# How to adapt Northstar 31g tow behind sprayer



## Belgianbillie (Apr 3, 2018)

Hey,

I own the 31 gallon tow behind sprayer and i purchased new teejet nozzles. When i added these there was a problem. The nozzles that came with the sprayer had a 90 degree angle to them so when you installed them they pointed downward. The Teejet Nozzles just spray straight out of the nozzle. So i need to adapt the sprayer with a 90 degree elbow in it. Right now i think the cap fits on a male fitting that is 3/8 of an inch, fits a bit loosely but it doesnt fit on a 1/2inch. I need to find i believe a 90 degree elbow with a female fitting and a male fitting to be able to aim the new nozzles downwards.

Has anyone made this adaptation or have perhaps a better idea on how to fit the teetjet nozzles to the tow behind sprayer?

Thanks


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## Belgianbillie (Apr 3, 2018)

Maybe this is the part i need? https://www.spraysmarter.com/3-8-poly-street-elbow-90-degre.html


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## CenlaLowell (Apr 21, 2017)

Why do you need to to be at 90 degrees??? There's a few threads about this sprayer so you can look them up and maybe get better advice


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## Belgianbillie (Apr 3, 2018)

Because right now with the new teejet nozzles its spraying backward parallel to the ground. I want the nozzles to aim downward so it sprays perpendicular.

The nozzles that came with it are also parallel, but the nozzles have a 90 degree bend in it so it still sprays downward.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

I would either reorient the nozzle bodies, or change them altogether.

Do you have any photos of what you are working with?


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## FlowRider (Apr 7, 2019)

I have the North Star 31 gallon sprayer, and I just use the factory installed nylon flood jets on mine.

The biggest problem I foresee you having is the height of the spray heads will likely result in a lot of wind drift and may also surround you as the operator at times in a cloud of spray mist if the wind catches you in the wrong spot, such as in a corner up against fences, or if there is a sudden gust of wind from behind. Spray droplets needs to be coarse at the height of the boom bar to help curtail wind drift and overspray damage to other plants and ornamentals, etc.

I just use the hand wand with TeeJet nozzles on them. It is much easier to control, no adapter or backyard engineering modifications are required, and I can cover ground with the spray wand while completely controlling spray mist and wind drift completely. I can spray as fast as my mower will drive forward, at four to five mph, and do it all safely.... I studied this issue extensively, and industry experts universally advised against such use (or misuse).

Respectfully, the engineers who designed these units built them the way they come from the factory for a reason.

I looked at this as an option, and ruled it out. I absolutely do not believe fan sprayers at that height are safe for herbicides or pesticides. I do not want spray blowing or drifting into my face and onto my exposed skin. Unsafe.

I would highly recommend you research this further before attempting or doing such an equipment alteration.

The flood jets work better for spraying liquid fertilizers, and liquid pre-emergents such as Prodiamine, which are designed to work by deluging the foliage and soil with chemicals, and also designed to have coarse, and thus heavier, droplets, which in turn is designed to curtail or even eliminate spray drift. The engineers could have picked TeeJets if they wanted to; they did not for specific reasons, and to minimize potential harm and product liability....

The hand wand and electric pump make short work out of spraying; I even use it for insecticides because it's safe.

I want to avoid all chemical exposures, accidental, or by re-engineering a manufacturer's designs. My two cents....


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

If I am not mistaken, the flood jet nozzles on many electric sprayers are made to scatter mostly large droplets in a wide pattern. The way that is done is by pointing the nozzles at angles off of perpendicular to the ground and holding the nozzles high off of the ground. The boom set up that presents a lower risk of drift and uniform coverage involves air inducted fan nozzles held perpendicular to the ground, spaced 20" on the boom while being held no more than 20" from the ground. Riskier set ups involve non air inducted fan nozzles, especially the 80 degree ones held high off of the ground.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

@Belgianbillie this is a photo of their 41-gallon model, but is basically what I was suggesting when I mentioned using different nozzle bodies:










Flood nozzles are fine for most soil applied products, but not a great option for foliar apps - and there is really nothing irresponsible about wanting to be able to match nozzles with the products you are spraying.

I would recommend the QJ300 Series nozzle bodies. Assuming 3/8" hose, you would use these on the ends, and these for inline. These nozzle bodies will accept any standard TeeJet nozzle/quick cap combo.

Then pick a clamp that fits your boom - they make them to fit a wide range of square and round stock:



Teejet recommends 20" height and 20" nozzle spacing for their 110° nozzles. You can make it whatever you want, but I would stick with that 1:1 ratio to maintain spray uniformity.

Alternatively, you might browse the TeeJet Boom Component Catalog for something that better suits your needs. :thumbup:


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## Belgianbillie (Apr 3, 2018)

I think you are right that i need to get the nozzle boddies and clamps. Can my old Teejets dit somehow on these boddies or do i need new nozzles also?


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

Belgianbillie said:


> I think you are right that i need to get the nozzle boddies and clamps. Can my old Teejets dit somehow on these boddies or do i need new nozzles also?


They should work as long as you use the correct Quick Caps:


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## FlowRider (Apr 7, 2019)

I chose to keep the manufacturer's original equipment nylon flooding nozzles once I had researched the use of TeeJet replacements. I also experimented with adjusting the pressure on my sprayer using these stock flooding nozzles. What I found was I could turn up the pressure using the pressure regulator to the point where these flooding nozzles would actually spray a very fine mist - but the probelm was the mist would drift in the slightest breeze. So the size of droplets is dependent on both (a) nozzle type and orifice size, and (b) pumping pressure.

Here is an excerpt from TeeJet's "User's Guide to Spray Nozzles" posted on their web site, quoted from page 20 (I emphasized the pertinent parts that are salient to my decision to stick with the OEM North Star flooding nozzles):

"Flooding Type Nozzles

Flooding type nozzles produce a wide angle flat fan pattern. Pressure changes affect the width of the spray pattern more than with extended range flat fan nozzles.

Using flooding type nozzles:

• Best distribution is achieved with nozzles mounted for 100% (or double) overlap, meaning the edge of one spray pattern extends to the center of the adjacent nozzle, at the lowest possible operating pressure.

• Nozzles can be mounted to spray in any direction but the mounting position will impact the distribution. If spraying downward, rotating the nozzles 30° to 45° up from horizontal will help uniformity at operating pressures in the 10 to 30 PSI (0.7 to 2 bar) range.

• *At low pressures, flooding type nozzles produce large droplets; at high pressures, smaller droplets are produced -even smaller than flat fan nozzles with an equivalent flow rate*.

• *Compared to extended range flat fan nozzles, drift can be reduced by as much as 50%.*

• Pre-orifice style flooding versions operate at pressures from 10 to 40 PSI (0.7 to 2.8 bar), require a minimum of 30% overlap on the edge of each spray pattern and can be mounted in a variety of positions for spraying in any direction.

• Flooding versions are well-suited for soil applications especially when applying a mix of fertilizers and herbicides."

In actual usage, the stock OEM flooding nozzles have met my needs so far. Could I fine tune them? Of course, but I have yet to see the need to do so.

I know most men like to farkle their equipment with all sorts of modifications to make them run better or look cooler, or just make them their own unique machine.

Believe me, I am a gearhead myself, and I love tricking out my machines.

But as I have grown older, and perhaps a little wiser, I would rather spend that money on investments rather than doo-dads and thingamabobbers that make my lawn gear look all bedazzling and spraymeisterish.

I am still The FlowRider  :lol: :roll: , and I still mow my lawn at night using headlights, but now I put more money towards retirement rather than farkles for my machines.

I just learned the hard way that may be a wiser path to be on...so I am putting my farkle money elsewhere now.... ardon:

But it is a free country (unless you break the law) so feel free to spend your money how you want on what you want. :thumbup:


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

@FlowRider I'm having a hard time following, but can assure you that TLF fully supports investing for retirement, becoming debt free, and using the right TeeJet nozzles. I would say most are capable of pursuing more than one of those options. :thumbup:


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## FlowRider (Apr 7, 2019)

Ware said:


> @FlowRider I'm having a hard time following, but can assure you that TLF fully supports investing for retirement, becoming debt free, and using the right TeeJet nozzles. I would say most are capable of pursuing more than one of those options. :thumbup:


Thanks for those links, @Ware!

If I may attempt to clarify, I read the quoted excerpts that I emphasized to mean that I had the correct type of flooding nozzles I would need and replacing these with TeeJets would not make a difference, so I would be spending money to replace something that would not really be worth the time, effort, or money to replace (the money really is not that much, so...).

But I am certainly not an expert on the subject, and as the old saying goes, an open mind and a closed mouth is much better than a closed mind and an open mouth.

You are a mechanical engineer, and you built your own sprayer as I understand your videos, and you know far more about TeeJets than I will ever know.

So, may I please ask for you to take me to school on this?

What would be the benefits, in your view, of upgrading these nozzles for TeeJets? Are we talking a major improvement in efficacy? Do you think it would be a project worth the time and effort?

I am not asking as an academic exercise. I really want to know what you think here. The reason is the nylon nozzle looks a little chintzy to me, so I looked at replacing it. It is a part that will wear out eventually, so I figured I would look into it further then, and further reading led me to believe the juice would not be worth the squeeze, so to speak, and just buy replacements once these erode out one day.

Do you think it would be worth pursuing before these wear out?

I'm serious. I really would value the benefit of your thinking on the issue.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Teejets provide an extremely good even distribution. This means their design and quality control are really good. For soil applications, it probably wont matter, but for foliar (pgr) an even distribution makes a big difference.

They make videos of how their nozzle work.
AIXR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdkKfVN_slU

Look how all the buckets get almost all filled with the same qty of water.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVu50ZTnkz4


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## Belgianbillie (Apr 3, 2018)

Ware said:


> Belgianbillie said:
> 
> 
> > I think you are right that i need to get the nozzle boddies and clamps. Can my old Teejets dit somehow on these boddies or do i need new nozzles also?
> ...


I presume i must get an A. What is the difference between the top two purple ones.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

Belgianbillie said:


> I presume i must get an A. What is the difference between the top two purple ones.


The -PP ones are polypropylene. It says they are rated for 150psi and only available in gray.

You'll most likely want the 25612-*-NYR cap and gasket set.

That said, if you order from SpraySmarter, I think they're using new numbers shown on this catalog page.

Their part number for the same cap and gasket would be 114441-*-CELR.

Clear as mud? :lol:


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## Jimefam (Jun 22, 2018)

Ware said:


> @Belgianbillie this is a photo of their 41-gallon model, but is basically what I was suggesting when I mentioned using different nozzle bodies:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Ok so I have those nozzle bodies in the cart as well as a few adapters from their assortment to some how rig a third nozzle in the middle of the boom. It has a width of 42" from tip to tip so a third right in the middle will be perfect to keep the required 20" spacing. However the boom arm is 24" off the ground. The 110* is for 20" off the ground and the 80* for 30". Which would you go with at 24"?

And then as far as actual nozzles i bought for my echo backpack sprayer the red and blue and yellow XR nozzles last year and always use the blue because i prefer walking slower as it helps me keep track of what ive covered and overlap better etc. On the X300 mower i am using to pull my thinking was use speed app to find approximately 2mph and 3mph and see which feels better. What nozzles would you recommend? I will buy a couple of colors of each nozzle and try with just water til i get the coverage right at the speed i feel comfortable like i did with the backpack sprayer however I'd like to know what type of nozzles and caps I would need. I will be using this for prodiamine, celsius and certainty as well as liquid ferts and biostims and pgr and FAS. There seems to be quite a bit of discussion in the last few pages of the teejet nozzle thread about xr vs AIXR etc? Not sure if its the hour or what but im pretty confused about which is best for what at this point lol.


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