|
|
Preseason Cleanout Worth the Effort
1 Mar, 2009 By: Andrew Greess Pest Management ProfessionalWould you rather have your pest management spray equipment down for servicing now, or in the middle of summer?
Andrew Greess
The high season for pest management is fast-approaching. Now is the time, when business is still a little slow, to get your equipment in fighting shape for the long hours and hard use it will undoubtedly endure just a few months from now. Taking a little time to prepare now will reduce downtime during your critical busy season, as well as help reduce equipment repair expenses by fixing small problems before they become big problems.
The first thing to do is give your tank a good cleaning.
Tanks often experience a buildup of chemical residue caused by pesticides falling out of suspension and accumulating on the bottom of the tank. This can cause a variety of problems.
The buildup can affect the concentration of the material you're applying. For example, if you're getting toward the bottom of the tank and some of the residue comes free, you could be applying material at higher rate than the label indicates — or, you could be inadvertently applying a different chemical from an earlier mix.
The residue could also come free and clog filters, hoses, guns or tips. All of these outcomes are negative, and may affect equipment availability, technician productivity and repair expenses. At best, clogged equipment will cause your technician to lose time. At worst, it will destroy your pump.
The cleanout process will remove other dirt, rock and debris that accumulate in a tank that likewise plays havoc with your downstream components.
Here are some steps for cleaning out your tank:
1. Get the tank as empty as possible without running your pump dry.
2. Fill the tank with clean water and run it through your system. Remove the spray gun so it does not get clogged. Check the filter periodically to be sure it doesn't clog. Be sure to follow all applicable laws when dealing with the rinsate. If you don't have a good place to spray out the rinsate, spray it into another tank on a different truck.
3. Add a little more clean water to the tank. This time, you don't want to fill the tank, you just want enough water to feed the pump and fill the hose. You want most of the tank to be visible. Turn up the pressure on your system and use your spray gun pressure to wash the inside of the tank. Add more water then spray out this rinsate as stated above.
4. Fill your tank with water and add tank cleaner. Tank cleaner is available from your pest management products supplier. Most of these products use one pound of tank cleaner per 100 gallons of tank volume. Put the spray hose end into your tank and let the system just circulate the tank cleaner for a while, following the label directions. This will remove any remaining chemical residue. Properly dispose of the tank cleaner rinsate.
5. Run another tank of clean water through the system to remove any remaining tank cleaner.
6. Sometimes there may be debris remaining in the tank after you have finished the cleanout. This could be stones, bottle caps, etc. I don't have a good solution — you'll need to find a way to manually remove this debris so it doesn't end causing problems later. If your filter is at a low point in the system, it might be easiest to remove the filter, then use a garden hose to wash debris out of the tank and then out through the filter.
7. Finally, check and clean your filter to ensure it's debris-free and ready for your busy season.
A clean tank is a good tank. It requires a bit of effort, but you'll be repaid in reduced downtime and decreased expensive equipment repairs. Spend a little time preparing your equipment now so your equipment can make you a lot of money this summer
You can reach Greess, president of Quality Equipment & Spray, by e-mail at andrew@qspray.com. For more ideas, read his blog at www.sprayequipmentblog.com or follow him on Twitter.
Please send any technical comments or questions to our webmaster.