trudging around. If it held more it would save having to go back and refill it, but then it would be too heavy for me to enjoy using it. Just another thing that "they" don't tell you about this aging process, LOL.
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I've seen people use a small luggage carrier with wheels to set it on and pull it around that may help a little. I know I see them around from time to time for little money. Not sure if they'd help or not.

And Lorna
"Just another thing that "they" don't tell you about this aging process"......
If thats the case I'm going to start arguing like h$ll....
 
Chapins are good sprayers. I’ve been using the back pack sprayer from HF for three years with no problems. I also have a I believe 3 gallon smaller one from Echo that works well.

If your Sears sprayer is white bash it and throw it away. I had one back in the 80’s best sprayer I have ever owned. I went to buy the leather seal online and found out they were recalled with several warnings to stop using them. Several cases of blowout like shrapnel with severe limb damage. Mine was galvanized metal, all copper wand, and you could pump it well enough to spray the peak of a three story house.
 
I use the 3 gal pump up sprayers. Put the tank on a 2 wheel dolly and pull it along rather than carry it around.. Big problem I have with sprayers is I don't winterize them soon enough and the handles free and split. Bought 3 new ones this morning.
 
For a couple of years they made the 2 and 3 gallon sprayers with the pump above the tank. I think they had problems with the pump rupturing when over pumped. I still have mine and really like it as you don't have to bend over to use it. I'm also careful not to get carried away when pumping it.
 
oldedeeres said:
I use a little (2 gallon?) hand pump, hand held one for spot spraying burdock etc. that pops up in the pasture. It works great but tends to get pretty heavy after a while when I'm trudging around. If it held more it would save having to go back and refill it, but then it would be too heavy for me to enjoy using it. Just another thing that "they" don't tell you about this aging process, LOL.
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I remembered that I use one of those too. Not for weeds. I spray soap on stuff that is going to get pressure washed with it. I pressure wash rugs, garden tractors and house siding. It is older than heck but still keeps working.

DAC
 
Anyone ever figure out why they make all the hand sprayers with the bottom rounded, etc. to they fall over all the time? The old metal flat bottom ones worked a lot better in that respect. Same with the insulated drinking containers. Larger on top and small at the bottom so if they are set down on a slightly sloping surface they fall over. Open the drinking cover to get a drink and your nose covers the vent hole so nothing comes out. Myu rant for the day.
 
dodge trucker said:
The seats one I have is galvanized and the pump unit is black. Does that help ID it to it's real brand for a rebuild kit?
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If it’s got O rings just match them up with some you might have or at Ace Hardware they have a good assortment. Here is a pic of the one I had that was recalled.
 

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chieffan said:
Anyone ever figure out why they make all the hand sprayers with the bottom rounded, etc. to they fall over all the time? The old metal flat bottom ones worked a lot better in that respect. Same with the insulated drinking containers. Larger on top and small at the bottom so if they are set down on a slightly sloping surface they fall over. Open the drinking cover to get a drink and your nose covers the vent hole so nothing comes out. Myu rant for the day.
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That’s a good rant Roger stupid engineering to have a round bottom and top heavy. The one I had to get rid of was nice it had a flat bottom.
 
Sawdust said:
That’s a good rant Roger stupid engineering to have a round bottom and top heavy. The one I had to get rid of was nice it had a flat bottom.
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I guess even these smaller tanks probably have to be rounded due to being small-scale pressure tanks like air, water, propane tanks, to resist explosion better. A person would think they would provide good footing on the bottom at least! The stupid cups are skinny on the bottom to fit car cup holders that are too small for most everything except maybe a can of pop!

DAC
 
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