TIP - Fix a liquid spray bottle

[Harry Bloomfield]

I tend to save a few of the cheap cleaner squirty bottles, to re-purpose these for spraying thin oil and even water to spray cool a weld down. Trouble is they soon seem to fail to spray.

Problem - often they stop spraying or don't spray as well as they did. Thinking it might be a failing none return valve I spent a bit of time investigating them and found that the reason they stop, is that they get air in the trigger operated pump. The pumps or not self priming they need to be full of liquid to work. Once air is drawn in they fail.

The fix - put a finger tip over the jet outlet, to act as a one way valve and pump a few times to expel the trapped air.

[Roger Hayter]

All the ones I've seen have a one way valve and *are* self-priming. But they are designed for particular liquids (mainly differing in polarity and viscosity) and can fail by wear, distortion, debris, or using the wrong liquid. If you can get it to work by manually priming it that is good, but if the one way valve fails even when primed then it still doesn't work. Best regarded as one or two uses only when used with unsuitable liquids. For instance, I have found that polythene (mainly) spray mechanisms intended for water soon fail when used with

100% isopropanol.

[DerbyBorn]

or squeeze bottle whilst pumping.

[Harry Bloomfield]

DerbyBorn wrote on 17/02/2018 :

You would think so, but no - squeezing only worked whilst squeezing - my guess the vacuum created in the container, broke the priming as air was drawn back in. As soon as I stopped, the pump stopped working. I did rather expect that they would have an air vent to allow air in, as the liquid was expelled, but again no - the pump top/cap seemed to provide an airtight seal. I only had two versions to work with, but the fix worked with both.

[Steve Walker]

I usually find (with antibacterial sprays and polishes) that they stop working when they are low, because almost every one is assembled with the dip-pipe positioned incorrectly.

They are often used spraying downwards at 45° or so onto a cloth or a flat surface, the liquid runs to to bottom, front, but the dip-pipes are almost always assembled to the bottom, rear.

Remove, turn 180° and replace.

SteveW

[tabbypurr]

I've got 2 that have worked many years over & over. But no idea what makes it keep going, might be handy to know.

NT

[PeterC]

Same here - my best one can be set to Spray or Jet. I use the spray for damping small areas (I use a filler that needs a damp substrate) amd for mixing small quantities of filler: spray jently to fix the surface of the powder, use jet to get water into the heap, start to mix, use spray to add water all over until the mixture is OK. It avoids what I call 'Polyfilla ping-pong'.

[Jeff Layman]

Can't say I've had that problem. I've got a small (50ml) spray bottle of the sort you can buy at Superdrug for well under a pound. It's used nearly every day with 100% isopropanol and has been going for at least

10 years. I didn't expect it to last more than a few months, but it has certainly surprised me with its longevity.

[Roger Hayter]

That seems unfair! Presumably a slightly different type of plastic.

[jkn]

I bought a pack of half a dozen 'commercial quality' spray bottles from eBay, for something like a tenner. They are used for commercial hand car washing, things like that.

They are much better quality than any of the 'disposable' types you get, I think they have better (nitrile?) washers for starters.

I'd have preferred if they had square section bottles (for storing) but that's not a bit deal.

I would like to get some commercial quality smaller bottles, like the Superdrug-style perfume ones, but I haven't seen any of those

HTH Jon N

[critcher]

are you people allowed to vote ?????

[MM]

The question we should be asking is, what happened to refills? It breaks my heart when I throw a sprayer bottle (bathroom/kitchen cleaner, anti-mould spray etc) away, recallling the time when you could at least buy a refill to fit the same sprayer. Plus, all those little bits of plastic in the trigger mechanism -- and did someone mention springs? -- are deadly for marine life if such items find their way into the oceans.

MM

[tabbypurr]

You can still get refills. They're called Aldi cheapo handwash or shampoo or some such, 55p a litre.

NT

[Rob Morley]

Buy stuff in 5 litre containers, transfer to dispensing container.

[tabbypurr]

I've never seen anything competitive in gallon containers. How much can you get them for for hand soap?

NT

[Bob Eager]

I pay £5.99 plus VAT as one-offs, for 5 litres.

[tabbypurr]

1 litre at Aldi 55p. Gallon containers of chems always seem to be much more expensive, even after diluting to the same rate as retail stuff.

NT

[Rob Morley]

No idea - I just get whatever's cheapest in Lidl, and try to live with my eco-conscience. :-)