Watch out for old acrylic paint that smells like ammonia

Met a guy at the recycling center yesterday who was dumping a whole box of half-used Liquitex tubes. I asked why and he said they smelled funky. Turns out old acrylic paint can go bad if it freezes and thaws a bunch. The binder separates and you cant mix it back. He said he tried to use a tube that was 3 years old and it came out chunky and smelled like cat pee. I never thought about that before. I got a bunch of free paint from a swap last month and now I gotta check every tube. Has anyone else run into paint that went bad like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

campbell.robin14d ago

Hang on, "three years old" and it went bad? That's wild. I've got tubes of Liquitex in my garage that are probably closer to ten years old and they're still fine. Maybe that guy lived in a place where the temp swings a lot, like a shed without heat. I've never had acrylic smell like cat pee on me, but I've found some dried out crusty chunks around the cap on old tubes. You can usually just squeeze out the bad part and use the rest if it doesn't smell weird. Now you got me paranoid though, I'm gonna go smell every tube in my stash tonight.

richard13713d ago

Yeah I've definitely had a couple tubes go funky like that... it's usually when they freeze and thaw a bunch of times or sit in a hot car for too long. The ammonia smell is a dead giveaway that the binder is breaking down, so don't try to use it even if the texture seems okay. Just toss it, it's not worth ruining a painting over a $6 tube of paint.