AIRLESS SPRAYERS – How long can you…?
AIRLESS SPRAYERS – How long can you leave paint in the system?
Folks,
We have some paint jobs coming up that will need the airless. There will be several days of work. These rigs are always a pain to clean.
How long can you leave latex paint in the pump and line without screwing things up?
Hours, overnight, some days?
I seem to get through the day OK, but when I stop I drop the spray gun in a bucket of water.
The ToolBear
“Never met a man who couldn’t teach me something.” Anon.
Replies
I have a Campbell Hausfield airless which is not really that bad to clean up. Just a couple buckets of warm soapy water and a little brushing and it is clean. Read the cleaning instructions. They also tell you how long you can leave them. I believe it is at least overnight if it is sealed up well.
Probably have the same CH rig. Works well. Problem with soapy water on the job is where to put it.
I spray into a trash can with double liners until it runs clean. The ToolBear
"Never met a man who couldn't teach me something." Anon.
I've left a titan 440e overnight on many ocassions
with paint still in the system, I did like you said and put the
gun in a bucket of clean water, relieve the pressure
(turn the lever to the down position and I can't for the life of
me remember what that says cause it's been covered in paint so
long) and turn off the rig so that if anything were to happen it
wouldn't run all night and pump everything out.
If I'm going to use it several days in a row, as a minimum, I clear the latex out and pump a couple of 5 gal buckets of water through. It gets awfully frustrating and expensive if you get paint dried up in there. But honestly, probably, you're safe. I'd make sure and leave the gun and the snout in a bucket of water. The risk is rust and sediment. I know it sounds small but there are things in a pump that will rust, which is why there's pump-savr and other products (cheapest of which is just mineral spirits) to put in the pump when not in use.
Put some pinesol in your water and drop the tip in there with the gun and the snout. All the garbage left on the gun and the tip will wipe off with a rag the next morning.
"Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things, I am tempted to think -- there are no little things" - Bruce Barton
Got to try that PineSol trick.
I used ?PumpSaver? - blue stuff - when I laid my airless up about 7 years ago. Took it out to paint a picnic shelter (504 corners on the top alone) and it ran fine from the start. Got to find more of that stuff. Have a gallon of mineral spirits as backup.
The ToolBear
"Never met a man who couldn't teach me something." Anon.