Spraygun Check Valve Maintenance

Tips on keeping the check valve operational for an HVLP spray gun. April 18, 2010

Question
I have the Titan T-50 4 stage with the stock spray gun. I sprayed four houses with latex paint and 15-20 pieces of furniture with this gun. There is a learning curve and not too many problems except that the Guncheck valve keeps gumming up with the product. I have no idea why or what the purpose of this valve is. Second is the cup seal leaks and the vinyl tubes to the valve harden to the point they are brittle and hard to remove to clean. Does anyone have any input on this?

Forum Responses
(Finishing Forum)
From contributor F:
Chances are you are not keeping the gun level enough. Keep the gun on more of a level playing field and this should solve the problem. As for the hose, we always keep extra around to swap it out if it gets to the point where we can’t clean it or it’s brittle.

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From contributor P:
The check valve goes in the air line that feeds pressure to the fluid cup. When you tip the gun at an angle, it keeps the material you're spraying from traveling up the air hose and clogging the air passages inside your spray gun. The check valve should be replaced whenever it gets clogged. The clear hose on each end of the check valve come with a new valve. You can use any brand of check valve - it doesn't have to be Titan.

You can also get new gaskets for the lid to the spray cup. With the fluid cup removed, you can see the gasket inside the lid - it forms a ring around the outer edge. If a new gasket doesn't stop the leak, it's time to replace the entire fluid cup. Different brands of spray guns have different size gaskets in the cup lid, so you do want to make sure the brand you buy is the same size as the Titan.

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From the original questioner:
Thanks guys for the advice. I went through four valves in four jobs. I'll look for a cheaper source for valves and concentrate on keeping the gun more level. I read that the Accuspray 10 gun is the ultimate. Is there any difference than my stock Titan spray gun? Does it atomize the material finer with less pressure, and are the spray patterns more?

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From the original questioner:
You can purchase check valves that are made out polyethylene so that you can soak them in stripper or any solvent that you can think of to clean them. They disassemble and all the parts are made to be soaked. Wagner makes them and they used to be available from Sherwin-Williams.

The reason that your vinyl hose hardens is that the plasticizers in the vinyl are fugitive, especially because the air traveling through the hose from the turbine is heated. Make sure to carry lots of spare hose if this is an issue.

Wrap a rag around the perimeter of the cup, like a bandana, so that even after you replace the leaky cup seals, if they continue to be faulty then at least you have some protection against a dripping mess. It's possible that your cup and/or lid are distorted, hence no decent seal. I'd venture that it's the cup and not the lid which could have this problem.