In our Facebook group Tips & Tricks Airless sprayers a question came up today on the hourly rate of Airless sprayers. The question was:
Hello Airless community. Who can give me a sensible statement about the hourly rate of using an Airless sprayer? With values such as: useful life in hours, maintenance fee, etc. for example for a Graco Mark V or Wagner. I’m thinking of getting one. Thanks for the answers.
So far, we are not aware of any known research done on this subject by manufacturers or academics. When googling under the corresponding keywords, nothing concrete was found on the hourly rate for airless equipment. That’s why we thought we would begin the discussion with the following suggested assumptions and figures.
Data for the calculation of the hourly rate of an airless device
The following values have been assumed for the calculation as input data:
Replacement / Acquisition Costs: As a starting point for the example calculation, a medium performance sprayer (Graco Ultra Max II 795 Standard) was selected. The original price of this model is currently at € 3529.40 net. Of course, this value can be adapted to any model and costs.
Graco Ultra Max II 795 Standard
Depreciation / useful life: The official period for the tax depreciation of Airless paint spraying equipment according to AfA for painters and refinishers in Germany is 5 years. Detailed information about this we have summarized for you in the article Tax depreciation of Airless paint spraying equipment – AfA for Painters & Painters. However, most of the high-quality sprayers can be used for a little more than 5 years with a little care and attention. For longer use beyond the 5 years, the cost per operating hour drops significantly.
Interest rate: For the calculation we have estimated an interest rate of 1%.
Useful life per year (in hours): For the example calculation, a useful life of 40 hours per month was taken into account. The more the sprayer is used, the more economical the use becomes. At the same time, however, the costs of repair and repair are rising due to the longer service life. 40 hours a month is not very much. We have customers using the airless sprayer much more frequently, where it runs every day for several hours. Again, other customers use it rarely or for a few hours a month. The mean value in the example calculation is 480 hours per year.
Repair: The costs for maintenance and repair are calculated fairly generously with 10% of the device value and a service life of 480 hours / year. In addition, there are certainly differences between the different models and manufacturers. It should also be taken into account whether the user himself carries out part of the repair and maintenance work.
Example calculation of the machine hourly rate for an Airless paint sprayer
The calculation refers to a Graco Ultra Max II 795 with a service life of 480 operating hours per year. This results in an hourly rate of 2.28 € per operating hour for the airless device.
Hourly rate Airless paint sprayer
Problems and limitations of the calculation of the hourly rate
Some factors bring some uncertainty into the calculation. For example, the calculation over operating hours is quite inaccurate because the hour of operation does not say much about the load and the wear of the sprayer. In one working hour, a user can process small amounts of paint or large amount of silicate paint or even filler. The consideration in the calculation is one working hour each. The burden of wear and the resulting costs, however, differ significantly. In this respect, it should be considered whether a calculation based on the amount of material processed could be more accurate and appropriate.
The existing calculation does not take wear materials such as nozzles, filters and care products into account. The demand depends on many factors (such as processed material, care & cleaning, work pressure, etc.) and is difficult to estimate. The biggest cost block in the wear materials are the nozzles. Here, there is no manufacturer specific information about the useful life, as these depend on the solids content and the abrasion effect of the color of the nozzle or the set working pressure.
Factors such as space costs and energy are not included in the calculation. The power to operate an Airless paint spraying unit is usually provided by the client. When using gasoline-powered sprayers or a generator, the additional cost factor for gasoline or diesel should be taken into account in the calculation.
For any further questions regarding our products, you can contact us on +49 (0) 30 220 15436, fill out our contact form below or email us. If you wish to purchase one of the products mentioned above, you can check them out in our online store. You can also visit us at our service base during office hours.
