Garden Sprayers?

[FIGJAM]

[FIGJAM]

A lot of people use garden sprayers for all kind of things on the playa.



So what do you use yours for and how did you modify it to suit your purpose?

They have a great many uses.

Thier small and portable.

I didnt like pumping mine up so I installed a steel tire valve stem from a local auto parts store.

Now I can just give it a shot of air from my compressor instead of pumping.

I think most burners will have at least a small 12volt compressor for bike tires and such.

A garden sprayer was a little small for my needs.

Sooooooooooo...........

Got a double bung water barrel for $15 and bought some stuff in the plumbing isle.....



The bungs are theaded and there enough nipple on the bottom to connect a piece of PVC long enough to reach the bottom of the barrel.

You have to run some small screws through the PVC into the nipple to hold it in place.



Intalled steel valve stem.



Add some air.



PRESTO.......running water for my camp!



Its set up to put a regular garden hose on.

Add a spray nozzle and its a FIGJAM garden sprayer.

The barrels come in alot of different sizes, so build to suit your playa needs.

Mines 55gal. but I need enough for my swamp cooler and me and with the hose I can deliver water anywhere in my camp.

The walls of the barrel are about 1/2" thick so they can handle about 20 pounds of pressure.


Your turn.

[unjonharley]

I have a couple of one gallon sprayer for odd jobs around camp.

A metal 3 gallon sprayer with tire valve form showers.. The plastic pump melt in hot water.. The sprayer water can be heated by sun or stove.. I use a "good" foot action tire pump.

A ice cold water sprayer would be good to chase Figjam out of your camp should the occasion...............

[FIGJAM]

CRITICAL UPDATE!!!

This works the same as a garden spray, but is large enough to supply my camps water for the week.

First, the 55 gallon barrel is fine.

The two bungs are both threaded so they can be fitted with pvc plumbing parts.




At first I just hose clamped a piece of garden hose to the small nipple on the bottom of the bung to go to the bottom of the barrel.




This worked, but the hose clamp rusted and the hose fell off.

Then I put a stick of 1/2" pvc on the nipple and put a couple of small screws through the pipe and into the nipple.



This worked better, but the sloshing if the water when traveling would wiggle the pipe, and it fell off!

Soooooo, I carefully cut off the bottom of the bung so that just the threaded part was exposed.



This allowed me to screw the plumbing down far enough to have enough thread exposed at the bottom of the bung to screw on the fittings to make the pipe completely secure.





Now with the shrader valve installed to give the barrel a shot of air for pressure, I have this.







It has the hose bib fitting so that I can put my 25' hose on and have running water anywhere in camp!

[ygmir]

great upgrade, FJ!
I've had good luck welding plastic
, too.

[FIGJAM]

I was afraid to try that as there was practically no space to work in and I thought I might SCREW UP THE BUNG.

[ygmir]

I was afraid to try that as there was practically no space to work in and I thought I might SCREW UP THE BUNG.

you can always fill and re-thread.........and one side is usually 2" pipe thread, so a metal plug might work, too?

[FIGJAM]

I tried to get some "all thread" in pvc or galvenized, but they were all tappered so that they bound up before getting through far enough.

The hose bib pvc fitting isn't tappered, so it worked perfect.

Hardwear guy insisted that all pvc fitting were tappered, till I showed him that the hose bibs were'nt!

[lucky420]

Forgive my dunce of the day question but...

Do you leave the barrel in your truck all week? It would be to heavy to try and lift out of a Budget 16 ft truck right?

[Elorrum]

if it's in truck, you can just use siphon to get the flow. me sound like tarzan giving instructions.

[FIGJAM]

Forgive my dunce of the day question but...

Do you leave the barrel in your truck all week? It would be to heavy to try and lift out of a Budget 16 ft truck right?

Yes, it stays in the truck and wieghs 450# when full.

It's also very easy to siphon as long as you loosen the opposing bung to let air in the barrel, or put a valve on that one too!

With the hose on, and another ball valve on the end of the hose, you can maintain the siphon action all week once you get it started.

I would keep the barrel at the back end of the box truck and as long as you control the flow from the end of the hose farthest from the barrel, it will maintain the siphon all week after you get it started the first time.

[TT120]

Figjam, that is seriously cool. If you filled it with vodka, you could keep the whole camp drunk all week.

[ygmir]

I tried to get some "all thread" in pvc or galvenized, but they were all tappered so that they bound up before getting through far enough.

The hose bib pvc fitting isn't tappered, so it worked perfect.

Hardwear guy insisted that all pvc fitting were tappered, till I showed him that the hose bibs were'nt!

run any pvc or fitting all the way through your pipe cutting die. no taper then.

[FIGJAM]

If I had a pipe cutting die, yes.

[clocksnmirrors]

i love this thread!

where on earth did you find that barrel for only $15?

[Captain Goddammit]

I do a very similar setup to supply water to my camper all week, but I use 33-gallon barrels so they aren't so heavy. I fill them while vertical, then lay them on their side and rotate them so one fitting is at the lowest position, and the other is at the high position. I have gate valves in each and I crack open the high-side one to vent, I hook a hose to the lower fitting. The camper's water tank is higher than the barrels (on my trailer) so I use an electric pump, but that air-pressure idea looks worthy of testing over here!

[Captain Goddammit]

I'm considering mounting car windshield-washer nozzles around the bow of my Land Yacht, connected to a windshield-washer pump, for "ocean spray" effect.
Do you guys think lawn-sprinkler heads would give a better spray pattern, use too much water, or??

[ygmir]

I'm considering mounting car windshield-washer nozzles around the bow of my Land Yacht, connected to a windshield-washer pump, for "ocean spray" effect.
Do you guys think lawn-sprinkler heads would give a better spray pattern, use too much water, or??

I'd say a lawn sprinkler would be too big. either micro sprinkler (like in drip irrigation systems) or maybe 4 regular car nozzles. The drip irrigation sprinklers come with barbed ends for the small hose, and some are even adjustable, and cleanable in case a piece of gunk gets in.

eta: Ha, just had a thought: get me a water tanker, and then you drive by the Frankencamper, yell "rogue wave" and I'll knock everyone off the deck with the water cannon!!!

[FIGJAM]

If you can get enough pressure, regular mist system emiters would conserve the most water, even at 1/2 gallon per hour per emiter.

Plus the "spray" would probably evap before it got to the ground.

[Captain Goddammit]

t: get me a water tanker, and then you drive by the Frankencamper, yell "rogue wave" and I'll knock everyone off the deck with the water cannon!!!

Plotting course for Ygmir's now...

I'll check out the micro misters, that's a good idea. I'm drawn to windshield washers for their durability, since they will be out on the forward deck where they're gonna get stomped on but they're more of a jet spray and I'd like more of a fan pattern.

[FIGJAM]

HD has a "plug&play" with 6 emiters for about $10.

If you put them in a V on the top edge of the prow they may not get stomped on.

The other issue would be getting too much water on the deck mixed with playa making a mess and a slip hazzard.

[tinymystic]

Running water and a misting system... this gets better and better!

[Rice]

Forgive my dunce of the day question but...

Do you leave the barrel in your truck all week? It would be to heavy to try and lift out of a Budget 16 ft truck right?

water weighs about 7lbs per gallon, 55 gallons == 385 pounds... so, Yes it is heavy...

[ygmir]

Forgive my dunce of the day question but...

Do you leave the barrel in your truck all week? It would be to heavy to try and lift out of a Budget 16 ft truck right?

water weighs about 7lbs per gallon, 55 gallons == 385 pounds... so, Yes it is heavy...

er...................

[Bounce530]

i love this thread!

where on earth did you find that barrel for only $15?

Try army surplus stores, and/or "tool" stores. Local to me, there's a place called 'Skyway tools' and they are always advertising food grade plastic and metal barrels for a very inexpensive price. I'm sure you'd be able to find a similar type tool store local to you.
And there's always C/L;
http://albuquerque.craigslist.org/grd/3678222474.html

[unjonharley]

search "food grade" plastic drums/barrels..

Or search used wood/wooden wine barrels.

[FIGJAM]

TinkerMom's new and improved water barrel!

[Captain Goddammit]

A word of caution about those surplus food-grade barrels: I bought several and despite first cleaning them and soaking in bleach-water for days, water always came out of them smelling like Dr. Pepper!
If the barrels you get have been used, try to get ones that have a flavor you like, so your showers will be more pleasant!
Now I use water tanks scrounged from parted-out campers. They're nice compact rectangle shaped, you can see the water level through them, and they're cheap. But I still use the barrels for carrying out my greywater.

[FIGJAM]

Yes.

There was no odor from this one.

The place recycles these barrels, so maybe they know a better way to clean um.

[Torquill]

Like JStep, I've been known to take my pump sprayer (never used for anything I couldn't drink) full of plain water on walkabout during the hottest afternoons... Many people are happy to accept the offer of a cooling mist.

Not exactly a radical use, but we also use it to clean the windshield of the RV so that we can actually see during Exodus.