Anyone know Graco airless latex paint sprayers?

[YY1]

We bought two of these a few years ago to speed the turnover of our rental properties.
They worked well, but cleanup takes up almost as much time as they save in labor.
Painting doors and ceilings is the real time/labor savings, though.

This time around, I got one set of doors painted and the hand held unit stopped working when left over night.
Inspection revealed a broken (what I believe is a) plastic pressure check valve behind the nozzle.
Searches on ebay, amazon, even the Graco site don't come up with anything other than a complete pump and nozzle assembly that costs almost as much as a new gun.
Seems silly when it looks like just a small part.
Thought I had pics.

We also have the "Magnum" siphon feed unit that can be used with 1 and 5 gallon buckets.
That one worked fine last time and was stored using Graco brand "pump armor".
That one wont prime. I took the inlet valve apart and cleaned it, removing quite a bit of rust that was obviously clogging it, but no bueno.
There's a generic input valve kit for $120, bit it actually looks OK after cleaning, it just doesn't pump.
That ball and the passage under it were totally full of flaky rust before I cleaned it.

Still no "sucky-sucky".

I've got five doors left to do and four of them need both sides done.
Brush painting takes forever and kills my back stooping over.

These Graco guns are a better hopper design than a Wagner power painter, but I really dislike the idea of buying a new one it the same thing is gonna happen and the small part can't be bought separate from the whole pump assembly.

 

[eldubb440]

I've used one, they need to be flushed out thoroughly between uses..... after a good water flush, I sucked mineral spirits into the unit for storage and it always worked


my buddy has one, but he also has guys working for him and they get lazy. He brought the unit here to paint my house and it wouldn't work. We ripped it down and cleaned everything (it was a disaster), but still no worky. He sent it out, seems the rings/seals (whatever they are called) needed to be replaced. maybe we damaged them during cleaning? I don't know.

 

[moparedtn]

We had one, wound up giving it away.
Why? I bought it specifically for painting the underside of the giant carport and the front porch roofs.
Those jobs it handled just fine, but...
The problem was that the paint "mist" was coming out from under the roofs, doing a swirl and winding
up with overspray on top of the roofs (metal roofing - black).
Gave me another job I hadn't planned on - scrubbing fresh paint overspray off metal roofing.
I never trusted the dang thing again...

 

[davek]

the one that wont prime,take off main pick up hose and see if paint is plugging were the check ball is. The low end Graco sprayers are not worth buying. I have the 395 and an old graco 390 from 2000 that wont die. My friend has rentals and I told him not to buy the Harvey home owner one because they wont last. Call SW spray shop they might be able to get you the piece you need. Now a days everything is throw away. I also dont use their pump armor,I use water if it stays in the house or paint thinner if outside.

 

[davek]

see if it will pull Lacquer thinner, sounds like you still had paint in it . Use hot water to clean those pumps out This is the one I use

 

[OneOfMany]

an old graco 390

Wow. Sold a ton of those 390 & 490s back in the late 80s! Can't beat packing on a piston VS. the flat valves available. Used to rebuild these, and for those who remember, the workhorse 333 & 433s. Had guys who pumped thousands of gallons through those puppies.

 

[YY1]

These don't have too much over-spray issues.
One of the things I like about them.
I've even been able to spray baseboards in carpeted rooms and not get any appreciable over-spray on the carpet!

see if it will pull Lacquer thinner, sounds like you still had paint in it . Use hot water to clean those pumps out This is the one I use View attachment 1527031

The siphon feed one won't pull anything, even after clearing the rusty debris.
On account of that, I don't think their 4120 kit will work, either.
I suppose I can keep digging into it.
...but we have to be done by the end of the month with only evenings and weekends to work.
Time spent F'n with this could be used for (sigh) brush painting, although I can only stand to bend and stoop to do two per evening.

Edit- guess I do have one more thing to check- the outlet valve. Wasn't sure how to get to that, but just watched a vid.
You'd think it would prime, though.


The hand held one clearly has a small broken part.
I just can't find that part anywhere, except in a complete pump assembly for almost $200.
That part "ought to be" about 5 bucks and if that's a common problem, ought to be readily available.

 

[eldubb440]

These don't have too much over-spray issues.
One of the things I like about them.
I've even been able to spray baseboards in carpeted rooms and not get any appreciable over-spray on the carpet!


The siphon feed one won't pull anything, even after clearing the rusty debris.
On account of that, I don't think their 4120 kit will work, either.
I suppose I can keep digging into it.
...but we have to be done by the end of the month with only evenings and weekends to work.
Time spent F'n with this could be used for (sigh) brush painting, although I can only stand to bend and stoop to do two per evening.

Edit- guess I do have one more thing to check- the outlet valve. Wasn't sure how to get to that, but just watched a vid.
You'd think it would prime, though.


The hand held one clearly has a small broken part.
I just can't find that part anywhere, except in a complete pump assembly for almost $200.
That part "ought to be" about 5 bucks and if that's a common problem, ought to be readily available.

I wasted a day diddling with my buddies after lack of sufficient cleanup....... and we wound up renting one from home depot

 

[YY1]

I clean the hell out of mine and use their name brand storage product.

 

[eldubb440]

I clean the hell out of mine and use their name brand storage product.

lol......I wasn't insinuating you didn't clean your machine; just sharing my experience

 

[YY1]

lol......I wasn't insinuating you didn't clean your machine; just sharing my experience

That was mainly aimed at the company. You were just the instigator

 

[eldubb440]

That was mainly aimed at the company. You were just the instigator

lmao......the wife accuses me of "setting little fires, and watching them burn"....... I honestly have no idea what she's talking about

 

[YY1]

I just found out mine is the "contractor" grade version.

...and they have about 15 different model numbers with different parts diagrams.

Last night I looked at about a half dozen diagrams and only one had the nozzle/pump internal breakdown.

Now of course I can't find that particular manual or even where to get to the place I found those manuals to begin with.

So far, most of the ones I'm seeing have a different nozzle assembly that doesn't come apart like mine does.

EGADs

 

[YY1]

I need part 5 listed as 17A220.

The only way I can find it so far is in a $160 complete kit, or a $200 assembly containing 1, 4, and 5.

Interestingly they don't show the spring.

This is not my part number. They don't have a manual for the contractor series, and I had to go through 12 of 18 different manuals for the consumer series to find this.

 

[YY1]

If I had a lathe, I'd make one.

 

[eldubb440]

If I had a lathe, I'd make one.

what happened to your #5?

 

[davek]

what model number on the pump? Thats the part number,if so I can ask and see if they can get it. I can see what my cost is on the kit also if you would like. Let me know the kit number. When I said your pump might not be clean I meant they are a pita to clean. I feel they always have some paint hiding in it.

 

[YY1]

what happened to your #5?

Last weekend, I was using it. Everything seemed fine.

We went out last Tuesday for a couple of hours in the evening, and I wanted to spray two more doors, but the gun wouldn't prime.

This past weekend, I took the nozzle assembly out and found part #5 broken and one coil of the spring mangled.

 

[YY1]

The model number on my gun is 17A466.

Like I said, I can't find part diagrams for the "contractor" series guns on the Graco site.

The diagram above is from the "discontinued models" on the "consumer" side.

Almost all of the other consumer gun diagrams don't show a part #5.

Of course, there's always the chance that 5/17A220 for that model won't work in mine, but for what should be less than $20 (I know, I probably should't assume a price point) I'll take that chance.

I also seriously doubt I can get one shipped and have it arrive by the time we need to be out of there, and I don't want to leave 7 doors unpainted until the last minute.

This evening, I'll take the output valve out of the bucket sprayer and see if it's just clogged or rusted like the input valve was.


BTW, I priced whatever model gun they have available at HD yesterday evening- $249, so I'm not really interested in spending $160-$200 on parts.

 

[Sahara]

I use them professionally pretty much every day. I use their lower end units, 495 I think. Can’t kill ‘em. Now I’ve been using and fixing them for over thirty years so I’m pretty good at on the spot rebuilds. But I’m also good at keeping them flushed out. Water is your enemy, which latex paint has lots of. Cheap solvent also goes all gooey, and if it mixes with water things go bad.