How Did the Turd Get in the Power Sprayer?

What is this junk and how did it get into the power sprayer?

Technician brought his power sprayer in last week and said it wouldn't spray.  Our power sprayer experts checked all the usually suspects when someone brings in a weed sprayer or pest sprayer with a problem:

- Clogged filter

- Clogged tip

- Air leak, etc.

Couldn't find a problem.  Then they started blowing out hoses to attempt to find a clog.  None of the hoses were overly clogged.

Eventually they determined that the hose reel hub was almost completely clogged with a soft sludge.  They pulled the input hose off the reel and blew out the brown green crap you see above (George Washington wasn't clogging the reel, he is provided for size comparison).

Think of how hard the pump had to work to push water through or against this stuff.  The pump life was definately shortened because of it.

It is critcal to clean out your power sprayer periodically.  Run clean water throught the system.  Once a month would be great, though most people don't even do it once per year.

If it has been a while since you cleaned our your sprayer, you probably need to check the hoses and fittings as well.  Use a compressor to blow air through each hose.  Be sure to blow the debris out of the system, not deeper into it.

If fittings are getting clogged, replace them.  It is faster to replace them then to try to clean them out.

Here is a earlier post detailed power sprayer tank clean out.

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