Pest control spray equipment – how to know what you are getting

A new customer brought his Pest Control Sprayer in and told us his Shurflo pump needed service. He had bought his rig sight unseen and wasn’t familiar with it. The pump was fine; there were lots of other problems.

1. His friend had done the wiring. There was no fuse in the line. Customer was lucky the pump was not fried. A section of wiring was bad and this caused the pump issue.

2. This photo shows the filter. The manufacturer used a plastic fitting in front of the ball valve. A little exposure to the AZ sun and this fitting would have cracked when the valve was turned. Possible outcome – 50 gallon chemical spill.

3. The reel was not properly plumbed. Cox hose reels require some slack in the line feeding the reel so the hose reel swivel can properly swivel. Without slack, the o-rings in the swivel will wear out much more quickly, causing a leak and downtime.

4. The lack of slack in the input to the reel will put torque on the elbow fitting coming out of the pump. This fitting could crack, creating a spill and downtime.

5. Whoever built this sprayer, hard plumbed the fittings into the pump. We use special Shurflo wingnut fittings going into and out of the pump. They cost a little more but because they can be hand turned on and off they make maintenance much easier and quicker compared to this example.

Bottom line: when purchasing pest control spray equipment, know what you are getting or at least who you are dealing with. Only let friends do work if they are qualified to do it properly and safely.