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Questions |
Answers |
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Maintenance
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| What cleaner should I use to
clean my airless sprayer? |
Typically you should use whatever
the thinner is for the material you are spraying,
for example; Latex = Water
Oil-base = Mineral Spirits
Lacquer = Lacquer thinner
After thoroughly cleaning your sprayer you
need use a protectant such as
Pump Armor.
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| How often should I clean my airless
sprayer? |
After every Use! And thoroughly! |
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Is there a solvent that will
loosen dried and semi dried latex paint when
running it through your airless spray unit?
(Other than water) Something that will dissolve
it?
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Removing dried material from
an airless sprayer can be anywhere from a small
chore to tuff to extremely difficult. About
the only solvent that works very well and that
is readily available is lacquer thinner. This
may or may not work depending on how much dried
material is in the sprayer and how long it has
been in there.
Be forewarned that lacquer thinner is a "hot"
solvent and it may take some of the life out
of packings and/or other seals in the sprayer.
Also be warned that once you start loosening
the dried paint with lacquer thinner that it
will continue to come out here and there for
quite some time and plug your pump and/or gun
filters and the pump itself. Also sprayers with
a flexible intake tube are more prone to this
than rigid intake tube machines.
Be sure to follow grounding procedures for
your sprayer when using flammable materials!
Often one can run some lacquer thinner through
the pump for awhile and get out most of the
old dried debris if the sprayer does not have
too much in it. If your sprayer has a flexible
intake tube, flex it, move it around while running
the thinner through it to try to dislodge the
dried material inside it.
If it has a moderate amount of old stuff in
it you may want to let it set with the lacquer
thinner in it for a few hours then
run it for awhile and then run some clean thinner
through. If you are still getting junk out of
it, repeat this procedure. If you are still
getting rubbish after repeating this, try the
next procedure.
Last ditch procedure after trying the above;
same as above but let the sprayer sit 2-4 days
with the lacquer thinner in it between flushing's.
Note that if the sprayer is already in bad shape
this may finish-off packings and/or seals. On
the other hand if the sprayer is in that bad
of shape to begin with, the sprayer will most
likely need to be rebuilt anyway.
Be sure to properly clean and store your airless
paint sprayer afterwards, unless you like repeating
this procedure!
Rather than wasting money and your valuable
time on trying to clean a hose, just buy a new
one.
Clean your airless paint sprayer immediately
after using it each and every time to avoid
this problem!
As we have said elsewhere throughout our website
- An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of
cure!
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| Where do I put the TSL? |
On the front of the sprayers,
just above the fluid section is a black metal
place with a couple of oblong holes in it. Behind
the plate is the rod of the pump. If you follow
the rod down, there is a lip (cup), this is
where the TSL goes. You should be able to put
the tip of the bottle through one of the holes
and into the back plate. Gently squeeze the
bottle in order to fill the cup. Do this every
time you paint to ensure no paint sticks to
the rod or packings, which can reduce maintenance
costs for the machine. |
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| Should I cover the unit with
a cold wet rag in order to prevent the machine
from overheating? |
No! The sprayer is designed to
circulate air throughout, and placing anything
on top of the sprayer will obstruct the airflow,
and prevent the machine from automatically cooling
itself down |
Tips
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| What size tip should I use? |
This is an in-depth question,
please see
See Also; Tip Sizing |
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| What is the best way to clean
my tips? |
First on the sprayer when cleaning
the sprayer using the thinner of the material
being sprayed. Then in a bucket or other container
along with the guard and using a small stiff
bristled nylon brush and the thinner of the
product being sprayed to remove as much material
as possible. Rinse with clean thinner. After
that put the guard and tip back on the sprayer
for a final high pressure blast of clean thinner
to push through anything that may be in the
orifice from the brush cleansing. |
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| How do you know when to replace
tips? |
All tips will wear out in time
depending on the abrasiveness of the material.
The more abrasive the material, the faster the
tip will wear out. Latex for example, will start
to wear the tip out anywhere from 40-50 gallons.
Stains, being less abrasive, will last longer |
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| How can you tell a tip is worn
out? |
Spray tips start out in an oval
spray pattern. As a tip becomes more worn, the
oval shape will gradually form into a circle,
sending more paint into a smaller area. the
other way to tell if your tip is worn out, is
if you start to see the effects of fingers or
tails.
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Hoses
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| What is a "whip-hose"? |
A
whip
hose is a shorter and usually narrower in
diameter piece of hose that you use between
your regular hose and the gun. This allows for
more flexibility at the gun and easier movement
thereby reducing hand fatigue. Great for trim
work, fine-finish work and cabinet finishing. |
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| Why would I want a shorter hose? |
If you use a are spraying a small
amount of paint regularly or are in close proximity
to what you are spraying and don't move from
that area it may benefit you to have a shorter
airless
hose. Priming a full-size pump such as an
Ultra 495 while using a 50-foot hose consumes
about a quart of material. You can reduce that
by using a shorter hose. You can reduce that
further by using a smaller diameter hose if
that is possible. You can reduce it even further
by using a Hopper - great when spraying a gallon
or less. Remember that less hose equals less
clean-up!
See Also;
Hopper and About Airless Hoses |
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| What hose should I use with my
pressure roller? |
Since you only need up to a couple
hundred psi for a
pressure roller you can use a smaller 3/16"
diameter hose to start with and depending on
your application, such as painting only one
average room, you may be able to use a shorter
hose as well such as a 25' or even a 15'. Remember
that less hose equals less clean-up! |
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| What is a "conductive hose"? |
Conductive hose is hose that
will pass electrical current. This is very important
when spraying flammable materials! Some hose
is not conductive, some is but is via a wire
that has to be manually attached. Graco BlueMax
II airless spray hose on the other hand is natively
conductive, no wires to attach manually or to
break off or to forget to attach. |
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| My airless spray hose sprung
a leak, how should I repair it? |
You should not attempt to repair
it, discard it and get a new one.
Airless
paint sprayer hoses are built for high pressure,
typically around 3300psi which can serious injury unlike the typical garden hose
which is around 40-60 psi. A damaged sprayer
hose can greatly increase your chance of injury
- what is your health worth to you? Also remember
to not kink or over-bend hoses or use hoses
to pull the sprayer. |
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| How long of a hose can I use
with my Ultra 395? |
Generally speaking with the 395
and up you can use up to 300' of hose BUT there
are variables such as the viscosity of the material,
condition of the pump/sprayer, temperature etc..
We recommend going the first 100-200' using
3/8" hose then the rest of the way with 1/4".
The longest we recommend going with just 1/4"
is 150'. |
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| How would I connect two hoses
together? |
In order to connect two hoses
together, you need a high pressure fitting.
The size of the fitting will depend on the size
of the hose. A standard 1/4" hose takes a part
#
156971 fitting. |
Guns
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| What is the difference between
the blue gun filters and the black ones? Is
it just the plastic? |
If we're talking about
Graco gun filters manufactured by Graco,
the difference is that the black ones are what's
known as a "60 Mesh" which is what most new
Graco sprayers come with and what is typically
used for latex paints. The blue ones are what
is know as "100 Mesh" and are a tighter screen
than the 60's. The 100 mesh are for fine finish
work such as lacquers, cabinetry work ect..
These are available in a two pack which has
one each;
60 mesh & 100 mesh.
Sprayer manifold filters are also measured
in this way so if you do fine finish work you
should get both the gun and manifold filters
in the same 100 mesh.
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| What is the difference between
the 2 fingered trigger and the 4 fingered trigger.
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There is no difference in spraying,
it is purely the painters preference. Most new
contractor guns are 2 fingered, while more homeowner
units are 4 fingered, however most Graco guns
give the painter the choice of 2 or 4 fingered |
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| What does the gun filter do? |
The filter in the gun filters
the paint one last time before it is sprayed.
The gun filter helps eliminate down time by
preventing debris from entering the tip, and
prevents it from being sent onto the wall |
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| They say the new contractor gun
has a "totally enclosed needle", what does this
mean? |
The needle in the new contractor
gun is completely enclosed, meaning it is never
exposed to paint. This prevents paint from drying
on the needle, which lengthens the life of the
gun. |
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Other
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| Can the same airless sprayer
be used for poly & varnish as well as lacquer?
Can it be cleaned well enough to avoid cross
contamination, particularly in lacquer?
Is an extra spray gun and hose a good option
to help in the cross contamination, or are there
other options?
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Yes, but...
You will have clean your sprayer very very very
thoroughly after each use and...
You should have one hose just for the lacquer
and one for the polyurethane & varnish. At the
least, you should also have a filter set (gun
and pump/manifold) for each material and these
should be 100 Mesh.
Preferably you would have one gun just for
lacquer and another for the varnish and polyurethane.
Ideally you would have one sprayer for just
lacquer to avoid contamination.
Also, if you were to throw latex into the
mix, which we don't recommend if also
using lacquer, you may want a hose, gun, tip and
filter set for that as well.
Lacquer thinner is a fairly "hot" solvent
that will soften, loosen and/or dissolve most
other materials that were not cleaned out of
the system and will contaminate your lacquer,
plug filters and tips. That being said and if
you must use one airless sprayer for all materials,
you may want to store your machine differently
when it is not in use, a way we don't recommend
as it will ruin your pump packings and other
seals in your sprayer and that way is;
with lacquer thinner with a few splashes of
engine oil in it.
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| My question is about the hose
length. If I used a 25 ft. hose instead of the
50 ft., would it hurt the machine? The sales
person at a well-known paint store said it would...I
forgot her reasoning. The reason why I'm asking
is: I don't need all that hose. So could I use
a smaller length hose without hurting the machine? |
If you are using a Graco airless
paint sprayer, you can use a 25' hose! It will
not hurt the machine. If your Graco airless
sprayer is equipped with SmartControl or other
Electronic Pressure Control, you can use even
a shorter one such as a 15' hose if you wanted
to. Using a longer hose does have a slight dampening
affect that can reduce any pulsation in pressure
caused by the pump, but his is usually only
noticeable when spraying at high pressures and
spraying narrow, sharp-edged lines such as parking
lot lines. The slight dampening will also somewhat
lessen the wear-and-tear on mechanical pressure
controls (Graco 390). |
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| The fuse in my sprayer blows
for some reason, what could be causing that? |
Blowing a fuse in airless sprayers
is not a common occurrence. A few things that
can cause this to happen;
- A small gauge and/or very long extension
cord – You should use 12 gauge or bigger
with most sprayers.
- A worn electrical outlet Too many devices
on a circuit.
- A big spike or drop in power
- Continuously running the sprayer when
it is plugged or otherwise unable to move
material – this could be;
- plugged tip and/or filter(s)
- smashed intake strainer
- plugged valve
- dried material in the system
- spraying a material that is too
thick such as elastomerics.
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Safety
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| I was told by someone that I
should not use my airless paint sprayer to apply
chloride paint. Why? |
Most airless sprayers have aluminum somewhere
in the system. When a chloride or chlorine (bleach)
contacts aluminum a dangerous and toxic gas
is produced which can also explode under high
compression / pressure. Also the reaction from
this destroys / breaks down the aluminum
causing it to fail structurally. All these situations
could cause severe injury or death. |
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| What should I do if I accidentally
spray myself? |
Skin injection can be a serious
problem. It might just look like a cut, but
you potentially injected yourself with paint,
which should be considered a serious injury,
and one that should be treated by a doctor.
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| Do I really need to wear a spray
mask of respirator? |
Toxicity can be very
dangerous with paint fumes.
Any painter should use either a simple spray
mask, or a
respirator
in order to prevent toxic fumes from entering
your body.
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