# yard sprayer as misting pump



## JeffP (Mar 2, 2010)

As everything I've seen as a misting pump costs about $100, I was wondering about using one of those hand pump yard sprayers as a misting pump. I've picked up some misting heads from walmart and was thinking maybe I could plumb in one of these sprayers and just pump it up in the morning and let it spray out until it's pressure is gone. Has anyone tried this? Does anyone know how much PSI you can get from one of these sprayers vs. what's needed?


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## epiphytes etc. (Nov 22, 2010)

i've been thinking the same thing. since sprayers are so inexpensive, try it out. you'll probably get a lot of dripping as it loses pressure. let us know how it works.


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

The drops of water you are going to see from a Wall Mart misting nozzle will be very large drops compared to a mistking or similar system. That doesn't mean I'm saying it's not do-able. Just pointing out the drawbacks so you can make an informed choice. This means a lot more water going into your tank to get the job done. So you will probably want to be drilled and plumbed for automatic drains so you don't have to siphon every week. Interesting concept though. I applaud your imagination in this. Love to hear how it works out and more importantly, cost breakdown of all components required to do the job. I have my mister but you should include part numbers/brand names of what you used so others could duplicate if you are successful.
Doug


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## JeffP (Mar 2, 2010)

I'll give it a shot, I guess I can always go the expensive route if it doesn't work. The 2 tanks I'm looking at doing it in are drilled and have sumps so the excess water won't be a problem, especially since the one is a large island surrounded by water so the dripping will just happen in the water area anyway. I may be a while, but I'll let you guys know how it goes once I do it. That is unless someone else has already tried it.


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## markpulawski (Nov 19, 2004)

I have used a garden sprayer for 15 years+ without issue, I spray all my tanks once or twice a day with the nozzle tightened down to the finest spray pattern, giving them a good thorough rinse down in the process. I also open it up when setting up or really cleaning tanks, careful not to hit frogs when it sprays in a heavier pattern. I would suggest the 2 gallon model, there is a smaller one but refilling becomes a pain depending on your number of tanks. I use spring water here in Florida and when living in Ohio I just let tap water age a couple of days and used that, both have been used with great success. I hate paying for the spring water but here in Florida if i want healthy frogs I don't have a choice.


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## JaysPDF (Dec 29, 2010)

All I use is one of the pump sprayers. I mist my tanks 1-2 times a day with it. I have not had any issues. Obviously just make sure you use a new one. Don't use one that previously held garden chemicals or anything of the sort. Looks similar to this.


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## PeanutbuttER (Jan 1, 2011)

Is this what you're thinking? Looks like that one pump is running several misting heads through a fair amount of tubing. If you decreased the number of heads and length of pipe you could probably get some higher pressure/finer mist if you had good heads. I had a long discussion about this video on a different forum about whether or not/how to automate it with a timer and some other tweaks that would maybe even make Macgyver a little proud.


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## JeffP (Mar 2, 2010)

Yeah, that's exactly like I was thinking. I wouldn't be running this much off of one. If all my tanks were together, I would probably buy a pump, but they are in different rooms of the house and I would have to buy a bunch of pumps to be able to have misting systems in them all. I'm thinking at $10-$20 each, I could get these things going for cheap.


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