cleaning machine

OK,so we shouldnt leave latex in machines overnight.I know a guy that leaves Hotline in his Gracos for weeks at a time.My question is this.My Sherwin-Williams guy told me if you clean your machine out with water and let the pressure out,is will rust your machine,especially the steel ball in it.So,when you clean it out,should you leave the pressure on.There are so many different opinions about whether to leave paint in or not,leave pressure on or not.How should I leave my machine at night guys? ?

It's usually OK to leave Hotline in your machine for weeks at a time if you use it every day. If you leave it undisturbed for several days, you might have a lump in the low spots. Some machines have carbon steel wetted parts that can cause waterbased paints to break out and cause lumps. Waterbased paint consists of tiny drops of resin in water that repel each other because they all have the same electrical charge. When they are in contact with some metals they can loose the charge and start to clump together. When they start to clump together you will have problems. Cheaper machines should be cleaned at the end of the day. Better machines will allow you to get away with leaving the paint in overnight. When long liners had to switch to waterbased paint, there were some major problems. Entire rigs got clogged up with "cottage cheese". They had to replace all wetted parts with stainless to use waterbased paint. Parking lot stripers have much shorter and simpler piping and problems don't usually show up unless the paint is left in the machine. The problem isn't really rust, because waterbased paint is alkaline, and alkalinity tends to protect carbon steel from rust. The problem is with the paint solidifying in the machine.

When I was using Latex I would leave it in the machine but, you have to recurculate the machine everyday if you don't paint or use the machine each day. Run it through the gun and recurculate it back into the bucket of paint. I left machine pressurized to keep air out. I've heard might be hard on machine. Just my 2 cents.................Rick

You don't need to leave it pressurized to keep the air out.

Leaving pressure on a machine is like water behind a dam. The pressure will through time find the weakest point and begin to leak. Same as a hole in the proverbial dam, the pressure will cause the leak to "track" then grow ultimately damaging packings and/or bypass valves. Speeflo owners .... when using the bypass (screw type ball valve) to always make sure the valve is completely closed when pressuring-up. Partial closure will prematurely damage the ball and seat.

Would not it be so worry free just to clean machine and not have to worry about what time or day to crank machine, paint drying in lines, rusting the balls, or leaving pressure on and having paint spue all over your trailer or another car going down road? We have tried both ways and everytime we left paint in machine latex or oil in dries in places and causes all kinds of problems like blowouts, clogging tips, clogging bottom of pump housing. We don't clean from one job to next.just day to day. Good luck to you guys that can leave paint in machine and have no problems....

Thanks, I am the world's laziest striper and have been leaving paint in the machine for 30 some years. Air or airless, ain't no never mind. Of course I avoid latex just like I do my X-wife, and both courses of action lead to fewer headaches. On the old air machines, I kept the tank seal lubricated with grease and a cup under the tip full of solvent. Even after a month of hibernation, I could mix the paint in the pot, recirculate and go. With the airless machines, I install a tight fitting plastic lid under my metal pail lid and ummm....that's about it. A day, week or month later and it's mix and go. We crank the machine up, recirculate, do our test sprays into a 55 gallon drum with a trashbag in it, and head out. One of the things that worried me about buying my first airless was the "clean every night" commandment. I quickly learned to ignore it.

Why we leave paint in machines. ...... Arrive at job.... back machines out..... paint. Drive machines back into trailer...go to next job....etc., etc., etc. Speeflos are much more forgiving w restpect to clogs, not priming, clogging bottom of pump housing (doesn't exist) than my Gracos.

Hey Ken, PLEASE sell allof your Gracos and ONLY buy Speedflos, for all of the Graco bashing you do. Stop buying them if they give you so many problems.

Unfortunately Ken, I have to agree with Jim. The "full-time" shots at Graco are getting old and take away from the credibility of individuals AND also some information given on this site. The reality is thousands of Gracos are sold every year with very few problems. I cannot remember the last time I had or was asked to help with issues involving "clogs, not priming, clogging bottom of pump housing".

Thanks for the info ROBERT,,,I'm going to try it without pressure. But I think if you don't use machine everyday you should Start it and Re-circulate the pump everyday or it will harden up. Thats what I keep doing...............rasabat

As far as the whining about the Gracos vs. Titan, they both have their downfalls. I see nearly as much bashing of Titan as Graco coming from Ken. The truth is there is not little ball to get hung up on a hydraulic unit and I have both. The only one I ever have had to rap with a hammer is the one with the check ball... The credibility issue is taking it a bit far. When Ken starts to bombard us with conspiracy theories I'll jump on your side Cormac. PS, I have not cleaned either my Graco or Titan since the snow flew here last fall, I used both machines approx. 2-3 times over the winter. No problems from either, and I expect to fire them up and go whenever. Oil based paint rules...

Not bashing the Gracos, just concurring with JimJacks experiences w Graco probs. If I didn't already know, his comment on the "clogging in the lower pump housing" was a dead give-away. My posts here indicate I compliment Gracos often. They have their good points. My only criticism ever has been w respect to the pumps not pumping all the time every time. My experience is the Graco pumps don't take the abuse we give them (like running trashy paint) as well as the Speeflos. Here's the other side of the coin. The Gracos are much better than Speeflos in all other respects .... said that tons of times. Being we are running both types of machines now, it is a level playing field..... Gracos stripe straighter, easier..... Speeflos stripe the first trigger pull every time.

So,if I clean my Graco out with water and release the pressure,it will not rust anything inside it?I have,for the past three weeks,been leaving latex in my machine unless it will be a few days before I use it.Just circulate the paint again and it has been working fine.

Never used a speedflo stripes,how are they,in YOUR opinion,in price and preformance compared to Gracos/??

My opinion is they are pretty much equal in value..... the Speeflos are incredibly rugged but have loose frames as compared to Gracos. Graco folks have listened to stripers and made giant steps in refining their striping machine to be able to stripe much straighter with less effort. A novice striper has better luck with a Graco doing better looking work. The frame and balance on Speeflos isn't nearly as good as the Graco stripe machines. The only redeeming value of Speeflos..... they are almost indestructible. If the motor is running, you are able to paint. I replaced only one pump in close to 9 years and that was due to my own stupidity. I accidentally left MEK in the pump for an extended period.

People say different things THESTRIPE, but i have heard leave slight pressure in the machine, as opposed to just leave it at spraying pressure. So i relieve down to about 200psi, i have the computer on my LL3 though. But truthfully, as ROBERT says, you don't need to leave pressure on the machine, and i generally don't because for 2 years in my beginning i relieved all pressure and had minimal problems, just normal latex settling if not used for 3 weeks, etc. And don't forget to relieve pressure by spraying the gun back into the bucket. it's not good for your pressure relief valve to release pressure there, because guess what?, it is actually a PRIME valve, not a PRESSURE RELIRF VAVLE. At least that is what i learned when i bought my new Machine. Now i have heard it called both, because it does both tasks, but can Robert or anyone give input on this. It makes sense that if you turned it partially it could screw up the parts.

The valves on a Graco are actually both. A bypass valve for priming and a pressure relief valve for safety [please correct me on this if I am wrong Cormac]. The largest problem with using them to relieve pressure is cavitation as the fluid releases which can cause such turbulance that it will start pitting the metal surfaces. I believe this was more of a prblem with the older screw-type valves but it still can be seen with the newer valves if you flip the valve handle slowly. A valve in a high pressure system should open all the way quickly to minimize the turbulence. As for the inside of your Graco fluid system rusting, I think the piston is stainless or hard chromed so it is of no concern. The filter housing might be the only part that is of concern. I know on older 3500's and 5000's the filter housing was un-coated steel and extended setting with water caused the inside surface to rust. I'll also jump on the bandwagon for Graco machines. I have not owned Titan / Speeflow but have used them (Kens). I have no problems leaving paint in my machines and have zero concern when I go to fire one up after a month or two of storage with alkyd paint in it. The only malfunction might be a plugged tip that will happen in any machine (unless you do what Born to Stripe does). With latex paint, if I am using it from day to day without extended idle time, they can also sit with paint in them and fire right up the next day. Latex paint does have more crap that accumulates in the filter so you have to at least clean the filter frequently (after 60 gallons or so). Apart from that, cleaning a machine with latex is so quick and easy, it is no big deal except after a long 20 hour day the 5 - 10 minutes it takes to clean it seems like an eternity.

I have a 200HS hydraulic striper.Dont know if it is stainless or not.

The 200HS is stainless, like all the current Gracos that I know of.