How Long Can A Paint Sprayer Sit With Paint In It?

• We get asked by decorators on a daily basis can I leave paint in my sprayer and, if so, for how long

• We will explain the best way to look after your machine

• How to keep your jobs efficient by not having to clean your machine every two minutes.

• Years of spraying has given us some great Top tips, and we will share those with you.

• How would you like to clean your machine in just 3 minutes when you are finished

• Decorators & trades who use sprayers will want to know how to get the best out of your machines

Why do we want you to get it right

We want decorators to lift our industry to another level, and mastering your sprayers and keeping them at optimum performance will not only deliver consistent fantastic results, but they will make you some huge profits along the way.

So can I leave paint in my sprayer, and if so, for how long.

Longer than you think, we’ve had to find ways to increase our productivity over the years, and we’ve got very good at this.

Most decorators will spend hours and hours cleaning their sprayer, fearing that they would damage it due to leaving paint in the machine, hose & gun.

Trust me, I’ve seen buckets and buckets of water going through a sprayer enough to fill a small swimming pool, but the crazy thing is that this approach is doing a lot more harm.

It’s an expensive investment to break.

It’s probably taken you a long time to bite the bullet and spend over £1500 on a good sprayer that will return you tenfold on your initial investment. Over the years, we have found that with the right training & approach, we can pay for our sprayers on their first job.

Trust me; I’ve got the videos and calculations to prove it…

So let’s make sure we look after this bad boy as it will be around for years if you look after it correctly.

So does it depend on what paint I’m using in my sprayer?

Yes! But you probably already knew that.

But it’s not as complicated as you probably thought.

Let’s start with an easy route into the paint.

Water-based paints like;

• Crown masonry,

• Dulux diamond eggshell,

• farrow & ball Estate emulsion

• Little green intelligent eggshell

These are all common paints that you will have come across over the years, and although you might have struggled with a brush, the result with spraying is an altogether different experience.

But it’s not only water-based that you can spray

What about Oil-based paints?

Trust me; we get asked daily at the training academy if you can spray oil-based through a sprayer

Yes! But we found that with the advancement in water-based paints the choice is far bigger & better like

• Benjamin Moore

• Tikkurilla

• Caparol

• Isomat

Solvents & 2PK

Now it gets more complicated, and my advice here is to consult your paint supplier for the right solvent thinners.

Products like

• Morrells Precat paints

• Movacs Acid catalyst paint

• HMG 2k paint systems

These paints can cause problems with Airless sprayers as it’s very hard to ensure that all the paint is completely out of the machine, hose & gun, so clean thoroughly, or you will pay the price.

Will the paint damage my sprayer

Possibly, so ensure you know the paint that you’re spraying and the right cleaning agents. You’re going to need to really clean your machine.

I have multiple sprayers for water-based paints, but I also have a sprayer that’s purely for Oil-based paints and is always full of white spirit for when I need to use it next.

What’s the answer? Can I leave paint in my sprayer, and for how long?

Yes!We would happily leave paint in a sprayer for the day and even overnight if I was using it the following day.

However, if you are finished spraying, give it a good clean and get it ready for storage.

We know of decorators that will happily leave paint in their sprayer for the duration of the job without cleaning the paint out and never had a problem.

I would recommend a few things if you are considering leaving paint in your sprayer.

• Drop the pressure

• Turn your tip halfway ( stops yip from drying)

• Put your Intake tube & dump tube into a bucket of water

• Put a lid back on your paint

• Place the gun in a bucket of water (overnight)

But don’t do this for prolonged periods as you could damage your machine and warranty. But overnight or a few hours will be fine.

Should I remove the hose?

When I put a sprayer together, like in the videos we created for SMS supplies, we always explain to keep your machine in a wet state. Connect the hose & gun and leave them on your machine, and don’t make a habit of removing them as air can get into the piston & packers, then dry them out and cause you more problems.

Whats Painty water –

When you start spraying, there will only ever be two things in your machine, water or paint, or painty water or watery paint. What I mean is that it’s all liquid, and it’s only the Viscosity( thickness of fluid ) that changes, so don’t worry too much.

You are damaging the sprayer by constantly cleaning it.

When you understand that water & paint aren’t any different from a sprayer and it doesn’t know the difference between the two fluids, you will start to think differently about how much water you use to clean your machine. Every litre of water or paint is wearing down the parts over time, so if you’re in the habit of using bucket after bucket of water, then your just going to be taking your machine in for a service quicker than the likes of me & the guys teaching these tricks.

Can I clean my sprayer quicker than 20 minutes?

Time is money, plus I’ve just explained that you will be spending a lot more on servicing than some of us guys and wearing out your machine.

What would you say if I could save you 17minutes every time you clean your machine?

What would do for you & your business?

Well, we can show you how to clean any Airless sprayer in 3 minutes, and I mean really clean, clean enough to drink.

Take a look for yourself on the Spraying Makes Sense website for our cleaning videos.

Conclusion.

Yes! you can leave paint in your sprayer

It will depend on the paint. Always get the right advice from the paint manufacturer.

Will it harm the machine, hose, or gun? No!

Can I clean my machine quicker Yes! Now in under 3 minutes

Will my machine last longer? Yes! Stop putting tons of water through unnecessarily

Will I start to make more money? Hell yeh!

Has this helped at all? Yes! Good, I’ve got a load more for you !!

How Long Can A Paint Sprayer Sit With Paint In It? | PaintTech Training (2024)