# Walk behind "Liquid" sprayer?



## deicepro (Mar 24, 2009)

I did a quick search, but not real hard. Has anyone ever fabricated a walk behind liquid sprayer? I can not stand to use a backpack sprayer and I'm not gonna drag 400' of hose to pretreat some sidewalks. So I was thinking I have a lot of aluminum left over from my flatbed, and I found a 15 gallon tank with a cone bottom, I have a case of 5gpm pumps on the shelf, all I need is a motorcycle battery and I'm good to go. I'm thinking its gonna look like those red fertilizer spreaders. I'm thinking a spraybar on the front that will be 4' wide. Anybody have any good ideas?............


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## RacerBren (Nov 6, 2005)

earthway s25 is great. We just got a delivery last month. Sprays the Magic about 4-5' wide, easy to push.....one tank covers 12.5k...


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## GLSS22 (Dec 31, 2007)

http://www.ossian.com/LSweb/OssianLS.html

This is the one we currently use. Works great, but they suggest you only use it with there liquid products.


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## elite1msmith (Sep 10, 2007)

try a danville express. granted, it has the roller for windy applications , but you could take that off if you wanted to. or basicly just take pvc and drill holes and make the same type of drip system. i did think about trying this last year, just never got around to it. only bad side that i really saw using it on turf, i tend to use alot more chemical per acre with this than if i had just sprayed it with a back pack...not sure how that would end up with a deicer


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## deicepro (Mar 24, 2009)

Thanks for the input guys. But I am going to build one from scratch as I have all the parts to do so. Not counting my time I will have less than $75 into the sprayer. I was looking for input on design flaws on other units.


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## elite1msmith (Sep 10, 2007)

i would keep the PVC about 2.5 inches above the ground....any heigher and the wind is going to get at it. any lower, and pushing thru snow might be an issure, also put a peace of angle stock in front of the pvc boom that hangs just a little lower, to help knock down any snow in the way , this might keep the nozzle holes from getting plugged. 

other ideas, have a drain valve at the bottom of some kind, the danivlle express uses a ball valve with a rod connected to it, to shut off the flow of chemical.....works well and is simple. I might consider putting 2 valves and two booms, so that you could double up on the chemical when conditions require it..this way you only have to walk down the side walk 1 time


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## derekbroerse (Mar 6, 2004)

I was thinking of starting with a self-propelled lawnmower deck... use a battery and electric motor to run the drive transmission and pump--makes for a nice consistant feed. Then when you place it in the truck have a wire to 12V on the truck for a recharge...


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## Grassman09 (Mar 18, 2009)

derekbroerse;1024655 said:


> I was thinking of starting with a self-propelled lawnmower deck... use a battery and electric motor to run the drive transmission and pump--makes for a nice consistant feed. Then when you place it in the truck have a wire to 12V on the truck for a recharge...


You just better hope you have one long stretch of sidewalk to use it on as it will weight a ton. That would prob require a marine deep cycle battery. Just off loading one of those toro 2 stroke blowers is a pain if you need to take it on and off allot.

Why do you need self propelled? Just go to Rittenhouse or Outdoor supplies and buy the eartway.


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## MahonLawnCare (Nov 18, 2007)

RacerBren;1019472 said:


> earthway s25 is great. We just got a delivery last month. Sprays the Magic about 4-5' wide, easy to push.....one tank covers 12.5k...


i was thinking of buying one of those for this season.....what does that unit run? thx


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## fulltiltwill (Aug 23, 2005)

Hey Deicepro, I basically did the same thing that you are doing. I took the hopper of of one of my junk spreaders. Made a shelf where the spinner was to hold the battery. and strapped a 15g tank to the frame. I was using the 1gpm pump that came with the sprayer but that was not enough. A 5gpm would be a lot better. I had a extra truck battery and used the battery clamps with the switch to turn the unit on and off. I found that a 1/2" pvc with 1/16" holes every 2" worked very well. My boom sits about 12" off the ground. Your pump should be about 40psi so the wind shouldn't be an issue. Only bad thing is that it is very heavy when full. I trailered it around but I will be looking into a hitch mount platform for next season.


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