How to Clean a Paint Sprayer Gun

How To Clean a Paint Sprayer Gun

Cleaning a paint sprayer is essential to ensure its proper functioning and prolong its lifespan. A clogged or dirty paint sprayer can lead to poor paint quality, uneven coverage, and even damage to the equipment.

How you clean your paint sprayer depends on a few things.  What type of paint, lacquer, enamel etc. you used and what your manufacturer recommends.  We will discuss how you clean a paint sprayer gun focusing on the type of medium you used.  

Prepare for Cleaning

Before you start, gather all your supplies: a bucket of water, a cleaning solution like paint thinner or mineral spirits, a cleaning brush or rag, and a wrench for removing the nozzle.

Make sure to wear protective gloves, eye goggles, and a respirator to protect yourself from paint fumes and cleaning chemicals. Also, double-check that the sprayer is unplugged and the pressure is released to avoid accidents.

Flush the Sprayer with Water

Begin by flushing the sprayer with water. You can use the paint pickup hose or fill the paint cup with clean water. Make sure the paint cup is clean before starting this step. Flush until the water coming out is clear, then move on to disassembling the sprayer.

Taking Apart Your Paint Sprayer

Remove any detachable parts like the nozzle, air cap, fluid tip, and needle. Use a wrench to carefully remove the nozzle and other parts, keeping everything organized.

Soak the parts in a bucket of clean water, making sure they are fully submerged. Let them soak for a few minutes.

Use a brush or rag to scrub the parts thoroughly, focusing on small pieces like the nozzle and fluid tip. Remove all paint and debris.

Rinse all parts with clean water to get rid of any leftover paint or cleaning solution. Make sure everything is spotless.

Use a Cleaning Solution if Needed

If water alone doesn’t do the job, soak the parts in paint thinner or mineral spirits. Fill a bucket with the solution and submerge the components for a few minutes. Scrub them with a brush or rag, paying attention to smaller parts.

Rinse again with clean water to remove any cleaning solution residue.

Reassemble the Paint Sprayer

After cleaning and rinsing, let all parts air dry completely to prevent rust or damage. Avoid wiping them dry to keep lint and debris out of your sprayer.

Start reassembling by putting the nozzle and other removable parts back on securely. Attach the fluid tip and needle, then the air cap.

Double-check that everything is tight and properly assembled before using your sprayer again.

Store the Paint Sprayer Properly

Store your sprayer in a clean, dry place. Cover it with plastic or a bag to keep dust and debris away. Coil and secure the hose to avoid damage.

Consider using a storage fluid designed to keep washers and seals lubricated so they don’t dry out while stored.

How to Clean a Paint Sprayer Gun : Tips and Things to Know

Many things are available to clean a paint sprayer gun from soap and water to paint sprayer cleaning solvent, to thinners.  Again, what you use to clean your gun depends on what type of paint you put in it.

Cleaning your gun keeps it running in tip top shape, so that the paint you spray is smooth and consistent. Dried paint inside your gun can lead to clogging which will ruin your gun, sprayer tips, and your paint job.  The last thing you want is dried bits and chunks of paint coming out onto your painting surface.  

Yuck.  You should take apart your sprayer as much as you can to clean each of the parts.  This allows you to be sure that you’ve gotten all the paint out of your sprayer before putting it away.

It is very important to clean your sprayer thoroughly before storing, by making sure that there is no left over paint anywhere inside your gun.  Some manufacturers even suggest running anti rust and lubricants through your sprayer before storing for extended periods of time.  

For example, most airless sprayers will recommend an airless sprayer storage fluid which sits inside your sprayer while it’s in storage.  The fluid will lubricate and protect the valves and pump parts from corrosion and parts like gaskets and seals from drying out.

Can You Run Paint Thinner Through a Paint Sprayer?

YES!  Some mediums require you to use a paint sprayer cleaning solvent like paint thinner to remove all the paint from inside your sprayer.  

Paint thinner is the best way to clean oil based paints and various types of lacquers and varnishes out of your paint sprayer gun.

Instead of running water through your sprayer, you would run paint thinner or a paint sprayer cleaning solvent through your gun until you’ve removed all the paint.  

Can You Spray Water Through a Paint Sprayer?

YES!  This is actually one of the ways to clean a paint sprayer.  Water is sprayed through your gun when you’ve used water based paints like latex.

How to Clean Dried Latex Paint from a Paint Sprayer

This can be a bit tricky.  Hopefully, your latex paint sprayer doesn’t get to this point.  But, sometimes, we might miss some paint when cleaning and only notice it later.  That’s fine.  How to clean dried latex paint from a paint sprayer might require more than water.  

First, you can try to soak the sprayer parts in water and/or run more water through your gun to soften up the dried paint.  Take apart your sprayer as much as you can to really get into the areas where dried latex paint might hide.  

If that doesn’t work you might want to try some paint thinner or some latex paint remover, which is made of different combination of alcohols to soften up the paint.  If you want to save some cash, you could try isopropyl rubbing alcohol, you might have that lying around your home already.

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How to Clean Paint Sprayer Tips

Most of them time, your paint sprayer will get clogged at the tip.  Paint tends to dry on sprayer tips fast.  Pay close attention to any downtown you take during your paint job and clean off your tip before you start spraying again. Clogs can cause your pumps to work overtime and burn out the motor on your sprayer.  

1 way to clean you sprayer tips is to use a paint sprayer cleaning solvent.  They are super easy to use and you can basically just wipe the paint right off your sprayer.

Some paint sprayers allow you to reverse the sprayer tip and blow air right through the nozzle.  This helps to clean the tip by using air to remove the first layer of paint.

Otherwise, you clean paint sprayer tips depending on the paint medium you used.  If you used water based paints, cleaning the tips with water right after you’re finished painting will remove the paint.  Using oil based paints, lacquers, and varnishes means using a paint sprayer cleaning solvent, paint thinner, or some other commercial solvent to wipe them down.

For example, if you own a Graco, you can contact the Graco Authorized Service Center in your area.

Conclusion

Now that you know how to clean a paint sprayer gun and how to clean paint sprayer tips, all you have left is to master your painting skills!

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