Learning to paint....

30 second house painting story: Borrowed my neighbors $3000 paint sprayer and he hands it to me "ready to go" I buy 5 gallons of paint, prime it and start shooting. The thing has a 150 foot hose on it so I can walk around my entire house and get everything without moving the pump. Im shooting and the spray pattern is a 5" circle, "man, this aint right...WTH?" I look at the tip and its a hole? I turn the knob and it only goes half way and stops. I dont want to break this thing so I continue to shoot from a little farther back but its still like painting a house with a sharpie! It did under the eves great from 10 feet away, but 6 hours into the job he pulls up and walks over, takes the gun and turns the knob a full 180 (with force) and the fan pattern appears! I'm in shock that I painted 75% of my house (and 10 gallons) in the clean out mode! The gun was so caked with old dried paint that I didnt realize the plastic knob (that I didnt want to break) turned 180 from clean out hole to fan pattern slit! I did the last 25% in about 30 minutes with the 18" fan spray...and ended up going over the entire house again with the fan tip and another 5 gallons. So moral is to know your equipment! I gotta laugh at it as I was so convinced that that gun didnt have a fan pattern, DOH! And that 150' hose bit me in the *** as it held about a gallon of paint and when it started sucking air, I still had 300 square feet left. I added water and just ran it until I was shooting clear. That part was the back corner next to the trash cans so don't look back there! I ended up power washing that sprayer and gun and giving it back to him looking like new. He was happy, I kinda wasn't......I got a quote for $6-8K for the paint job so I decided it was up to me.