I’m asking this here ‘cuz m’eyes are starting to bleed and I still haven’t found an answer 🙂 I noticed on your website and have heard from others that an HVLP system shouldn’t be used to paint the exterior of a house… however I’ve spoken with my unit’s manufacturer (Lemmer) and they say “of course you can use it to spray exterior woodwork!”… so which is it and why?
Please advise.
Cheers
Dave
3 Responses
You can use an HVLP sprayer if you want, but it won't work very well for you.
OK, here's why;
You will need to excessively thin the paint to get a good spray pattern. HVLP's are not designed for thick materials and they have slow transfer rates.
Modern exterior paints are fairly thick for good reason. They need to be applied thickly in order to perform well. When using an HVLP paint sprayer you will need to apply several coats. This consumes excessive amounts of time and labor.
It is better to use an airless sprayer to achieve the proper film thickness instead of an HVLP.
Aha! A perfect answer, very much appreciated Karl and it makes a lot of sense!
One final question – my sprayer allows for a 2.8mm tip for the express purpose of spraying latex and the turbine can be pumped up quite a bit (I don't know from HVLP (or other) paint sprayers… so I have no idea whether this is common to all of them… or is mine something special?) … in your opinion, would that make a difference?
Based on your answer… I just may be going out to buy myself an airless sprayer (is THAT what a Venturi sprayer is?… sorry 2 questions 🙂 … I've got a ton of work that needs to be done… sigh..
Cheers
Dave
The larger tip will help but you will still need to condition, thin, the paint quite a bit. The problem is the way a HVLP works. Using air alone to atomize thick sticky acrylic paint is very difficult. An airless sprayer uses pressure, 2500-3000 psi. Pressure works great.
If you have a lot of spraying to do I recommend an airless. You can keep the HVLP for finer spraying needs, window frames or doors or other surfaces that will be hard to do with a high volume sprayer. The type of airless I use is a piston style. There is a big difference between a pro sprayer and a consumer sprayer. I don't know much about the cheaper sprayers other than they don't last and perform like a really good pro unit.
Before going into the expense of buying a new airless sprayer why don't you rent one? You can rent nice units from paint stores or tool rental shops. There has to be a local paint store that will rent a good sprayer, maybe the same store where you will be buying your paint.