Agitation

[CLC03]

Jet Agitation vs. Mechanical Agitation

Which is best? Those of you who have sprayers with jet agitation(i.e. Lesco space saver), is the agitation adequate enough to use granule urea and some suspension grade products? What are you experiences with the space saver? I like the size of the space saver, but I don't know if the agitation will be adequate enough. Most of the sprayers with mechanical agitation are much larger than I prefer.
I'm not sure what to do!:confused:

[cemars]

Jet Agitation vs. Mechanical Agitation

Which is best? Those of you who have sprayers with jet agitation(i.e. Lesco space saver), is the agitation adequate enough to use granule urea and some suspension grade products? What are you experiences with the space saver? I like the size of the space saver, but I don't know if the agitation will be adequate enough. Most of the sprayers with mechanical agitation are much larger than I prefer.
I'm not sure what to do!:confused:

You can use the jet agitation with urea but the prep time will be more than with mechanical as you will have to dissolve the material slowly by pouring it into the fill screen and running water through it. I have all mechanically agitated fiberglass tanks and love them but they are more pricey than poly-jet agitated ones. With the mechanical you can pour all the urea in you need and be ready to go in minutes. I also have a Lesco space saver (for ornamental) and have had more problems with the Hypro 5500 pump than I do with the D-30's on the other tanks. The other nice thing about fiberglass is that they look good for years, I have one that is 16 years old and it looks great, plus no photo degradation of your chemicals while in the tank. If you have the room and the money you can't go wrong.

[indyturf]

mechanical is actually better, but jet agitation does a decent job. I have used the lesco space saver and only had problems when I was in a hurry and didn't give the urea a chance to dissolve. one thing I did that helped was to get a paddle and use it to stir the mix as I was filling the tank. once you get everthing dissolved the jet agitation does a good job

[LawnTamer]

I have a spacesaver, one thing I have found is that using warm water makes a huge difference in mixing the urea, I add 250 lbs to each tank so I'm dissolving a lot of urea, a little warm water makes it all dissolve quickly.
Luckily I have a hot water spicket in my garage.

[teeca]

you can also pre mix it in a slurry in a 5gal bucket, then pour it in.. i do this in my poly (jet) tanks with all dry products. as for my larger 600gal fiberglass tank w/ mech ag.. i just dump it in and go.

[teeca]

one more thing to consider.. the fiberglass tanks w/ mech agg can be a royal PITA!! they tend to leak around the shaft and can drive you mad trying to fix it.

[tremor]

"If you do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done. Then someday, you can do what you want when you want."

I think this statement speaks volumes especially to mainatining a mechanically agitated sprayer. I've yet to experience one that leaked after it was repaired correctly. Packing is easy to change & if the stuff box housing is in good shape the unit won't leak.

[teeca]

well i bought a tuflex tank and it had a ceramic seal, it worked good for a year then started leaking, replaced it with a new one, and it leaked when i got done, then another, and then the a** wipe from the factory says they most always leak, and i should put a rope seal in.. duh, thanks for telling me, 3 weeks down time. but no problems now.. $300 later

[vegomatic40]

If you are serious about lawncare and want consistent results, fiberglass tanks with mechanical agitation is the only way to go. I've seen people use bypass or "sparge" agitation have problems with WSP's and end up with large quantities of product accumulating on the bottom of the tank in a short time. It would make me nervous wondering what rate I was actually applying if I saw all that in my tank. Smaller tanks (under 300 gal) with jet agitation can be ok since the area it is required to mix is small and concentrated. My 500 gal. tanks all use mechanical and I've only had to crawl into the tank once to replace a rope-packing type bearing. Since my eductor fill-system handles the chore of pre-slurry I have little worries about proper agitation or rates.

[Rhett@Gregson-Clark]

We have a strainer bag available for the purpose of dissolving urea with jet agitation. It is available for 10, 12 and 16 inch lids. It holds a full bag of urea and can stay right in the fillwell. This keeps the system strainer from plugging while the urea dissolves which helps prevent premature failure of the diaphragms. Higher volume pumps are also available for increased agitation.

One other issue when dissolving urea can be contaminents in the fertilizer which can ultimately end up in the nozzle distorting the spray pattern. This can be very frustrating. The attached image is a brass pressure strainer that mounts in line to the reel. This prevents having to constantly clean the nozzle and it has a flush valve for easy cleaning. Good luck.

[vegomatic40]

I've had to use a "Strainer Bag" as well to remove small granules from products like Umaxx (at the price I am charged you would think the manufacturer would be able to keep this out). Laugh if you will but, I buy Big-Girl-Panty Hose for $1.88/pair and stretch it over the tank basket when dissolving the urea and it catches 99% of the impurities that would otherwise end up in the tank. Lasts about 2 wks/pair for daily fills but very cheap and very effective. Just don't let your better half catch you going through her underwear drawer or you will get some difficult to answer questions when you say "it's for work Honey."

[Grassmechanic]

Laugh if you will but, I buy Big-Girl-Panty Hose for $1.88/pair and stretch it over the tank basket when dissolving the urea and it catches 99% of the impurities that would otherwise end up in the tank. Lasts about 2 wks/pair for daily fills but very cheap and very effective. Just don't let your better half catch you going through her underwear drawer or you will get some difficult to answer questions when you say "it's for work Honey."
I do something similar. I cut a small piece of pantyhose, about two inches square and stretch it over the threads of my chemlawn gun. Then I thread on the nozzle. I never have problems with plugging between that and ALWAYS using the basket strainer to dissolve all fert. Have you ever used cheesecloth in the basket strainer??:drinkup:

[vegomatic40]

Yep I've done that as well when a employee once tried to cut corners and dissolve the product(s) by just getting the system agitating and dumping the stuff in. I still prefer doing it over the basket as this prevents it from getting to the diaphragms and causing undue wear and tear. I sometimes get the system going and drop the gun over the basket and lock the trigger on and let it catch any other stray particles for 10-15 minutes in the a.m. while routing out the day and often go the entire day without once having to clean either the strainer or the gun-nozzle. Works for me!