How to Make a Spray Bottle That Works in Any Orientation

Intro: How to Make a Spray Bottle That Works in Any Orientation

Everyone knows it. Your spray bottle is almost empty or you have to be in a corner where the bottle can't reach in the right position and the spray bottle no longer sprays properly! The hack I show in this Instructable will get you rid of this annoyance forever! By replacing the hard suction tube with flexible tubing and adding a weight to the end of it, the suction tube will naturally fall to the lowest point of the bottle. This will allow end of the tube to stay submerged regardless of how the bottle is positioned.

As always, I've made a short video tutorial again where you can watch this project and see the result in action.

Most of the credit for this idea goes to my grandmother. Unfortunately she is not active online and therefore cannot be tagged! She has been using a similar idea for years and I wanted to make this Instructable from it. As weight, however, she used a stone with a hole in it. Although this idea (but with a small stone as weight) has been used by my grandmother for years, I must certainly give credit to "DIY Hacks and How Tos". Because of his Instructable I replaced the stone for nuts, with a small improvement!

STEP 1: Preparing the Spray Head

To start, unscrew the spray head from the bottle. Cut the original suction tube a few inches below the spray head. Be careful not to get any splashes of the cleanser in your eyes or on your skin. If necessary, rinse everything well with water and wear glasses just to be sure.

STEP 2: Mounting the Flexible Tube

As the title of this step says, we are now going to mount the flexible tube. Slide the flexible tube over the original tube. The flexible tube should be slightly longer than the original total length of the tube.

Luckily I found a tube with 1/8" inner diameter in my shed that fits exactly over the original and closes well. If the tube you use is a bit too small, you can heat it up. If it is too big, you can secure it with some superglue.

STEP 3: The Titanium Nuts

Now slide the 5 titanium nuts over the flexible tube and attach them to the end of the flexible tube with some super glue.

1/4 inch nuts should be best to use because they conveniently fit on the flexible tubing without any adhesive. Unfortunately I didn't have these in titanium so I used a slightly larger size.

Most of you won't have titanium nuts lying around at home. Stainless steel is of course also great to use! The only downside is that most stainless steel nuts will corrode over time. Titanium, on the other hand, is much more resistant to chemicals.

STEP 4: Ready

And finished! Just screw the spray head back onto the bottle and you can use the upgraded spray bottle!

As you can see in the photos and in the video, the bottle can now be used in any position. The nuts act as weight. This will allow end of the tube to stay submerged regardless of how the bottle is positioned.

Comments

[msheidi]

Thanks for your idea for the spray bottle. Now if you can help with my problem of having the sprayer quitting for no apparent reason. I have tossed many a sprayer when they just stop working Frustrating!

[bmail]

I used to use this idea for years, however, over time I found that the metal nuts will start to corrode (as the poster stated) leaving a rusty slime all over everything in the bottle. So be careful what kind of liquid you put these metal nuts into. Maybe someone will come up with a non corrosive weight that can be used in place of metal nuts. Or do as his grandmother did and use a stone with a hole.

[SylvanB]

bmail, any idea what kind of nuts you used? it sounds like they were typical zinc (galvanized) steel (blue, gray or reddish slime) or possibly brass (greenish slime). Those metals will corrode in many liquids whereas stainless steel (I prefer 316 but have had good luck with 304) is resistant to most household things and titanium should resist nearly all. Titanium is so light... probably why the author used so many. :)

Glass beads might work better than any metal, being closely related to a "stone with a hole."

[bmail]

They were stainless steel. I think the type of liquid they were immersed in finally corroded them. I even tried covering them with a spray-on poly but that too eventually didn't hold up. Ideally, it should be a non-metal weight that could withstand any liquid.
Don't get me wrong...it's a great idea, but the execution of it long term is what seems to be the issue.

[Uncadoo]

How about a rock with a hole in it (like grandma used)? If it ain't broke. . .

[andyfreezer1]

Paint your nuts (sounds painful) with nail varnish gives them a plastic coat.

[michaelb2]

RC pilots call this a clunk tank. The end of the flexible (usually silicone fuel tubing) tubing is attached to a drilled brass weight ( stretched over flange). Now, plane can be in any orientation.

[leshemeli]

The best complement I can receive on my idea: "it is simple". It is vey hard to think "simple"!

[JohnW51]

Hey, this is a great idea. Only one small problem. Superglue will not stick to flexible tubing. At least that has been my experience. But E6000 certainly will. Gonna try this right away.

[jpulkowski]

Clever, same way a small two cycle engine fuel tank works, like a chainsaw. There is a filter at the end of the fuel line that gravity keeps in the fuel. This way a saw can run at any angle.

[jmacuk]

brilliant! I have been bedeviled by this problem forever!

[MikB]

Nice trick: This technique is used in model aeroplanes, inside the fuel tank, to ensure that the liquid fuel always ends up going into the fuel tube, no matter which way up the model is -- imagine rolling the plane over and having all the fuel go to the other side of the tank ... cough, splutter, wheeeeee, crash.

[NEW PEW]

Thanks MikB!
I hope they have some kind of technique in all planes...

[MikB]

Well, a different technique is used in electric planes, to stop all the electrons falling out when you go upside down :)

[DavidF14]

I think he was referring to full size airplanes, lol.

[jmdushi]

I like this clever trick! I use a lot of spray bottles so I’m very happy with your instructable, thank you so much.