How do you keep the nozzles of your sprayers clear?

I have a couple of sprayers for spraying weedkiller but the nozzles always seem to become blocked up and I get a twiddly, twirly useless jet instead of a normal one.

I spray ordinary water through the nozzles when I'm finished and then put the nozzles in a bucket of water afterwards. Still doesn't seem to work, though. :( :(

They're brass nozzles. What do you do to avoid this problem? Grateful for any advice.

 

Try using a sewing needle to unblock them Kindred. I've not found a way to avoid them blocking though.

 

Could you soak the nozzle in white vinegar after use? Works on shower heads for lime scale.

 

Snap. For chemicals that need spreading over a wide area - lawn herbicides and weedkiller on larger areas of vacant space - I use fan nozzles, which seem to be less troubled. The most recent set I get also came with a spray nozzle too - its not adjustable, like the conventional ones, but has a disk (which swirls the liquid I think) and then a fixed nozzle. It produces a lovely fine spray ... but I don't know if it will degrade over time. One of my fan nozzles now produces the annoying "twiddly, twirly useless jet" and I'm blowed if I can see anything gumming it up (the nozzles have a mesh grill to catch any muck before it gets to the nozzle itself). I can only think that something is growing in the nozzle and has altered the shape.



e.g. £5.40 from http://www.agratech.co.uk/Matabi-Goizper-Nozzle-Pack.html