Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Protect your skin(s)

Actually, protect your pump FROM skins.  It is still summer and the heat will skin up your material within minutes.  You must strain EVERY gallon.  After filtering the paint, float a small amount of water on top, do not stir, and it will keep the paint from skinning over.  The manifold filter on the pump and the gun filter will keep your tips from clogging, however the skins are already up, in and through your pump by the time that they are caught in the filters.

Clogging the tip is annoying, but it isn’t costly except in time wasted.  Paint skins will clog the inlet and starve the pump.  This causes cavitation.  Cavitation will damage the pump similar to what is does to a prop on a boat.  It causes permanent damage.  If a skin gets caught in one of the pump valves, the pump won’t function properly and you will not get pressure, except in surges.  If a skin gets caught in between the packings, it will tear them up and very possibly score the cylinder sleeve which is a permanent and expensive repair.  Also, as soon as paint or water is leaking up into the wet cup (top of piston area), the packings are shot and damage to the piston is starting.  This also is an expensive repair.

No comments: