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Quick Fix: Tapping the Fluid Section

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6:04
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How To Fix An Airless Sprayer That Is Not Priming.

What happens here

If the previous steps of disassembly and manual cleaning are too messy or inconvenient, especially with a sprayer loaded with paint, try a quick alternative solution. While the sprayer is running and attempting to prime, lightly tap the fluid section with a hammer. The vibration from these light taps can often dislodge small pieces of debris, allowing the ball check valve to re-seat and the sprayer to prime. This method is preferred if the obstruction is minor, as it avoids spilling paint during disassembly.

Goal: Dislodge minor obstructions without disassembling the fluid section.

Tools and materials

  • Airless Paint Sprayer Graco — The sprayer being serviced
  • Hammer — Lightly tapping the fluid section to dislodge debris

What they say

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inside there that won't pass through that ball is very small and sometimes just a little bit of a tap will get it to flow through. And this is where having a hammer could be a good solution to attempting to resolve that problem. You just don't want to use your hammer too hard. And what we do is the first thing we do is if that the sprayer is not priming properly, we're just going to tap on our fluid section with our hammer to see if that will resolve the problem without taking off our intake hose. And because when you got your sprayer loaded up with paint, taking off this hose, paint's going to come pouring out and it is a little bit messy. So, we always try to resolve our problem with a hammer first. You're just gonna, while the sprayer is running and in prime, you're just going to tap on your fluid section lightly, just like this. And that tap sometimes is just enough to get that piece to pass through. If these taps don't work, just about 10, 15 taps, then you're going to have to remove the lower fluid hose. And what you don't want to do is hit so hard that you're banging and messing up your fluid section if you hit too hard. So, it's just light taps with a hammer. We need something that's going to, you know, cause enough shock to go through there and possibly move that ball around, allow our piece of debris to pass through.

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