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Spray Tank Pressurized By “Carbon Dioxide”
Gene Boehler came up with a nifty way to spray weeds around his farm yard that eliminates the need to do any hand pumping.
    The Farmersville, Ill., farmer mounted a 5-lb. carbon dioxide bottle and pressure regulator on a 2-wheeled steel frame, along with the 3-gal. tank and hand wand off a handheld pump sprayer. He attached the carbon dioxide hose to the tank with an air hose quick connector and mounted an in-line pressure gauge between the regulator and tank. Because the wand’s nozzle had plugged frequently in the past, he also installed the filter from an old field sprayer in-line between the tank and wand.
    “The carbon dioxide bottle pressurizes the tank constantly. To spray I just squeeze the trigger on the hand wand. It takes some of the drudgery out of hand pumping and also saves time,” says Boehler. “I had mounted the tank and hand wand on the cart years ago and added an air chuck to the tank, but I always had to pump the tank out by hand in order to empty it. Then last spring I decided to add the carbon dioxide bottle and regulator and made brackets to hold them. I also replaced the cart’s small 8-in. lawn mower tires with 20-in. bicycle tires to make the cart easier to pull.
    “I usually adjust the pressure regulator to provide about 20 to 25 psi to the tank. So far there’s been only about a 300 to 400 per pound drop in pressure on the carbon dioxide bottle, so I think one bottle will last me all season long. The field sprayer filter really helps. Since last spring I’ve applied about 20 tanks worth of chemical, but the nozzle hasn’t plugged up once,” says Boehler.
    He spent about $200 for the carbon dioxide bottle and pressure regulator, which he bought new.
    As a spraying tip, Boehler says ordinary household ammonia works great to wash herbicides out of spray tanks when you want to use the tank for other chemicals such as insecticides. “If you don’t use ammonia, enough of the herbicide could remain in the tank to cause problems. The ammonia cleans the herbicide out and neutralizes it,” says Boehler.
    Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Gene Boehler, 27299 W. Frontage Rd., Farmersville, Ill. 62533 (ph 217 227-3220).


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2016 - Volume #40, Issue #5