Just overheard a shop owner say he's switching to waterborne because of a new EPA rule coming down the pipe in 2025

I was grabbing parts at the NAPA on Main Street in Portland when I heard two guys talking about it. One guy said the EPA is tightening VOC limits starting next July, and shops that don't switch over early are gonna get hit with fines up to $10,000. Made me realize I better start pricing out a waterborne conversion kit for my booth before everyone else jumps on it. Anybody else heard concrete dates on this?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_piper4d ago

Buddy of mine runs a small body shop down in Salem, got a letter from the state last month about this. Said they're doing random sniffer tests on spray booths starting January, not even waiting for July. He already bought a Graco conversion kit and said it wasn't as bad as he thought, like $3,000 with the new gun and lines. Now he's just pissed because he's gotta train his painter on the whole waterborne thing, and that guy's been using solvent since the 90s and won't shut up about it.

john_hunt23d ago

The training part was actually easier than I expected when we switched over at the shop I was helping at a few years back. That old timer painter might grumble but waterborne lays down real nice once they get used to the flash times and the gun adjustments. Biggest thing was making sure he has the right air movement in the booth because waterborne can look dull if the airflow isn't set just right. Your buddy might want to grab a few test panels and let his painter mess around before he touches a real customer car. Once he gets a couple jobs under his belt he'll probably stop complaining.