Sprayer Cleaner

About Sprayer Cleaners

Sprayer cleaners, or commercial tank cleaners, are designed to work specifically in tanks sprayers, and will remove water and oil soluble products, meaning they can be used for a wide variety of products. They have the additional benefit of changing the pH of some products, making them ineffective. Often, people choose to use other cleaning solutions, such as chlorine or household ammonia, to clean out their tanks. However, these cleaning products may not be effective when used with certain products and are not designed specifically for this use. Additionally, chlorine should not be mixed with ammonia, which is present in some fertilizers.

Because you may not know if your tank is cleaned out properly, using a sprayer cleaner is an easy, effective way to clean out your sprayer safely and completely.

Importance of Cleaning Your Sprayer Tank

If you do not clean the sprayer after use, the product will dry and cling to the interior of your tank sprayer, boom, lines, etc., and will be taken up and mixed in to the new solution the next time you use your sprayer.

• This can cause problems if you have switched products in between uses. For example, switching from an herbicide to a fungicide or between two herbicides, and applying it to susceptible plants can cause plant, turf, and crop injury.
• Products left to sit in the tank and parts of the sprayer can eventually break down or degrade the equipment, especially if you have a polyethylene tank.
• Even if your tank is empty and you plan on using the sprayer again the same day, it’s still important to rinse and clean the tank.  
• Dry products are more difficult to clean out than products still in solution.
• Rinsing and cleaning only with water is not effective enough to dissolve and deactivate products, which means you must rely on a cleaning solution when cleaning your sprayer and parts.

How To Clean A Sprayer

Many times, the product you are adding to your tank sprayer will have instructions on how to clean out the sprayer. Read and follow those instructions carefully to ensure you have cleaned your tank thoroughly of that particular product. If it does not have instructions, follow these basic steps:

1. Drain tank completely and rinse tank with clean water. Spray the rinse water through the spray boom for 5 minutes or more.
2. Add your spray tank cleaner to your sprayer tank with the proper amount of water listed on the cleaner’s label. Run agitator for several minutes.
3. Let solution soak in tank for several hours, and place all spray tank parts in a bucket of the same solution.
4. Spray the cleaning solution through the sprayer.
5. Rinse system and all parts with clean water.