Common Power Sprayer Hose Reel Swivel Issues

This video will address some common issues associated with power sprayer hose reels and hose reel swivels. We hope that from this video you might be able to identify and address any issues you have before they become a problem causing you and your company downtime, money and repair expenses.

The most common problem we see with the swivel is too many things hanging off of it such as plumbing. Too many things hanging off the swivel causes stress on the O-rings due to excess weight and torque causing extra wear and tear on the O-rings which will cause them to leak sooner than later.

I have another example here where there is not only plumbing coming off the swivel but also a ball valve to turn the agitation off and on also. So each time the tech turns the valve on, it is going to reduce the life of the swivel. Additionally, they also have the spray gun locked on here! There is just too much stuff on here.

Another problem is having the frame too tight around the hose reel swivel. We could not get into this hose reel swivel, so we had to pull the entire sprayer out of the truck. This should have been a 5-minute fix but turned into an elaborate multi-hour repair due to its construction.

Not having enough slack in the hose feeding the swivels is another big problem. There needs to be some slack so that the swivel can rotate freely otherwise you will put more wear and tear on those O‑rings and reduce the life of the swivel.

I suggest that before you buy a power sprayer, check it out. Think about using it and maintaining the sprayer. Is going to be easy to use, easy to maintain? Additionally, keep spare parts on hand so you can repair your hose reel swivel. Another important thing to do is regular preventative maintenance and inspections.

Stay tuned for our next video on inspecting your power sprayer for problems.

Andrew Greess : Hello, this is Andrew Greess from Quality Equipment and Spray, qspray.com, your spray equipment experts. Today, I'm going to talk about your power sprayers. Specifically, some of the issues we see with hose reels and hose reel swivels on power sprayers. This is a common area of problems.

I thought I'd share them so that perhaps you could avoid some of these problems. The most common problem we see is too much stuff hanging off the swivel. As you can see in this photo, there's quite a bit of plumbing hanging off the swivel, and that's a bad idea. The swivel contains a couple of rubber O‑rings. Here's an example. These two brown O‑rings on the left are from a Cox hose reel swivel.

If you have too much stuff hanging off the swivel, it puts weight and torque and extra wear and tear on these O‑rings. They'll wear out faster, and your hose reel swivel will start to leak sooner. The hose reel swivel is kind of the point where your reel is going to leak first. It's absolutely going to leak. We think why create situations that's going to cause it to leak sooner.

Here's another one with a pressure gauge hanging off the swivel. Again, you don't want extra weight on the swivel. We have done this on occasion when the customer insists on it, but we really prefer to put something like a pressure gauge somewhere else on the sprayer so that it doesn't add that extra weight to the swivel and reduce swivel life. Here's another example.

This is as elaborate I've ever seen. You can see in the center here, not only do they have a bunch of plumbing coming off the swivel, including a ball valve to turn the agitation off and on, and every time you turn that valve, you're going to reduce life at those swivels. There's tons of stuff hanging off here. They got plumbing, and they got the spray gun locked on here.

This just seems like it's a problem. You hit a couple of good bumps, and who knows what kind of damage you're going to do to this. This is too much stuff hanging off of this thing. Here's a different situation, but one that we found quite amusing. This is a sprayer one of our competitors built.

The frame is so tight around the hose reel swivel that it's impossible to repair this swivel without pulling the entire sprayer out of the truck and removing the hose reel. What should be a five‑minute job becomes a two or three‑ or four‑hour job because you can't get to this hose reel to repair the swivel. Just really bad idea. Here's another problem.

All swivel manufacturers suggest that when you plumb the swivel that there be some slack in the hose feeding the swivels so that the swivel can actually rotate freely. If the swivel can't rotate freely, you're going to, again, put more wear and tear on those O‑rings and reduce the life of the swivel. You can see in this photo, the feeder hose to the swivel is just way too tight.

That's bad design, bad construction, and it's going to cause more problems. Those are some of the problems we see from the design.

Here's a problem we see in operation. You can see here the tech, rather than actually repair the swivel, wrapped a bunch of towels and cloths around it to try to get an extra time out of it.

Instead of spending $12, $13 on a swivel kit, they're living with this kind of leak and exposure to chemicals. Really bad idea. Keep some spare parts on hand so you can repair your swivel. Your swivel is going to leak. It's just a question of when. Keep the swivel kits on hand so that you're down for five minutes. You're not down for a day, and you're not spilling chemicals.

In summary, here's some recommendations before you buy a power sprayer plan what it's going to be like. Think about using it and maintaining it. Is going to be easy to use, easy to maintain? Make sure you know what you're getting. In some of these examples, I'm sure these customers bought these sprayers without realizing that they had some design issues.

You've heard me say this before ‑‑ train and retrain your technicians. Don't let them live with problems. Teach them how things work so they know to report problems and not live with leaks. Keep common repair parts on hand. We talked about that. For example, the hose reel swivel kit. Keep that on hand, because you know you're going to need it.

Do your preventative maintenance regularly, so that you're down when you want to be down. You're not down at your busy season. Lastly, do inspections so that if there is an issue you can find it and deal with it rather than let it get worse and cost you more money. Thanks so much for watching.

Please keep Qspray in mind when you need hose reel swivels, hose reel swivel repair kits or any other power spray equipment. Thanks for watching. Have a great day.