Explosion Risk with Spray Rigs

[Magnusfarce]

I've used my new Graco Magnum 5 spray rig to paint some cottage cheese ceilings in my house (my first try at this sort of thing), and in order to avoid the mist from going everywhere, I've used plastic sheeting to pretty much seal off the room I'm working in. I've noticed that the spray is dry by the time it lands on the ground and ends up as white dust on the ground.

My question is this: With the paint as a fine airborne powder, and without any ventilation in the room, is there any explosion risk as a result of hot light bulbs, sparks from plugging/unplugging equipment, etc.?

- Magnusfarce

[SQLit]

I have seen this done for years, recently in my home. Check the product literature to be sure. I doubt that there is much danger.

[PhotoMan]

When I was a kid, I once played around with flour, a folded newspaper and a coal furnace. I blew the flour through the folded paper across the glowing coals, and successfully removed many years of soot and dust from all the duct work - into all the rooms upstairs. As I said, I ONCE did that. Joe Arnold

[Joe Bobst]

You're wise to be aware of the problem. Here in the Midwest we have had reports for years of explosions in grain handling facilities. Paint particles have quite high levels of inert fillers when dry, so their hazards are probably an order of magnitude less than sawdust or grain particles. A bit of common sense safety habits will lengthen your life span, so go for it. Enjoy the Graco. I hear it's a neat rig.

Joe

[Magnusfarce]

I just called Valspar, who makes the paints I'm using, and asked if their was any explosion risk while spraying. I was told by a service tech that the paint is not flammable either as a wet aerosol mist or as the resulting dry aerosol powder, and that he had never even heard that question asked before.

I looked on the ingredients list on the can, and after evaporation of the water and alcohol, the only components remaining should be the titanium dioxide pigment (non flammable), crystalline silica (non flammable) and the acrylic resin (possibly flammable). If the acrylic resin is flammable, because it makes up only a portion of the dry particle, the aerosol powder is unlikely to be flammable and what the tech said makes sense.

- Magnusfarce

[norminn]

Silica doesn't do your lungs much good. Take a little bit of the residue outside and light it. If it burns, then the saturated air would likely represent an explosion hazard.

[Jeff Cochran]

Risk is likely minimal to none, paint dust isn't really combustive in the way grain dust or sawdust is. But you could open a window right after spraying...

Jeff