Strainer & Mesh Selector
Plugged nozzles, a pump that cavitates, or a strainer you clean every tank? The mesh is wrong somewhere. Tell us your smallest tip, what you spray and where the strainers sit, and we'll match a mesh to each spot and pull the parts from our shelf.
What goes through the strainer?
The two things that set mesh: how small the tip orifice is, and whether the product has solids in it.
Where are the strainers?
A sprayer normally has three. Tick the ones you want to size — the tool recommends a different mesh for each because they do different jobs.
Recommended mesh & parts
Something's wrong — what the symptom says
Your strainer order
Installing and cleaning strainers
- Suction strainer goes between the tank outlet valve and the pump inlet, as close to the tank as the hose allows, bowl pointing down so debris settles away from the screen. Never put a fine screen here — it starves the pump.
- Line strainer goes after the pump, before the boom section valves or rate controller flowmeter, where it is easy to reach from the ground. Flow arrow on the body points toward the boom.
- Tip strainers push into the nozzle body outlet behind the tip, pointed end into the body. Every nozzle gets one unless you run a line strainer at least as fine.
- Clean screens with water and a soft brush, never a wire brush or compressed air against the mesh — it stretches the weave and the screen passes bigger particles than its rating. Replace torn or bulged screens; a Banjo screen is under $50 and a tip strainer about $1.50.
- Check gaskets every time the bowl comes off. A line strainer that sucks air at the bowl seal shows up as foam in the tank and erratic pressure.
- Season end: pull all three, clean, and store dry. Leave the bowls off so they do not freeze with product in them.
How to pick sprayer strainer mesh
Mesh is the number of wires per inch, so a higher number is a finer screen: 50 mesh has openings of about 300 microns (0.012"), 80 mesh about 180 microns, 100 mesh about 150 microns. The rule from TeeJet's catalog is simple — the screen opening should be smaller than the nozzle orifice so anything that gets through the strainer also gets through the tip. Suction strainers are coarse (16–30 mesh) because their job is to keep stones, tank fragments and bag pieces out of the pump without choking it; line strainers (50 mesh for most work) do the real protecting; and the tip strainer is the last line of defense at each nozzle.
Mesh to micron
| Mesh | Opening (approx.) | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| 16 | 1190 µm / 0.047" | Suction with centrifugal pumps, tank baskets |
| 20 | 840 µm / 0.033" | Suction strainers, roller pumps |
| 24 | 710 µm / 0.028" | Tip strainers for large fertilizer orifices (TeeJet white) |
| 30–32 | 560 µm / 0.022" | Suction filters on diaphragm pumps, coarse line strainers for suspensions |
| 40 | 420 µm / 0.017" | Line strainers ahead of large tips, WP and dry flowables |
| 50 | 300 µm / 0.012" | Default line and tip strainer for tips 015 and larger (TeeJet blue) |
| 80 | 180 µm / 0.007" | Line strainers ahead of 01–015 tips, clean solutions (TeeJet yellow) |
| 100 | 150 µm / 0.006" | Tip strainers for 01 and smaller tips, solutions only (TeeJet green) |
| 120–200 | 125–75 µm | Very small tips, misting and low-volume nozzles |
Tip size and tip strainer mesh
| Tip capacity | Solutions (most liquid products) | Wettable powders, dry flowables, suspensions |
|---|---|---|
| 01 and smaller (≤ 0.1 gpm) | 100 mesh | 50 mesh — 100 mesh will plug; use a 50 mesh line strainer and watch nozzles |
| 015 – 03 | 50 mesh (80 mesh optional for very clean water) | 50 mesh |
| 04 and larger | 50 mesh | 50 mesh or slotted strainer |
| Fertilizer orifice plates / streaming tips | 24 or 50 mesh depending on orifice | 24 mesh or slotted |
Line strainer size by flow
A strainer that is too small for the flow drops pressure and plugs fast. These are approximate thresholds from Banjo and Hypro flow charts for a clean 50 mesh screen; go up a size if you run finer mesh or dirty water.
| Strainer size | Up to about |
|---|---|
| 1/2" | 8 gpm |
| 3/4" | 15 gpm |
| 1" | 25 gpm |
| 1-1/4" | 45 gpm |
| 1-1/2" | 75 gpm |
| 2" | 150 gpm |
| 3" | 300+ gpm |
Common questions
Do I need all three strainers?
A suction strainer protects the pump, a line strainer protects the controller valves and boom, and tip strainers protect each nozzle. On a boom with 50 mesh tip strainers and a 50 mesh line strainer you have double coverage — many operators then run slotted or 24 mesh tip strainers so one plug does not stop a nozzle. What you should never do is skip the suction strainer or make it fine.
Why does my line strainer plug every tank with dry flowables?
WDG and WP products are suspensions; the particles are real and a fine screen collects them by design. Go to 50 mesh (or 30–40 mesh in the line strainer with 50 at the tips), make sure the product is fully dispersed with agitation before you spray, and consider a self-cleaning strainer that bleeds collected solids back to the tank.
Pump is noisy and pressure surges — is it the strainer?
Often. A plugged or too-fine suction strainer starves the pump and it cavitates. Clean it, and if it is 50 mesh or finer on a roller or centrifugal pump, swap the screen to 16–30 mesh and move the fine filtering to the pressure side.
Stainless or poly screen?
Stainless screens are standard and take the most abuse. For liquid fertilizer, deicing brine and chlorine-based products use poly screens or 316 stainless and Viton (FKM) seals; 304 stainless will slowly pit in salt brine.
Which color is which TeeJet tip strainer?
8079-PP strainers are color coded: white 24 mesh, blue 50 mesh, yellow 80 mesh, green 100 mesh, pink 200 mesh. Banjo line strainer screens are color-ribbed too — green ribs are 100 mesh, for example — but check the part number, since vendors differ.
Related
Nozzle body parts breakdown · Spray tip selector · Pump sizing · Pump finder · Fitting & thread identifier · All strainers & filters