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Saturday, January 12, 2013

All sprayers are NOT created equal!

Since day one of my cloth diapering adventure, I've been a huge fan of my diaper sprayer. We got the Knickernappies diaper sprayer with a purchase of a FuzziBunz diapering package (not this one since Elite's weren't in existence yet, but you get the idea) from Kelly's Closet.

Sure, there was a learning curve at first. I would spray the diaper and just squeeze the sprayer all the way and -=whoosh=- .... poop water on my face. Yep, it took a little bit for me to figure out the right amount of pressure to apply to get the perfect amount of water pressure.... and to figure out how to hold the diaper based on the different types of poop. Still, I became a pro after a while.

This past autumn, my mother offered let me hook up a diaper sprayer at her house for when we come down. She knew it would be a lot easier on me since I was currently dunking the diaper and rubbing them together under the water. Sorta gross, but hey... so are disposables sitting in a trash can smelling up the room.

I thought about it and decided to take her up on her offer. It was very kind of her, and I kept reminding her how easy it would make cleaning out her toilet, her sink (very tiny bathroom!), etc. I had won a diaper sprayer from a giveaway either last spring or last summer, so I discussed it with my husband and we opted to take down my Knickernappies sprayer and install our new one (that I won). We have hard water, and our Knickernappies showed signs of that.... some calcification around the openings where the water sprays out. We figured it would be best to hook up the new one, especially with another little one on the way.

We took the Knickernappies sprayer and hooked it up at my mother's, happily using it for the messes Bobble left in his diaper. She's also called me to tell me how much easier cleaning the toilet is now. Unfortunately, it's not all been sunshine and roses for us with our new sprayer. Our new sprayer leaked from the bottom of the sprayer head (where the hose enters the handle) from the start. My husband tried fixing that, and he made it better. I also contacted their customer service via the e-mail address left on the installation instructions. Now, I slowly applied the pressure to the sprayer, remembering the poo water splashing in my face many months ago. Eventually I found myself squeezing it as much as I could and still disappointed that I had NO WATER PRESSURE behind the sprayer. Really? It took me longer to get the poop off the diaper with that sprayer than it did to just use my hands.

That's when I realized that not all sprayers are created equal. I understood why some people ranted about sprayers while other people raved about them.... it really does make a difference as to what brand you have!

It's not *all* bad with this sprayer. For example, a completely ploppable poo doesn't really need much, and the wipes from a ploppable poo get cleaned well enough with this sprayer. Also, if Bobble were to attempt to have fun with the sprayer, at least the mess wouldn't be as big as it would have with the other sprayer (with more pressure). Really, though, we're switching with my mother. When we go back down, we're taking this one and leaving it at her house, as we only go there a couple of times a year. I still don't know I'll want to use it, though.... I might just dunk the diapers.

I haven't heard back from the customer service for the sprayer yet. I checked to see if they still manufactured the product (thinking maybe they just went under, and that's why it's been over a week and I still have no email response from customer service!), but I found them for sale on a site I've purchased from before. Ironically, it had only 2 reviews, and both were 5-star reviews. Makes me wonder.

In the end, though, I want my Knickernappies back. I'd also love to try the Blueberry Flo, as I've heard great things about that sprayer, but I'll settle for just having a sprayer that does the job, at this point!

Disclosure: The product(s) mentioned above were either purchased by me or won. None of the above companies (nor the website) mentioned endorsed nor had anything to do with this review/post. My opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own.

3 comments:

  1. What a bummer that you don't love the new sprayer! I'm hoping that my husband can just buy parts from Lowe's and build me one...

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  2. I really love our Aquuas (however you spell it) diaper sprayer. Apparently, it's the same as the bumGenius kind. I've heard some people love it and others don't. We haven't had any problems yet! Sorry you don't love yours!

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  3. We won't need a diaper sprayer for at least several months but we've planned to build one of our own from materials at Home Depot or Lowe's. I hate the idea of spending a bunch of money for a product we don't love!

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