On 4/10/15, 12:23 PM, Stormin Mormon wrote:
On 4/10/2015 11:25 AM, J Burns wrote:
Until recently, my only pump-up sprayer was a Chapin from the 1990s. I
had to recharge it every couple of minutes because it didn't seal well.
I had to keep cleaning debris out of the spray tip. The tank was
designed so that debris tended to stay in when I rinsed it. The pump
didn't work very well and couldn't be disassembled for cleaning. The
diaphragm in the valve was often sticky.

A few months ago I bought a second one so I could wash and rinse out of
reach of a hose. What a difference! Everything including the pump comes
apart without tools! The pickup tube has a strainer! The pump assembly
screws into the tank with an O-ring instead of a flat washer. The space
around it is an open bowl, so I can use an ounce of water to verify the
seal by checking for bubbles. I can come back weeks later and still have
pressure!

Why didn't my 1990s sprayer have these features?

An unexpected benefit has been ease and efficiency washing walls,
woodwork, and floors indoors. It used to require a wash pan and a rinse
pan, to carry around and maybe spill. It meant soaking my hand in
cleaning solution, which would get dirty as I worked. If I mix a quart,
which could be borax in water, the sprayer can be charged and ready any
time I have a minute for a wash job, and I dip my hand only in rinse
water.

A standard sprayer nozzle shoots 1/4 gallon a minute in a stream or a
cone. Outdoors, it was adequate to rinse a mower but not a car or a
wall. I got a kit of flat spray heads: 1/4, 1/3, and 1/2 gallon per
minute. It came with a strainer!

The 1/2 gallon flat nozzle works great for flushing a car or truck. If
the job takes 3 quarts of rinse water, that's 90 seconds of rinsing -- a
few seconds for each section. No getting wet, making puddles, getting
the hose out, or putting it away.

I have to use the flat nozzle kit with my old sprayer. It's a Chapin
kit, but it doesn't have an adapter to use with my new Chapin sprayer
unless I remove the wand.

Do you have a brand, model, URL?

I use pump up garden sprayers from Harbor Freight
to rinse dust off machinery, now and again.

A few years ago, I bought a Chinese pump-up sprayer at Dollar General.
The connection at the spray valve soon leaked. Then I began noticing
puddles. The tank had cracked.

I was able to clean the pump in my old Chapin by prying out the valve,
soaking the pump in a bucket of soapy water, and pumping. Later, I
squirted some silicon lube into it. The filter that came with the
nozzle kit makes a big difference. Plumber's grease helps me get a good
seal when I screw the top down.

My new one is a Chapin 20000. Neighbors have one with a store brand or
insecticide brand, but it's the same. The nozzle kit is Chapin 6-4824.

Chapin makes models for bleach and concrete stains. I wish they'd tell
the buyer which chemicals were okay for a certain model and which to
watch out for. Some can be sprayed if the sprayer is cleaned soon.

If I had it to do over, I'd get one where I could use an assortment of
nozzles with the wand, like my old one. It's hard to know what I'm
buying. I'd love a bigger adjustable-cone nozzle in case I'm doing
something where I want an extinguisher handy.

I put plumber's grease on the o-ring, to help it seal and make it easier
to tighten and loosen.

A neighbor gave me several unmarked gallon-bottles of pink stuff. I knew
one was degreaser. I mixed up some pink stuff to clean my riding mower.
I rinsed with the fan spray. In rinsing, I got out a bunch of oily leaf
particles, jammed under the muffler. It's hard to get used to a mower
that doesn't smell like burnt oil!

Afterward, I discovered that I'd used windshield washer fluid, not
degreaser. It worked remarkably well!

I believe Smith is Chapin's American competitor. I wonder what they offer.