Because they are made in low volume.I just don't see why it costs so much for a blown plastic container, a small PTO driven pump, a cheap steel frame and boom, and some hoses and nozzles. I've had a FIMCO 55 gallon sprayer with a 10ft boom for around 10 years and would like something bigger to run behind the M6060. This 200 gallon model with a 20ft boom is $3,500 and there are much more expensive models out there.
FIMCO 200 Gallon 3 Point with 1225FX4 Boom and Spray Wand
The FIMCO 200 Gallon 3 Point with 1225FX Boom and Spray Wand is Category 1, 2 and 3 hitch compatible and designed to work with small to mid-size and l...www.fimcoindustries.com
This Ag Spray 165 gallon sprayer with a 28ft boom has a sale price of $6,800! It looks like a good sprayer but the cost is nuts. It seems to me that 3-point PTO driven sprayers provide a huge profit margin for the manufacturer but I could be wrong about that.
PTO Sprayer
A 165 gallon 3-Point, PTO-powered sprayer with 28 ft of precision fertilizing and weed control and a 17 nozzle boom for food plots and row crops.www.goodworkstractors.com
Why are 3-point PTO driven sprayers so expensive?
- Thread starter McMXi
- Start date
Have you looked into changing the spray nozzle tips to a different type? For instance, TeeJet has data charts on all their nozzles regarding spray pattern, gpm output at certain pressures, etc. You may need to modify your boom by changing the number of nozzles to get the same coverage with much less water gpm output. Or build a separate boom with that nozzle design.I just don't see why it costs so much for a blown plastic container, a small PTO driven pump, a cheap steel frame and boom, and some hoses and nozzles. I've had a FIMCO 55 gallon sprayer with a 10ft boom for around 10 years and would like something bigger to run behind the M6060. This 200 gallon model with a 20ft boom is $3,500 and there are much more expensive models out there.
FIMCO 200 Gallon 3 Point with 1225FX4 Boom and Spray Wand
The FIMCO 200 Gallon 3 Point with 1225FX Boom and Spray Wand is Category 1, 2 and 3 hitch compatible and designed to work with small to mid-size and l...
This Ag Spray 165 gallon sprayer with a 28ft boom has a sale price of $6,800! It looks like a good sprayer but the cost is nuts. It seems to me that 3-point PTO driven sprayers provide a huge profit margin for the manufacturer but I could be wrong about that.
PTO Sprayer
A 165 gallon 3-Point, PTO-powered sprayer with 28 ft of precision fertilizing and weed control and a 17 nozzle boom for food plots and row crops.
It looks like you'd need a nozzle/spacing combo that would put out about 4.5 gallons per acre at the speed you'd like to drive. Finding the right size/type of nozzle tip and spacing to do that should b possible using those charts.... and either regulating the pressure or using a bypass valve on the tank.
But it’s a tradeoff in that the less gpm output for your needs (less speed, less water, same coverage) could likely be met with a much finer droplet size or even a mist for the same amount of coverage. Then you would have to start worrying about temperature inversion spray drift, any wind above dead calm conditions, etc. You have to design for a happy compromise using speed/nozzles/pressure to fit your needs & conditions.
When we were raising 3 acres of sweet corn to sell, I had 3 booms made up with different nozzles/tips/spacings. One for lawn care, one for full coverage herbicide in the sweetcorn patch, and one for 8” band spraying the individual corn rows with some very expensive herbicide that would kill the grass in the sweetcorn rows.
Because the terrain is very hilly and very bumpy with boulders sticking out the ground in places (marked with t-posts mostly). I've cut my field many times and I can assure you that 2.5mph is about as fast as I can move over that ground. Heck, even my friends place on the river that I cut a few times in the summer months is bumpy enough that 4mph is about as fast as I can comfortably go.
If I were spraying a large manicured lawn, or a golf course I could move a lot faster but that simply isn't the case.
I started this thread to ask why sprayers cost so much given how simple they are and how few "cheap" parts go into them, but your post is very interesting and I appreciate the thought that went into it. I'm assuming your comment about output rate is based on the objective of only filling up a 55 gallon tank once to spray 12 acres, hence 4.5 gallons of water per acre. Other variables come into play though, and I don't think that choosing flow rates and volumes based on the size of a small tank is the way to go.
I'm starting out with what I know:
- Ground speed is between 1.5mph to 2.5mph (M6060 is the better tractor to use given the property) so I'll assume 2mph average
- Current boom width is 10ft
- Sprayer output from seven nozzles @25psi is 0.93 GPM (droplet size is a function of pressure)
- Assuming a square acre it takes 21 passes for complete coverage with a 10ft boom
- 4,356 linear feet at 2mph takes 24.8 minutes/acre (not including time to turn at end of each pass)
- 0.93 GPM for 24.8 minutes is 23.06 gallons of water per acre
- A 55 gallon tank would need to be filled up five times to complete 12 acres
- Total spraying time would be around 5 hours but figuring in turns, filling the tank, etc., 7 hours might be a reasonable estimate of the time.
I downloaded some TeeJet information and it looks like my sprayer might have nozzles similar to the AIR INDUCTION XR FLAT SPRAY AIXR110015 nozzles given the output I measured at 25psi.
Talking of spraying, are any members adding surfactant and/or dye in the tank?
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Yes and now you are adding a tank agitator to your needs.
Dan
PS> Different nozzles give different flows and patterns at any given pressure.
@bird dogger, I am going to investigate the idea of making a wider boom. My current FIMCO sprayer has a Delevan 6900C 6-roller pump with more than enough GPM to run a wider boom with more nozzles given the ~9GPM capacity at 25psi or so.
I see a FIMCO system similar to mine on CraigsList and perhaps there's a way to add two 55 gallon tanks in parallel to increase capacity. I have time to figure this out and there's always handing over $4k for a turnkey solution.
I see a FIMCO system similar to mine on CraigsList and perhaps there's a way to add two 55 gallon tanks in parallel to increase capacity. I have time to figure this out and there's always handing over $4k for a turnkey solution.
Is an agitator needed when so much fluid is being bypassed back to the tank? My post above shows the capacity of the 6-roller pump and it's moving way more liquid than is coming out of the nozzles.
You can try but agitators work better. If your mix separates you wont like the results.
BTW - this is my prefered source of supply
Farm Sprayer & Fertilizer Supplies - AG Sprayer Parts & Fertilizer Application Equipment
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