How To Choose The Right Sprayer
There are many different sizes of sprayers available from very small and inexpensive to very large and expensive. The sprayer that best suits you largely depend on what you will be doing and how you’ll be doing it.
If you’re a painting contractor, you will obviously be spraying paint which all sprayers are designed for.
If you will be using the sprayer rarely or occasionally and never intend on spraying block filler, dryfall, high build epoxies or oil base paints you can focus on the smallest of sprayers, including the ones at the home centers.
Keep in mind that the home center sprayers aren’t compatible with oil-based coatings.
When doing whole houses or a block of condominiums, you should focus on professional sprayers. These sprayers have more steel rather than plastic parts and will be more durable. Small Sprayers such as the Graco
390-650 or Titan 440-740 can handle all normal paints with ease, but due to their small fluid section they have a hard time passing thicker coatings such as block filler or high build epoxies so you should focus on machines such as the Graco 695, Titan 840 or TriTech T9 or larger.
When you do new construction work you have to focus on available power. This may be a good reason to get a gas machine. Keep in mind that smaller gas sprayers such as the Graco 3400 still use the smaller fluid section. So, if you will be spraying thick elastomeric, high builds of filler, you should consider the Graco 3900 or 5900.
If you would like one machine that, does it all, both Graco and Titan make convertible machines that easily convert from gas to electric.
If you will be doing sand blasting or spraying epoxy inside a confined area, consider using air operated sprayers that can run off your air compressor and are considered explosion proof. Before you buy consider what size tip you’ll be using and how many guns you intend to run off the machine. For example, if you’ll be using .021" tips which are ½ gpm and want to have two guys spraying you’ll be using 1 gpm. Add a little reserve capacity so the sprayer isn’t at 100% and possible dropping pressure. An appropriate size would be a Graco 1095 or better in electric or 3900 or better in gas.
If you are a roofer, your choices of sprayers are more limited. For most roof coatings such as asphalt or elastomeric the choice is between a Graco 7900 (2gpm), GH300 (3gpm) or GH833 (4gpm). Again, you will need to consider how thick it gets applied and use a tip that gets a theoretical speed of 100 sqft per minute.
For example, if the coating calls for 1.5 gallons per 100 sq. ft. choose a .041 tip that delivers about 1.5 gpm. For this, even the smallest 7900 would do fine. If you plan to use two guns however, the GH300 or GH833 would be a better choice.
If you will be spraying oil-based coatings in cooler weather or running long lengths of hose the extra pressure of the GH833 is your answer.
If you will be using silicone coatings, you’ll need a 7000-psi sprayer. This would be a Graco GH675, GH933 or
the Titan HydraX.
If all you will be spraying is asphalt that goes on thick, consider the Graco GH2075 or 2570 for their large delivery when a lot of pressure isn’t needed.
If you are drywall contractor and will be spraying compound, consider the Graco Mark IV, or Mark V or equivalent sprayer that is usually called a texture sprayer.
Line Stripers have to choose between turf stripers which spray thinned down paint or larger stripers for parking lots or temporary road stripes. There the choice is a light and nimble 1 gun machine such as Graco’s Line Lazer 3400 or the machines that can handle two guns or even a rider. If you’ll be doing a large amount of continuous striping, consider a larger hydraulic machine with a rider or a self-propelled machine.
Water proofers, applicators or AVB insulators and the many other applications that need to spray coatings, sealers, glues, etc. Also have choices of spray equipment that will handle their product. In many cases it may be a good idea to consult a knowledgeable dealer such as Bittner’s Spray Equipment to discuss what you will be doing and how you will be doing it to get the best spray equipment package for you.
Call us at 1-800-400-5084