MACHINERY MAINTENANCE

Gauging your pressure gauge

MONEY-SAVING TIP: Check tire pres-sure when you check engine oil. Fourtractor tires cost about the same as anew engine. With recommended oper-ating psi sinking into the single digits,regular pressure checks have becomecritical for optimum wear and perform-ance. But before checking a tire, checkyour pressure gauge. It's probablyoverdue for retirement.

Just about the cheapest tire gauge youcan buy will monitor tractor tire pressurejust fine. An Alberta Agriculture Engi-neer found some $6 to $9 pencil-typegauges worked better than $20 to $30 dialand digital models.

But be warned! You can't buy a tiregauge, use it occasionally, pack it aroundfor months in a dusty glove compartmentor tool box, and assume it will perform asaccurately as the day you bought it. Tiregauges are perishable!

Few farmers ever toss and tum at nightwondering about tire gauge accuracy.Falling commodity prices, rising inputcosts, mortgage payments, the impact ofnew international trade agreements, eventhe cost of new machinery ... these arewhat sleepless nights and grey hairs areall about.

Faulty tire gauges are low priority,right? But that $10 you spend on a newgauge is a good investment, says ReedTurner at the Alberta Farm Machinery

Research Centre in Lethbridge. "Thecost of four tires is about the same as anew engine," he says. "Most farmerscheck oil levels regularly, but how manyroutinely check tire pressure?"

And even if you do throw the gauge onfrom time to time, how old is it, howmany times have you used it, how oftenhave you cleaned it, and how do youknow it's showing the correct psi? Thetruth is, you probably don't know.

With tire pressure recommendationsgoing steadily downward, Turner set outto find a better - or best - tire gauge.

Particularly with radial tires (CountryGuide, June/July, 1992), manufacturersare now recommending pressures as lowas 6 to. 8 psi for proper performance. Ifyour gauge is out by 2 to 4 psi, it doesn'tmatter so much when your running at 18to 20 psi anyway, but being out by 2 to 4psi when you're targeting 6 to 8 is badnews.

With tire pressure and, indirectly,gauge accuracy being more critical,Turner tested 10 commonly availablegauges. That included pencil or sticktypes, dial gauges, and digital gauges.Prices ranged from $6 to $30.

His rating criteria included pressurerange (lowest to highest pressure meas-ured); readability when on a valve stem;accuracy (deviation from know psi); du-

rability (tolerance of normal wear andtear including a drop test); and generalperformance on tires carrying liquid bal-last.

What did he learn? Plenty. Somegauges obviously don't go low enough tomeasure the new tire inflation recom-mendations. Others start at zero psi andgo all the way up to 150 - not necessaryor practical for farm use. He preferredmodels concentrating on the lowerranges.

Poor markings or too much informationon the guide stick made some gaugeshard to read while on the tire. Othersneeded 2 hands for proper operation.

Accuracy also left much to be desired.Some gauges were inaccurate on the firstuse. Others were fine initially, but losttheir accuracy after repeated readings.On durability, pencil-type and digitalgauges were better able to withstandwear and tear. The drop test generally

cooked dial gauges.And on ballast, 3 pencil gauges again

performed better than the more expensivedial and digital models. They even out-performed gauges specifically made towithstand chloride corrosion.

The Alberta Farm Machinery ResearchCentre is publishing a detailed report ontire gauge testing. It explains the perform-ance of the various gauges tested.

Keep A Reference GaugeMeanwhile, Turner offers these general

recommendations:• The Superex, Motomaster, and Bridge-

port 40-402 pencil-type gauges at be-tween $6 an$9 had the best performanceof the 10 tested, although even amongthese, there was variability in certainaspects.

• Buy 2 new gauges at a time. Have themboth tested for accuracy before they'reactually put into use. Finding a testingcentre may be difficult. One possibility:a home economist or test kitchen withaccess to equipment used for testingpressure cookers. It also works on tiregauges.

• Once you know the gauges are accurate,put one away in a clean dry location.Use it as a reference gauge in the future.

• Take good care of the working gauge.After each use, store it in a clean envi-ronment.

• If a gauge is use on liquid-ballast tires,make sure it's thoroughly cleaned anddried after each use.

• It's not uncommon for tire pressure tovary 5% during a day. A psi reading may

The Sports Turf Association joined with several other TurfAssociations in forming a Rural Conservation Club which has

enabled Dr. Gary Kachanoski, Dr. Terry Gillespie and Dr. PaulVoroney of-the Univ. of Guelph and Ms. Pam Charbonneau, turfspecialist with O.M.A ..F., to receive the first major research grantfor work at the Guelph Turfgrass Institute. Funding totalling$255,600 will be made available for research on 'Water andChemical Systems for the Turfgrass Industry'.

The quality and use of rural water resources affects the lives ofall rural and urban communities. The Turfgrass industry is asignificant part of Ontario's Agribusiness and can have a signifi-cant impact on how our land and water resources are utilized. Littleinformation is available regarding the impact of existing manage-ment systems on water use, and the quality of water leaving thesite.

The objectives of the three year study are:• To measure the quality (nitrate, pesticides,etc.) and amount of

excess drainage water under conventional management systemsfor turf.

• To demonstrate/compare the impact of innovative water con-serving irrigation systems on the amount and quality of drainagewater from turf.

• To demonstrate/compare the impact of innovative chemicalmanagement systems on the quality of drainage water from turf.

The benefits of the study to the turfgrass industry will be toprovide data from which more efficient chemical and water useprograms can be designed which will reduce the risk of off-siteenvironmental impact to ground and surface water and allow theturf manager to be in compliance with environmental laws. Thebenefits to the rural and urban communities will be to assure better

GTI RESEARCH HILITES

Conservation Club Research Funding

be slightly higher in the afternoon thanin the morning. If the difference is morethan 5%, check your working gaugeagainst your reference gauge. If thereading is out, replace the workinggauge with a new one that's been testedfor accuracy (against your referencegauge).

If all this seems like a lot of fuss over a$10 gadget, think about the cost of newtractor tires. Getting maximum wear andperformance out of each set is worth theinvestment of a little time;

For the full tire gauge test report, contactthe Alberta Farm Machinery ResearchCentre, 3000 College Drive, Lethbridge,AB. TIK lL6 (phone 403-381-5729).

(Reprinted with permission from The Country Guide, Vol.113, No.3, March, 1994)

quality drinking and recreational water and to provide a betterunderstanding of the effect of chemicals used inthe turf industryon the domestic water supplies. Lastly, for all concerned the studywill provide information which will aid in the conservation ofwater in both the urban and rural communities through innovativeirrigation scheduling.

The overall approach to the project will be to make detailedmeasurements of the amount and quality of drainage water underconventional and innovative irrigation/chemical input systems atthe field plots of the Guelph Turfgrass Institute. In addition sixsites will be selected where intensive monitoring will be conductedunder conventional management systems to give baseline valuesof water quality over a range of soil/site conditions.

Depending on the results of the measurements at these sites ,changes in the management will be implemented based on thedetailed work at the Turfgrass Institute. This could involve chang-ing irrigation scheduling procedures, changing amounts/types offertilizer or pesticide, or both.

Conventional irrigation scheduling based onset timing of con-stant amounts of applied water will be compared to applicationsamounts and timing based on estimated evapotranspiration ratesfrom detailed meteorological information. Several soil indexes ofwater; such as tensiometers, dryness sensors and TDR (TimeDomain Refractometer) probes will also be used. The cost andeffectiveness of various meteorological based systems and the soilsensor will be compared to determine the simplest system neces-sary to implement a good water conserving irrigation schedule.

With less water moving through the root "zone, less chemicalswill be added to the water supplies.