Winterizing the Deckster

[John T 744]

I have a Deckster that is beat to xxxx and in the 3 years besides changing the quick connects and the hoses and also changing out those little valves that can go bad in them causing the deckster to have no pressure I have never winterized it or the hoses. None of it. Since I only pretty much use Oil base stains I really dont want to run antifreeze thru those hoses because water and oil mix causes a seperation and the last thing I want in my stain hoses is this to happen

Now since I have two decksters I'm thinking that I should probably at least run antifreeze thru them and the clear hoses that I use for strippers and acids..

Storing any of this stuff in the house is not an option..

What do u guys/gals do when it comes to winterizing your decksters??

[RPetry 564]

John,

I have a Decker 5'er with the PumpTec pump that I also use for stain. In the three years that I have owned it, the pump has never pushed anything except Ready Seal.

To winterize, I only use mineral spirits. Run the pump for maybe 10 minutes, and switch to bypass at some point. This will both flush out the pump internals and also the feed hose and gun. I also soak the quick connects and gun tip for awhile and then scrub off any old dry stain residue.

This seems to work fine as I have had no maintenance issues or repairs for the past three years.

[danster 15]

I use airless pumps and use mineral spirits or xylene. You should probably use mineral spirits because the xylene might be too strong of a solvent. You should have no problem. Mineral spirits or paint thinner never freezes.

Dan

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

John,

Rod just went through a no pressure issue with ours. I'll ask him to post here later. There was an in-line filter that had a plastic screw on casing that had small cracks in it...that was our culprit. If you have that you might try moving the filter to the end of the hose on your pigtail. We did, and it worked.

Sometimes also the squeeze ball gets boogies inside that you need to clean out.

Hope this helps.

Beth

p.s. you could bring it to Toms so we can all learn and fix it together!