Finds: Wagner Paint Crew
By Sean O'Hara
It was a pretty straightforward sounding project: paint two rooms in my parent’s house. A fairly simple and unassuming goal, right? My father (who is a Toolmonger like me) recently purchased a Wagner Paint Crew to accomplish said task.
The features sounded great: 3/8 HP. .2 gallons per minute. A two-gallon capacity hopper to increase spray time and convenience. A 25 foot spray hose attached to a professional-grade metal spray gun with a full-size in-line filter. It sounded like a quick and fast thing; We’d be done by halftime, yeah?
The directions begin with the usual product info and overview. I skimmed the safety section, which said, “Liquid under pressure, be careful.” Whenever operating the unit, ensure it is pointed in the correct direction (level and forward). If it clogs, don’t try to unclog the line and filter without first notifying the bomb squad (liquid under pressure moves outward). Ensure the paint is clean with no clumps, etc. (The usual suspects.)
I figured, how hard could this be? So I cranked it up and found out. I got about 3 square feet out before the first paint clog decided to end my reign of latex terror and bring forth a very special brand of terror that only a clogged filter can render. Fast forward some swearing and a few paint laden tools later and I am ready to go again. I get about 2 square this time. Lesson; mix your paint like your Saturday depends on it, because it does. I completed about half the 12 by 12 room in around 2 hours now.
Fast forward about another 2 hours and I have the room completed. I am covered in paint and have used close to double the amount of paint I had allotted for the project. During this time, my mother and sister have completed a room twice the size with a pair of rollers and the same amount of paint I used. Their room also looked a bit better with more even and uniform coverage.
The Paint Crew isn’t a bad unit. I’m sure with some practice and of course reading all the directions it would in fact be quite handy. However, I get the impression that it’s really intended for outdoor use by someone more familiar with the eccentricities of the power paint sprayers.
Street Pricing Starts at around $100.
Wagner Paint Crew [Wagner]
Street Pricing [Froogle]
September 24th, 2006 at 6:45 pm
I have used some of the high-end sprayers in the past. I’ve always found that, for me, they take longer and use much more paint that doing it manually. Quite possibly because I don’t know all the tricks and techniques. Intermittent problems, like clogs, preparation/masking, and cleanup are pretty onerous. Painting is just a pain, no matter how you do it.
As to your clogs, it sounds as if you did not filter the paint before using it. This is a must with sprayers — there’s no way in the world that you can eliminate all the clogs by stirring. (I use a drill powered stirrer, BTW) I know some people that use pantyhose as a filter, but I’ve always gotten the triangular mesh/screen type filters at paint stores.
September 24th, 2006 at 10:19 pm
Hmmm…I was hoping for a good review. Are there any premium units that anyone can recommend?
September 24th, 2006 at 10:48 pm
I can recommend any one of a number of premium units that leave their business card on my window every time I go to Home Depot. Painting sucks! Hire somebody. But since I’ve now spent enough time in a crawl space to rethink the complexity of painting, I’ve decided maybe it isn’t my least favorite thing. The tipping point for me was the purchase of really nice cut-in brushes, the clip on pouring spout for the gallon can (haven’t tried those screw top plastic jugs yet, but they look good), the brush spinner, and many boxes of latex gloves. Rollers, pan and pole of course, also 4′x15′ canvas drop. I still get it on me, just not as much. Rollers are cheap, and although I have two paint guns, I don’t use either. Every time that Wagner ad comes on with the guy running through the neighborhood painting everything, my wife says, “why don’t you get one of those? That looks easy”. It’s total bullshit.
September 25th, 2006 at 9:43 am
Well said Eli, all (not most) of the professional painters I know ($500,000 houses and up) use brushes and rollers. Latex was never mean to be sprayed.
September 27th, 2006 at 5:04 pm
I sprayed the outside of my house a couple of summers ago and will never go back to using a brush. I used one of the hand held Wagner units with the paint in a backpack thing and strained all the paint that went into it. It ended up taking three days to mask off the house and build scafolding, and then 2-4 hours to paint each side of the house. I’ve been very happy with the results, but would never try to use one of these indoors.
October 1st, 2006 at 3:34 pm
I work with airless sprayers every day and the same rules apply to little ones like the Wagner as apply to the $5000 machines we use. Strain the paint first! Everything has to pass through a microscopic hole in the tip, and if it won’t fit, either the spray pattern is messed up, or more likely, it is clogged and you are out of business until you remove the tip and clean it. Pro machines have a tip that reverses with a twist and a burst of paint through it clears the clog, but it’s better to prevent it in the 1st place.
Latex paint is tougher to spray than oil based, but it sprays well if you set up for it. Wagners may not achive enough pressure to atomize some paints and they may need to be thinned a little to get a good pattern. Also, cold paint is thicker and may need to be warmed or thinned to spray.
I paint parking stripes, but painted my house in a day with my Graco airless sprayer. You can paint within an inch of something without getting paint on it and instead of masking, hold a piece of cardboard or aluminum and use it for a spray shield to finsh the job.
May 7th, 2007 at 2:31 pm
Well we all have different experiences with painting.
To the gentleman who said that latex was not meant to be sprayed, I have some news for him.
I just painted my 4500 sf home with 11 gallons of Gliddens best latex exterior paint, semi-gloss.
I used an excellent $200 Wagner airless sprayer I bought at a website I found http://www.erniesequipment.com/catalog/
Not boasting, but the job turned out A+.
Every now and then you will pick up a little trash - you just spin the nozell around - clean - and keep on spraying. I figured I saved about $9000 on a $10,000 job. And it looks awesome!
May 7th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
I forgot to say about the Paint Crew above.
I haven’t tried it.
I think those guys at Ernie’s above have it for around $99.
Instead, I used the Wagner 9150.
I just thought I would buy the next larger Wagner unit, because my job was a larger one.
Heck at one point I had 100 feet of paint hose hooked up and it worked like a charm!
October 23rd, 2007 at 10:28 am
Re: airless sprayers. When painting with latex, you MUST strain the paint with a material similar to cheesecloth. And, depending on whose brand of paint you are spraying, you should thin the paint with three to four ounces of water per gallon. Always read the directions that are on the paint can. These are a combination of experiences I’ve used after reading all other postings. You guys were great. Thanks!
May 18th, 2008 at 9:46 am
Look, the bottom line is the Wagner Paint crew is a piece of junk. The valves fail within a few gallons of paint. Take a look at epinions.com to see what folks have to say about this thing. Also, clean up is beyond difficult. The hopper? When you’re cleaning the thing out- be careful- you may get a terrible electrical shock (yeah, I know, it won’t happen to me..hahahhahahaa)
May 23rd, 2008 at 2:37 pm
I have the WAGNER Paint Crew and suffered some of the same problems such as clogging and it just became a pain. But I use high powered Graco Sprayers on my job as a bridge waterproofer. You just have to be careful with your paint. It has to be mixed really well. Because it’s not like the 2500PSI sprayers I have at work. You have to be reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally careful. After that it’s smooth sailing
June 29th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Always use a GFI and forget about the shock hazards.
You can buy an inline GFI almost anywhere and UL approved too.