IS THE MARKET FOR “READY TO USE PAINTS” DECLINING ?
- by Fleet Admin
- 09 Jul 2018
1970’s Fleet introduced the first ready to use line marking paint – Pitchmarker B
1980’s Fleet introduce a concentrated ready to use paint - Pitchmarker Q2
Since then “ready to use” line marking paint has become more and more concentrated and in many cases is only cost effective if the machine and paint is capable of spraying a football field using less than 1 litre of paint.
Fleet and many other line marking companies have done a lot of development in order to produce such a concentrated paint. Fleet Droo and Fleet Fort being prime examples.
SOME TECHINAL FACTS FROM THE LAB ……..
Some companies have marketed these paints as scientific breakthroughs, and magical hype …….
these paints may be more concentrated, but all of them still use Titanium Dioxide for whiteness,
and often this is extended by CaCo3/China Clay or enhanced by “Optical Brighteners” …..
or fluorescent whitening agents, are used to make plastics, fibres, coatings, inks, and detergents appear whiter and brighter.
These products function by absorbing invisible ultraviolet light and re-emitting it as visible light
in the blue range of the spectrum.
Fleet do not at the moment use them. There are studies that show concerns over skin irritation and operator exposure.
Therefore until Fleet are 100% satisfied that there is no toxic effect on our customers,
there will not be any optical brighteners included in Fleet formulations.
A CASE STUDY
Fleet receive another call from a customer who is using a competitors
concentrated ready to use
paint.
He was NOT
a happy man, he said that he was sold the system as an advancement,
and he chose the system in order to save money, and still get a quality line,
as he did before when he used Fleet paint.
Bill the groundsman was informed that he could use 1 litre of paint for one football pitch.
- 1. This was impossible unless he ran (very fast)
- 2. He found all the nozzles blocked.
He contacted the competitor company who very kindly gave him FREE BIGGER NOZZLES,
this meant that he was using far more paint than he had budgeted for,
and the cost of marking was far more expensive than using his previous Fleet system.
Bill however thought the lines looked “great” using more than 4x the volume of paint.
Bill’s accountant however had a complete meltdown, as Bill’s line marking cost had
multiplied by 4!!
Bill is now marking with Fleet SCAPE, the lines are great, and Bill now is saving lots of money.
CONCLUSION:
Ready to use paints are acceptable ONLY
- 1. If they do actually spray through the very fine nozzles, that the adverts say they can.
- 2. If the price of one litre of paint is at least a quarter of the cost of a litre of a
quality concentrate paint, given that the concentrate can be diluted by 12 parts water to one part paint, ….
Eg Fleet Pitchmarker Super C.
- 3. Or if the convenience of ready to use is worth the money of the extra expense of the paint.
In Bill’s case this was over £20,000 a year.
Fine nozzles are susceptible to blocking, especially in hot weather,
a Flozle nozzle system is recommended by Fleet for all concentrated low application paints.
If you are USING A READY TO USE PAINT and spending more money than you budgeted,
Fleet have a policy of changing your line marking system to another system FREE OF CHARGE.
ACTION
CONTACT A FLEET SALESMAN …. FLEET EMPLOY MANY GROUNDS EXPERTS WHO HAVE ACTUALLY DONE THE JOB…. DISCUSS ANY IDEAS, CALL 01684 573535 TODAY WITH ABSOLUTELY NO OBLIGATION.
