#pestcontrolsprayers

This post will focus on the image your spray equipment sends to the market. Does your power sprayer support your brand or detract from it?

Your brand is everything you do in the marketplace to differentiate your company from all your competitors. Your logo, advertising, operations plan, trucks, uniforms, etc. all contribute to your brand. What comes to mind when you think of the following companies: Wal-Mart, Apple Computer, Starbucks. How many millions have these companies spent to create their brands, and how many billions are those brands are worth? Now think about how you would feel if you walked into a Starbucks and the barista’s uniform was filthy or the store had a foul odor. These companies work hard to make sure these negavtive impressions don’t occur that conflict with their brand.

Now let’s look at your brand. You’ve spent a lot of money on your trucks, logo and signage. You’ve spent a lot of money on marketing and advertising to tell people about what a great company you are. You spent a lot of money developing an operating program and training your technicians. In today’s competitive market, your brand is critical.

Is your power spray equipment supporting and contributing to your brand or is it detracting from your brand?

Some specifics to examine:

Professional – does my spray equipment present a professional image? Is the equipment in good shape or is duct-taped together? Is it of reasonable age or is it ancient? Is the hose spliced in 17 places?

Neat/organized – is my equipment conveying the message that we are well organized? Can my technicians easily access key components or do they struggle to reach equipment? Must they dig through piles of stuff to get what they need or is readily avaialble? Remember the business adage, cluttered desk means a cluttered mind? The same applies to your vehicles.

Power Sprayers Your Truck

There are many factors to consider when purchasing a truck for a power spray rig for Pest Control or Weed Control.  One issue to consider is how your desired power spray equipment configuration works in your truck. Many new trucks have features that can impact installation and use of power spray equipment. There are fewer issues with installation of new equipment since there is more flexibility in selecting and locating new equipment versus existing equipment.

Some factors to consider, particularly when you want to add pest control equipment:

Payload Capacity - The truck must be able to safely haul your equipment. The heaviest component is your chemical tank when full of water. Water weighs approximately 8.4 pounds per gallon. Too big a truck means higher up front cost and higher insurance and fuel bills. Too small a truck can mean increased expenses for tires, brakes and transmission repairs. Refer your vehicle safety inspect checklist here.

Truck Bed Size – Obviously the bed must be big enough to hold your equipment in the configuration you require. It is not a good idea to assume that equipment that fit in your old truck will fit in the current year make and model of the same truck. Manufacturers do change bed dimensions. Truck Bed Depth – Manufacturers sometimes change the depth of truck beds, e.g., Ford’s F150 beds are deeper than they were a few years ago. This can impact technician access to engine pull start, hose reel handles, or electric switches.

Bed Construction – Some smaller trucks have beds made entirely of plastic. Plastic ribs on the underside of the bed provide bed strength. More care is required when fastening equipment to the bed to ensure stability and strength. Piercing a rib can impact bed strength.

Gas Tank – The size, location and position of gas tanks on some models has changed. For some smaller trucks it is not possible to access the bed above the gas tank. This can impact installation. For example, it may not be possible to install your water tank directly above the gas tank because there is no access to tighten bolts above the gas tank. In this case, the water tank must first be mounted to a metal frame, which can be fastened elsewhere in the bed.

Now, here are some ideas to consider when evaluating new PMP equipment.

1. Can the benefits of the new pest control spray rig equipment be financially quantified?

- Will sales increase from:

Add on sales to existing customers

Acquisition of new customers

Ability to raise prices

- Will expenses by reduced by:

Decrease in product or product delivery cost

Decrease in service time

Increase in technician productivity

2. Be sure to consider all implementation costs and issues. Some of these items are obvious; so not so obvious.

- Equipment Related Questions

What is the warranty and what does it cover?

Are replacement and repair parts for pest control sprayer readily available and what is the cost?

How long will it take to receive repair parts (i.e., how long will the equipment be down?)

Can service be performed in house or must the unit be serviced by others?

What is expected reliability given normal operating conditions of temperature extremes, hard use, bouncing vehicle, etc.

Will there be installation costs?

Are there any on-going vendor support, subscription or maintenance fees?

What is the expected life of the equipment?

- People Related Questions

Will one tech be trained or all technicians be trained?

How much training is required?

Who will provide the training and where will it be conducted?

Can technicians troubleshoot problems with the equipment?

- Vehicle Related Questions

Is there enough space on the vehicle to store/install the equipment?

How will the equipment be packed and secured to prevent damage and theft?

Will additional documentation be required on the truck (e.g., MSDS/Label, OSHA, etc.)?

If the costs involved in the product are significant, consider asking the vendor for names of other PMPs using the equipment. Obviously, you will only get the names of satisfied customers, but you might still gain some good insight on the product.

Considering these questions in advance of the purchase will assist you in calculating total ownership costs. You will be able to make a more informed decision. See our article Spray Equipment Cost: Purchase Price is Tip of Iceberg for more information. Please email me with your evaluations of new products.

A technician brought in a B&G Pest Control Hand Sprayer and asked us to repair it.  He said it wouldn't spray.  A quick look revealed the sprayer had never been properly cleaned.  The filter screen was completely clogged.  Here is a photo the screen along with what a new one should look like.

As you have read in this blog, it is critical that you check and clean the filter of your Pest Control Sprayers, whether power or manual.

In this case, the sprayer was a total loss.  The cost to clean and repair the B&G Sprayer was too high to justify the repair.  The client could have avoided this expense by ensuring his pest control technicians were cleaning and servicing their sprayers.

Qspray is proud to carry the highest quality lawn and pest control equipment available. We are proud to carry all Birchmeier backpacks, parts and repair kits available as well. The first place the quality offered in the Birchmeier line is obvious is the spray wand. Made of solid brass, it is completely rebuildable and easy to service.

Birchmeier is made with top craftsmanship and made to have parts replaced when needed without having to throw the whole wand away. Birchmeier offers a two-year manufacturer's warranty, the only one in the industry. Here at Qspray, we stand by the Birchmeier quality.

Andrew Greess: I'm Andrew Greess, president of QSpray.com. Our website, qspray.com, has all your Birchmeier backpacks, all your parts, and all your repair kits, and I'd like to share some different tips on using the Birchmeier backpack for maximum productivity and effectiveness.

The first thing about the Birchmeier is it's really a quality piece of equipment and nowhere is that more obvious than the spray wand. Birchmeier wand is all brass and completely rebuildable.

Most backpacks have a cheap plastic spray wand, which is a total throw away. If there's a problem with this, you throw it away and buy another one. Birchmeier wand is completely rebuildable and completely serviceable, so you're never stuck. You can always repair it.

Andrew Greess, at QSpray.com, shows why having a Birchmeier Spray Shield can be helpful to lawn control specialists. It's a simple idea with simple execution, but when on the job it's important to protect the clients valued plants. You are there to spray and kill the weeds and unwanted foliage. You might be trying to be as careful as possible and still end up spraying some of the chemicals onto the prize rose bushes.

The Birchmeier Spray shield funnels the spray into the direction that you want and only that direction. There won't be accidental misting of the Oleander they want to keep, when spraying the weeds growing around the plant. Simply screw the Spray Shield onto the Birchmeier spray gun and your technician is ready to get to work. Visit QSpray.com for more  Birchmeier accessories today.

Watch the video and/or read the transcript below:

Andrew Greess: Hi, this is Andrew Greess with QSpray.com. Today, I'm talking about some of our more popular Birchmeier accessories. What I'd like to talk to you about is the Birchmeier spray shield. This is a great tool for landscapers and weed control experts who want to focus their spray, and protect the flora that's around what they're spraying.

For example, if you're spraying weeds, but you don't want to get any spray on the roses. This can be a great tool to shield the surrounding plants from the spray. It's real easy to use. All you do is you take your Birchmeier wand, you remove the adjustable tip that comes with the Birchmeier wand, and you just screw the spray shield right on to it.

"Like a well oiled machine" is a common idiom used often to describe how something is working. Here at QSpray we highly recommend Birchmeier Backpack sprayers and to keep them maintained and working properly, you literally need to keep it well oiled. It's important that the  pump always have grease.

For heavy users we recommend turning the grease piston every week to keep grease on the pump. When the screw is all the way in, you need more grease. We sell the Birchmeier Grease at QSpray.com, simply glob some into the area and screw back in the piston. We sell this and many other  Birchmeier Backpack sprayer accessories at QSpray.com, visit us today.

Watch the video or read the transcript below:

Andrew Greess: Hi, this is Andrew Greess of qspray.com. As you probably know, we're big fans of the Birchmeier Backpack. We think it's the best backpack built. We want to talk about an important maintenance issue, which is keeping your backpack well‑lubricated.

The backpack has a grease reservoir here at the bottom, and this needs to be filled with grease. What that does is when you pump ‑‑ keeping the backpack greased ‑‑ it keeps the pump cylinder greased so that everything works properly.

What we recommend is every week, if you're a heavy user, give the grease piston ‑‑ this little ring ‑‑ give it a half a turn to apply grease. When the grease piston is all the way in that means you're out of grease. You need to take it off and put some more grease in there.

We offer the actual Birchmeier grease, just take your finger and slobber it in there. You want to keep you backpack well‑lubricated for many years of great support and service.

There are important parts to your Birchmeier backpack sprayer and changing them out once a year to prolong the life of your pest control or lawn care sprayer. We advocate this as best practice to our clients. There are four replacement kits that can be found at QSpray.com. The four parts are: valve repair kit, pump repair kit, check valve & grease. It's important to replace the spray valve kit.

The Birchmeier Spray Valve Repair Kit contains the gaskets, o-rings and filter that goes in the handle, the packing and of course the valve to shut off the spray. We recommend that heavy users replace out four areas once a year: the spray valve, the check valve, all the o-rings and add Birchmeier grease to the piston. Look for those and any other repair or replacement parts at Qspray.com.

Andrew Greess: Hi, this is Andrew Greess at QSpray.com. Today, I'm talking about the Birchmeier Backpack.

One of the most important things for any user of the Birchmeier Backpack is to do your preventive maintenance. You've heard me say you want to clean it out periodically. You want a release the pressure. But once a year, for heavy users, we recommend you rebuild your backpack.

One of the most popular and most important items is the valve repair kit. This contains all the parts to rebuild your spray valve. It has all the gaskets and Orings. It has the filter that goes in the handle. It has the packing, and it has the valve that actually shuts off the spray.