Electric Sprayer - E+ NG

• Tank volume - 15 litres
• Tank working volume - 15 litres
• Maximum working pressure - 3 bar
• Power - lithium-ion battery
• Hose length - 142cm
• Lance length - 83cm

The E+ NG electric backpack sprayer has a 15-litre tank and is supplied with a spare set of nozzles, integrated pressure valve, a 500mm extension lance to fit to the standard lance and a conical spray hood. All of this is very nice and certainly don't need to be included but they are all very useful items and I guarantee that you will use them. However, I think that the first thing I need to address is why would you want to buy an electric sprayer when we have a large selection of both manual knapsack and compression sprayers to choose from. The true answer, and in my opinion the only real answer, is ease of use. With an electric sprayer, there is no need to pump the tank to maintain pressure. This makes the sprayer slightly lighter than other models, as there are fewer working parts, and is especially good when you have a large area to spray or when you spray on a regular basis. It is also very useful as you are only using one hand to operate the sprayer which is a bonus should you be using the sprayer with one of our long telescopic lances or working at height. Obviously, it is a choice that you must make but we thought that giving you the main benefits for an electric sprayer may help you when it comes to selecting your new model.

Back to the sprayer. The box is brightly coloured and has plenty of good quality information and photographs. I thought that the sprayer was well packed and everything fitted nicely around the tank. Some of our other sprayers have the smaller ‘loose’ items bagged but not the E+ however there aren’t as many small items with this sprayer so I don’t feel this is an issue. The instruction manual wasn’t as substantial as many I have seen however everything seemed quite straight forward. Only a couple of pages of instructions but I think it told me everything I needed, to set the sprayer up, keep it running and look after it. The assembly and maintenance instructions are given in pictorial form and were certainly clear enough to understand. There are also a couple of pages containing metering and liquid distribution information and an exploded diagram of the sprayer giving various part numbers should you need to order any replacement parts.

Putting the paperwork to one side, it was time to have a look at the sprayer. To remove the sprayer from the box only required me to remove the loose items then to gently pull on the handle. As this sprayer is quite light, the tank lifted out easily. The shoulder straps are already fitted so there is only a couple of things that you must do. As I have already said, there is no lever to assemble with an electric sprayer so it is only the hose and lance that needs to be attached to the spray handle and assembly is complete. The spray lance simply threads onto the handle but the hose is a little more fiddley as you also must connect the electrical wires. This is an easy job as the electrical connectors just ‘click’ into place and the hose threads onto both the handle and tank. As there is electricity flowing near liquids, there are rubber covers to also push into place. These seem to be of good quality and will easily handle all the movements that they will go through. As this is an electric sprayer we must have a power source and this is a 14.4v Lithium-ion rechargeable battery. The sprayer includes a charger that simply plugs into the socket and into the battery pack. Once charged the battery fits into a belt and you simply plug the sprayer into it.

Filling the sprayer is easy as the tank has a very wide neck but do make sure that you use the filter to ensure that nothing enters the tank that could block the nozzle. I would also recommend placing the sprayer on a table, before filling, as this makes it far easier to put it on your back as opposed to having to lift a full tank from the floor. The one thing that is not quite so easy is removing the top of the sprayer to fill it. The E+ doesn’t have a threaded lid, as most sprayers, you must remove a centre section at the top of the tank. I understand the reason for this as we have electricity and liquids together so there is the need to have the tank sealed during use however this section is quite stiff the first few times it is removed, so be careful. So, with tank filled I put the sprayer on and there is plenty of adjustment in the shoulder straps so all shapes and sizes should be well accommodated and the same goes for the battery belt.

After all of this, I was ready to spray. Don’t forget that this sprayer has a pressure regulator built into the handle. You maybe a little confused as to the exact reason for the pressure regulator but turn it on and off a few times, whilst spraying, and you can see the difference. With the regulator off the sprayer works as per normal which basically means that the spray comes out with quite some force meaning that you, generally, use your tank contents very quickly. This is fine for some applications however when using herbicides or other products with a measured distribution rate it is recommended to switch the regulator on. This reduces the exit pressure to 1.5BAR (from 3BAR) giving larger droplets and allowing you to monitor your spraying and chemical consumption. To start spraying, all I needed to do was to connect the battery and pull the handle lever.

Cleaning is straightforward, just follow the instructions and you can’t go too far wrong however one piece of advice is to leave the electrical connectors and hose connected to the tank and handle. Remove the lance from the handle and remove the filter from within the handle but I would recommend leaving the electrical connectors in place rather than separating and reconnecting over & over.

Overall I think that the E+ is a very comfortable sprayer to use, easy to maintain and is certainly superior to the original model. As it connects directly to all the accessories within our range I would recommend the E+ to anyone who sprays large areas or undertakes frequent spraying or prefers to just click & spray.