NSW Department of Primary Industries
Calibration Method
for knapsack and hand-held pneumatic sprayers
Type of equipment: _________________________________________
Make and model: __________________________________________
Chemical product name: _____________________________________
Part A: Recordings
(refer to the equipment manufacturer's charts and the chemical label)
Step
1
2
Instructions
What should the water application rate be (from
the product label)
Select the correct chemical application rate (from
the label).
Details
litres
per
mLs
per
This will usually be in mL or millilitres. There are
1000 millilitres in 1 litre.
3
Record the nozzle type and size (from the
equipment).
type
size
4
5
Is there a required operating pressure (from the
label, and from the charts)?
If so, what is it?
This will be written as kPa (kilopascals) or bar
(barometric pressure). Both are different ways of
expressing pressure.
Yes
No
kPa or
bar
What is the tank size of your equipment?
litres
6
Record how high you should hold the equipment
above the target.
Knapsack calibration record V1
(INT09/35816)
28 July 2009
_____cm above target
Page 1 of 2
NSW Department of Primary Industries
Part B: Calculating the water application rate
Details
Step
Instructions
7
Measure out an area 10 m x 1 m. This is 10
m2.
This is an area of 1/1000th of a hectare.
(1 ha = 100 m x 100 m or 10,000 m2 )
8
Time how long it takes to spray this area
with water. Use the correct operating
pressure (or a constant pressure). Walk at a
comfortable speed and make sure to cover
the whole area evenly.
Time in seconds
9
Spray into a measuring jug for the same
number of seconds it took to cover the 10 m
x 1 m area.
Record how much is in the measuring jug.
This is the output.
Output in litres
10
You can now multiply this number of litres
by 10 to give a water application rate per
100 m2.
10 x ________ litres
(output)
= __litres per 100 m2
11
OR you can now multiply the number of
litres in step 9 by 1000 to give a water
application rate per hectare.
1000 x _______ litres
(output)
= _____ litres per ha
Source: SMARTtrain Chemical Accreditation Program
Knapsack calibration record V1
(INT09/35816)
28 July 2009
Page 2 of 2