Painting's A Breeze. Clean-up's a Bear
Written: Aug 05 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Fast painting of walls and ceilings. One coat coverage.
Cons: A pain to clean. Paint waste. Chance of making a big mess if not careful.
The Bottom Line: The Power Roller is recommended for whole house paint jobs. For a big job, its a great labor and time saver until clean-up time. Clean-up is its Achilles’ heel.
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| loumart's Full Review: Wagner Power Roller 959 |
The Wagner Power Roller is a great time saving device for those needing to paint more than one or two walls or ceilings. If you're looking to doing a whole house (or apartment) paint job, its worth the price. It should only be used with latex paints. The Power Roller is the best when painting the whole house or apartment with the same paint. This is because its a major project to clean this system completely, especially if you're going to use a different color paint. If you are doing a small job, virtually all the time you save by using the Power Roller you will lose in cleaning it. I'll explain the cleaning process later.
I purchased mine as a kit with some extra parts including rollers and tubes. The Power Roller is a paint pump unit attached to two plastic tubes, a 2-foot long intake tube and an output tube. The output tube is attached to the control handle. This tube is about 12 feet long. Into the handle you attach the roller assembly. On the handle is a thumb controlled pressure switch. This switch turns the pump on and off. The roller assembly is a metal tube that attaches to the handle and holds the roller itself. The roller assembly is inserted into the handle (male/female type connection) and tightened by twisting the knurled fitting over the handle.
There is a rubber o-ring on the roller fitting to help maintain a better seal. This fitting has to be tight or you will have paint leaking from this connection, o-ring or no o-ring. The roller assembly also has a splashguard to help prevent drips or paint splashes. It can be adjusted to different positions around the roller depending on what and how you are painting.
The roller itself looks like any other paint roller until you look inside the tube. The cardboard tube is perforated all around to allow paint to fill the nap of the roller. Rollers are available in different naps for painting different surfaces. As I mentioned earlier, there is an extension that can be placed between the handle and the roller that will allow you to reach higher up on the walls and possibly even the ceiling without need of a ladder or chair. The extension is just a hollow tube about 2 feet long.
So let's paint. You can use a couple methods for getting paint into the roller. Attach the tube to a plastic 1 gallon paint can cover with a hole in it. You stir your paint so its ready to be used, put the plastic cover on the can, insert the tube into the hole and slide it down until its near the bottom of the can. Make sure your roller is securely attached to the handle and with your thumb, push the switch forward. This will turn the pump motor on and start the paint flowing. Watch the progress of the paint through the tube so you know when its near and then into the handle and roller. At this point, experience is the only way to really learn how to use the power roller efficiently. The type of paint you're using, the surface you're painting and the condition/type of roller you're using will all effect the amount of paint that finds its way onto the surface you're painting. My first wall received about 5 paintings worth of paint before I got the "feel" for the power roller. Of course, the more paint in the roller, the easier it is to paint the wall or ceiling. Its very easy to put a lot of paint down very quickly. Watch for the "dots" that appear on the surface when the paint first flows from the roller onto the surface you're painting and then turn it off as the paint will have continued to flow into the roller before you turn off the pump. If you go too heavy, you'll have paint literally running down the walls or dripping off the ceilings.
So, you've mastered the paint flow and you're painting with great speed and efficiency. The whole house is done! Yes! Its Miller/Bud/Coors time. Almost. Now the hard part. If you want to keep your Power Roller for the next time you decide to paint the house, you'll want to clean it. If you don't plan on painting again in the next 10 - 20 years, you could just throw the thing out and call it a bargain because of the time you saved with it. But for this review, we'll clean it for future use.
First off, you are aware now of all the paint in the tubing. So take the unit somewhere so that when you remove the roller, you don't drip paint all over the new carpets or other flooring. I have learned to do the cleaning outside. Take the roller assembly off the handle, remove the cover from the paint can and make sure the intake tube is out of the paint, hold the handle over the paint can in such a way as not to make a splash when the paint in the system is pumped from the handle, and turn the pump on. Because the intake is out of the paint, there is no way to get all the paint out of the tube. So now you need to hook up something to clean out the pump. I use the garden hose attachment and pump water through the system until it runs clean. This normally takes at least 20 minutes. As for the roller assembly, like it or not, its full of paint. Again I take this off outside and attempt to drain what paint I can into the can. The rest gets rinsed out on the ground by re-attaching to the handle and continuing to run the pump with water coursing through it. The roller itself I rinse and dispose of. I used to clean these too, but grew tired of spending so much time cleaning up. I can't afford to throw the whole unit away each time, but I can afford a new roller. As you're cleaning, make sure not to damage or lose the rubber o-rings. Also make sure you get them clean or you will have a paint leak. Once you're satisfied that its clean, now you have to get all the water out of the handle and tube. As the switch is an air pressure or vacuum switch, its critical that it be clean and dry or your pump may not turn on again. I use the "whip the hose/handle overhead" as in cowboy getting ready to lasso a horse.
Got all the water out? Ok, let it dry and then pack it away for next time and have that drink. You're done!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
loumart
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Member: Lou Prevost
Location: Cary, Illinois
Reviews written: 18
Trusted by: 1 member
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