How to choose the right trigger sprayer

Choosing the right trigger sprayer for your product is vital to its success. For example, does it need to be suitable for medical use? Does it need to dispense foam? Does it need to be child resistant? Then there’s spray patterns to consider, the product viscosity and the volume per action. Our expertise in plastic packaging solutions for products dispensed by spray allows us to advise on requirements across numerous industry sectors and provide the right product combinations to meet specific challenges. Consider neck sizes! The trigger sprayer and bottle must be compatible, so check out the neck size on your bottle before choosing the trigger head. The standard screw neck sizes for trigger heads are 24/410, 28/400 and 28/410. TS1 snap-on trigger sprayers are also an option and allow for high-speed filling and some variants provide a chid resistant function. 24/410 necks use mini trigger sprayers – these are a smaller trigger sprayer with a dose of 0.275ml per action and are usually fitted to bottles of 125ml to 500ml. 28/400 necks are often fitted to specific industrial bottles used in a professional setting, so we stock industrial trigger sprayers to suit. 28/410 is the most common neck size for trigger sprayers with a wide range of options on styles and nozzle types. 28/410 necks are available on bottles of 250ml up to 1000ml. What will your trigger sprayer be used for? Think about the liquid product, what its purpose is and what setting it will be used in. We stock mini triggers for small bottles, multiple options for domestic use and also larger triggers for industrial use. Spray patterns and trigger sprayers Spray patterns are important for the effectiveness of the liquid product being applied, and common options to consider include: spray, jet, mist, stream, foam or continuous. Spray is the most common type of pattern, where the liquid is sprayed in an area, and a jet is when the liquid is sprayed in a more concentrated manner, for further. A spray only trigger sprayer allows you to spread the product, rather than directing it across a much smaller space. If your product is multi-purpose, it’s possible to get the best of both worlds with a spray/jet trigger sprayer, where the end user can flip between the two functions. This option is particularly popular in industrial settings. Mist sprayers are particularly useful when precision and a light spray is required, such as room sprays, hair products or oral care. When considering mist sprays, there is an option to use a fine mist trigger sprayer, particularly useful when the end user wouldn’t want to ‘over wet’ a surface, such as a sofa or item of clothing if removing stains. Does your trigger sprayer need to be child resistant? Children might be tempted to ‘sample’ a coloured cleaning product for example, so it’s a good idea to consider a child resistant solution if your product could be harmful. A classic example of a child resistant closure is our spray only trigger sprayer to suit a TS1 snap-on neck plastic spray bottle. The child resistant neck fitting and catch behind the lever meet CLP (European Union system of classification, labelling and packaging of chemical substances and mixtures). Please note that most trigger sprayers come with a twist lock on the end of the nozzle as standard, which will help to protect young children. This OFF/ON safety switch can also eliminate small leakages which can result from the trigger sprayer being stored upside down or from pressure outside the bottle. Why do trigger sprayers come in different colours? For industries such as the cleaning, industrial, automotive and horticulture sectors, it is enough for packaging to perhaps have a sleek finish offered by PET plastic, or for trigger sprayers to have different coloured necks to represent different liquid solutions when the end user needs to grab a bottle quickly. If you are filling for a brand, the appearance of each element of the packaging, such as the bottle and trigger sprayer is vital. At Cambrian we specialise in trigger heads manufactured in the UK and Europe, this ensures superior quality and removes the long lead times associated with product imported from the East. Will you need to use a dip tube cutting service? Often overlooked, the dip tube is actually an important component of the trigger sprayer and, depending on the bottle size you’re using, you may need to tailor the length of the dip tube. If it’s too long, it will bend too far in the bottle, whereas if it’s too short, it won’t be able to reach product left at the bottom, leading to unhappy customers! If the standard stock length of dip tube on a trigger sprayer, mist spray or lotion pump doesn’t suit your chosen container, Cambrian Packaging offers a trimming service. This costs £0.03 per unit and lead times vary with workload. Please enquire at the point of order and our Customer Services Team will be happy to advise. TOP TIP! The dip tubes fitted to some trigger sprayers and mist sprays are very flexible and dip tube trimming isn’t always required. Call us for details 01686 611360. Why are most trigger sprayers usually made from plastic? Plastic is a versatile, affordable, durable and recyclable material, which is much easier to create trigger sprayers from than alternative materials such as metal. All of the materials used can be recycled once the trigger head has been shredded which is standard practice in the recycling industry. Although our reliance upon single use plastics has come under scrutiny over recent years, plastic is easily recyclable and reusable – it’s the consumer approach to recycling and lack of adequate recycling infrastructure which needs to be addressed. For bottles (including spray bottles designed for use with trigger sprayers) Cambrian uses Post Consumer Recycled (PCR) plastic whenever possible. Take a look at our ZER0 range here. Work is ongoing to produce trigger heads which include Post Consumer Recycled plastic in their manufacture, and we’ll be stocking these products as soon as they are available. Now you’ve learned more about all the things to consider when choosing trigger sprayers, you might want to read our blog about choosing the right plastic spray bottle for liquid products. This will help you learn a little more before giving our sales team a call and will provide you with more ideas on what questions you’d like to ask.

For more information on How to choose the right trigger sprayer talk to Cambrian Packaging