Paint Tank/Pressure Pot VS Airless Paint Sprayer

Airless paint sprayers and paint tanks/pressure pots are popular ways of spraying coatings. Both styles of equipment have inherent benefits and drawbacks, which you want to consider before choosing which style equipment you will use for your painting application. By choosing an appropriate equipment set up, you’ll be able to maximize efficiency, finish quality, and production. Below we will review airless paint sprayers and paint tanks/pressure pots that you can best decide which one may be right for your coating application needs.

An Overview of Paint Tank & Airless Paint Sprayer

Paint Tank/Pressure Pot uses compressed air to feed a paint tank which will force feed coating to a spray gun. You can use a paint tank with an HVLP, conventional, or LVMP spray gun. Each type of spray gun has its benefits and drawbacks as well which you can learn more here. Paint Tank offer a variety of features as options including multiple regulators, agitation, and even multiple outlets for multiple spray gun’s. Additionally, paint tank can be designed to allow for heating of your coating and for other specialty needs. Compared to an airless paint sprayer, a paint tank will not supply as high volume of fluid at a given time. However, a paint tank will allow for finer control of the volume of paint you are supplying a spray gun, the air pressure you are using to atomize a coating, and the pressure that you are supplying a coating at. Depending on the spray gun you use with your paint tank, you can also save significantly on the amount of coating that you will use. If you can use an HVLP or LVMP spray gun with your paint tank because your material is not too thick, you’ll be able to use about half as much paint at a given time compared to using an airless paint sprayer.  A fluid line from a pain tank will also typically require less solvent to clean.

How to select a Dino-Power Pressure Tank?

It’s helpful to know the following information:

• Size/Scope of your operation in terms of gallons per day per spray for a given spray station.
• If you’re using a plural component coating, what is the tank life of your coating?
• Is your coating waterborne or solvent borne? What degree of corrosion resistance do you need?
• Will you need to use a bottom outlet (may be needed for high viscosity materials or high cost materials).
• Will you be putting either 1-gallon or 5-gallon pails in the interior of the pressure tank?

Model No.	SS10A	SS20A	SS40A
Type	Air Agitator	Air Agitator	Air Agitator
Volume	10L	20L	40L
Air Inlet	1/4”	1/4”	1/4”
Paint Outlet	1/4” *1	1/4” *1	1/4” *2
Operating Pressure	3.5 bar	3.5bar	2bar
Content in Package	paint tank, pressure gauge, regulator, safety valve, on-off ball valve, caster etc.

 

Model No.	SS10M	SS20M	SS40M
Type	Manual Agitator	Manual Agitator	Manual Agitator
Volume	10L	20L	40L
Air Inlet	1/4”	1/4”	1/4”
Paint Outlet	1/4” *1	1/4” *1	1/4” *2
Operating Pressure	3.5 bar	3.5 bar	2 Bar
Content in Package	paint tank / pressure pot, pressure gauge, regulator, safety valve, on-off ball valve, caster etc.

STEP 1: SELECT SIZE AND SCOPE
Liters of Coating Per 8 Hour Shift	Suggested Tank Size for Single Component Coating	Suggested Tank Size for Plural Component Coating
		1 Hour Tank Life	2 Hour Tank Life	3 Hour Tank Life	4 Hour Tank Life
Up to 5	2 or 5 Gallon	2 Gal.	2 Gal.	2 Gal.	5 Gal.
Up to 10	10 Gallon	2 Gal.	2 Gal.	5 Gal.	10 Gal.
Up to 15	15 Gallon	2 Gal.	5 Gal.	5 Gal.	15 Gal.
Up to 30	30 Gallon	5 Gal.	5 Gal.	15 Gal.	30 Gal.
Up to 60	60 Gallon	5 Gal.	15 Gal.	30 Gal.	60 Gal.
Up to 60	60 Gallon	5 Gal.	15 Gal.	60 Gal.	60 Gal.
*Examples: For a single component coating spraying of 12 gallons of coating per 8 hour shift, we suggest a 15 gallon tank. For a 4 hour tank life plural component coating, consuming 12 gallons per 8 hour shift, we suggest a 5 gallon tank.

 

STEP 2: SELECT PRESSURE TANK FAMILY, BASED ON AVAILABLE FEATURES
2 Gallon	X	X	X	X
5, 10, 15 Gallon			X	X
30, 60 Gallon					X	X
Includes Fill Port			X	X	X	X
Waterborne Compatible	no	yes,w/liner	no	yes	no	yes
Overall Corrosion Resistance	good	better	better	best	better	best
Maximum Pressure Rating	80 psi (5.5 bar)	80 psi (5.5 bar)	110 psi (7.5 bar)	110 psi (7.5 bar)	110 psi (7.5 bar)	110 psi (7.5 bar)
Available with Bottom Outlet			X	X	X	X
2 Gallon Size (Accepts 1 gal. pail)	X	X	X
5 Gallon Size (Accepts 5 gal. pail)			X	X

 

STEP 3: SELECT HOW MANY REGULATORS YOU’LL NEED
	Fluid Regulation 0 to 80 psi Choose for viscous or long runs of material	Fluid Regulation 0 to 30 psi Choose for short runs of low viscosity material	Air Atomization 0 to 160 psi Choose for better control of atomizing air
Single regulated	X
Double regulated	X		X
Single regulated w/improved low fluid pressure control		X
Double regulated w/improved low fluid pressure control		X	X
Choose your regulation options from the table above. We recommend using a regulator instead of a simple restriction (e.g. a “cheater valve”) for greater control and to avoid an initial blast of higher pressure air when you first pull the trigger on your spray gun.

STEP 4: SELECT AGITATION OPTIONS
	Low viscosity/ smaller volume	Higher viscosity/ larger volume/ air entrapment risk
None
Direct Drive	X
15:1 Gear Reduced	X	X
For coatings that remain well dispersed over time, you may not need any agitation. If you have either a low viscosity material, or a small volume of material, direct drive agitation is an option. For higher viscosity materials or larger volumes of material, or where there is a risk of air entrainment, we recommend a gear reduced agitator.

 

DP-66 Series High Quality Paint Tanks

Unlike paint tank that uses compressed air to generate fluid pressure, airless paint sprayer use pistons to generate pressure on a fluid which is fed to a small tip that results in atomization of coating. By using a piston to increase fluid pressure airless paint sprayers are able to provide higher pressures than you can achieve with a paint tank. Additionally, you can supply higher volumes of coating at a time which will allow for higher production compared to a spray gun with a paint tank. However, you will not have as fine of control over the pressure fluid volume that you are supplying because you do not have independent regulation of fluid and atomization pressure.  An additional benefit of an airless paint sprayer is depending on the type of airless you choose, you may not need an air compressor to power the unit. An airless paint sprayer will be less efficient at applying a coating compared to a paint tank, unless the paint tank is being used with a conventional spray gun in which case the airless will be similar to the spray gun.

Benefits VS:

Paint Tank:

1.Better control

2.Can use less coating

3.Easier Clean Up

Airless Paint Sprayer:

1.Faster Production

Drawbacks VS:

Paint Tank:

1.Not as Fast as an Airless

Airless Paint Sprayer:

1.Less Control

2.Less Efficient than HVLP and LVMP Pressure Fed Spray Guns

Applications VS:

Paint Tank:

1.Applications that require a higher quality finish.

2.Applications that require high control over the amount of coating that is applied due to having a precision specification.

3.Applications that require keeping VOCs and overspray to a minimum (which would require the use of an HVLP Spray gun ).

Airless Paint Sprayer:

1.Applications where portability is key for your application

2.Applications where production and speed are the primary concerns for your coating application

3.Applications that you want to Achieve high Film Builds Fast

Conclusion:

By knowing the Benefits & Drawbacks / pros and cons of paint tanks/pressure pots and airless paint sprayers, you can best determine which may be right for your application. Choosing the right equipment will help you achieve the desired finish and achieve your production goals as well.

 

DP-K301 pneumatic airless sprayer (30:1, 240bar)