Airless Frustration!

Brought the airless paint sprayer home from work today.

First time it's been used in a year or so. Tried to get it going, would not prime. Connected the water hose to force prime it, it finally let go and started pumping water through. Then the gun clogged solid. Even reversing the tip would not clear it. Took the screen out of the gun, it was caked with brown slivers, looked like grass. At first I thought there may have been something in the water hose. I continued flushing it, looked good, but could not get anything through the prime valve.

I got it to prime paint, trying to spray primer on new drywall. What a miserable job! It would not spray more than 3 seconds before clogging. Constantly reversing the tip to clear it. I finally got it painted, but looked horrible, streaked, runs, thin spots, but it's just primer, hoping I can cover it with enough rolled on latex.

Back to the sprayer, I figured out what was clogging it, the last person to use it, one of the employees, used it with oil based stain, failed to clean it out properly. I knew this would happen, he never cleans up anything, never brings back anything, took a month to get the sprayer back...

I now see I will have to completely disassemble and clean it. But is there any way to clean the flaking residue out of the hose? Thinking fill it with lacquer thinner, let it soak a while, try to flush it. Or should I just buy another, save this one for when it gets loaned again?

Thanks!

Try soaking with E85. That guy needs his blasted neck broken.

Might try paint remover to loosen it.

I had a guy like that in my motor pool. Had him clean parts for two weeks. He learned to take proper care of things.

Send it to the repair shop.
Put it back on the shelf and purchase a new one.
Omit the task altogether.
Farm out the job to a paint contractor.

Soaking the hose with lacquer thinner will help but you can't expect to get it all. It will let bits loose for years even if you meticulously clean it from now on.

I spent about $500 on a wagner sprayer. I worked great for spraying all the trim and interior doors. I sprayed all the doors and trim before installing on a house I completely gutted and rebuilt.

Tried spraying all the drywall. Never do that again. There nothing better than a textured roller look on drywall.

40 some odd years ago I bought an airless paint sprayer from J.C. Whitney. Tested it with just water and it did fine. Tried it with paint and all it would do is make a big mess. Leaked everywhere and dripped paint from the nozzle but would not spray it. I threw it in the trash.

I have ran airless sprayers for years. You need to completely disassemble the pump and put in new packings. Throw that hose away, you will never get it clean. When you are done using it, flush it out the best you can if you are going to use it again within a few days. It is OK to let it set overnight if using the next day. For long term storage disassemble and clean. Put back together with vegetable oil. Get the hose as clean as you possible can with the proper solvent.

When working we had several makes and models. The ifirst was one from Graingers, I believe Dayton brand wore out in one year, Later had a Binks mechanical worked great but would wear out packing after about 500 gallons of iron oxide primer, but one of the fellows could rebuild with new packing in about an half hour. Next and last was a Binks air powered airless, costly, but was still like new when I sold the company, No repairs except tips. Used Graco gun and tips.

Not knowing make or model.

If it is a Graco, Wern etc.. Just buy a new hose. You can spend days trying to clean dried paint from one and it will never get clean enough to work right.

Careful with what you put through it if you wish to waste your time and money trying to clean it. Some harsh products can do a lot of damage to the hose, O rings and seals.

I would agree, new hose, they are not that expensive.

Once paint drys inside hose you'll never get all of it out. Be aware that special hose,packings,o-rings and seals are required for "HOT" solvents such as lacquer. Regular parts will be destroyed if flushed with hot solvents.

Steve,
If its a graco or Titan, take gun off hose... get a five gallon steel bucket...put a one gallon steel can inside the 5-gallon bucket...fill 1-gallon can 3/4 full of lacquer thinner.... put nylon strainer over inlet screen....tie it good and tight.Be sure to oil piston with TSL.(throat seal liquid,it keeps the packings lubed....VERY important) Put 1/4" plug in hose end and let pump circulate slowly...through the prime valve for about 1 hour....then take the plug out of hose and shut prime valve and circulate through hose for another hour. Let everything sit for a few hours and start the pump again for 1/2 hour...the nylon strainer will catch everything. Be sure to run hot soapy water through sprayer...followed by clean water....before switching to waterbase paint. Take gun apart and soak with lacquer thinner.....clean all parts,replace filters. I keep clean mineral spirits in all of my airless equipment. P.S. if its a Wagner or a cheap sprayer....lacquer will eat the packings/O-rings and the diaphragms....Junk them. Tell employee to buy a new one.

Steve@Advance; Is the person who ruined the hose your employee, or is he your fellow employee? Either way, he must be remarkably good at whatever it is he does there because as a human being he sounds like the kind of person who ought to be driven out into the wilderness and dropped off.

Stan