SPRAYING POND SHIELD EPOXY

As al alternative to rolling Pond Shield onto your pond, you can also spray it on. If your pond has a rough or uneven surface, you'll be able to spray Pond Shield in a much more even fashion that applying it with a brush or roller.

The first thing you have to keep in mind when spraying Pond Shield or any other epoxy coating is the pot life. At 72° F, Pond Shield has a pot life of about 1 hour. This is typical for most epoxies. If you are going to spray, you will need to keep a constant work flow throughout the process so that the epoxy does not have a chance to harden up in your spray equipment. Immediately after you have completed your application, your spray equipment will need to be cleaned out with acetone or MEK (methyl ethyl keytone). Any time you have to stop spraying for any length of time that puts your epoxy close to curing you should clean your equipment as well.

Pond Shield can be sprayed with a conventional pneumatic spray gun or an airless like those shown here. The downside to spraying with pneumatic spray equipment is the amount of pressure needed to move thick epoxies like Pond Shield. This is why we recommend an airless type sprayer. Graco offers several types of airless spray equipment. The two shown here are almost identical. They are both Graco 395 series electric airless sprayer that generate about 3300 psi. The difference is one is a small compact carry version and the other is attached to a cart. Either one allows you to dip the feed line right into your mixed Pond Shield and start spraying.

If you already own an airless sprayer, these are the minimum requirements needed to spray Pond Shield. You need a pump that pumps at at least a 30:1 ratio, .023 - .027 spray tip, and 3/8" hose if less than 50 feet and 1/2" hose if more than 50 feet. Those of you that do not have at least a .023 tip can thin the epoxy. However, thinning Pond Shield needs to be done in a very specific manner. ONLY use 99% isopropanol (isopropyl) OR denatured alcohol and ONLY thin by a maximum of 10% isopropanol (isopropyl) OR denatured alcohol. Using any other thinning agent may introduce contaminants into the epoxy and thinning any more than 10% will make the epoxy to thin. Thinning will also require that you spray at least a couple of coats in order to achieve the 10 mil required thickness.