I might not be a electrician however seeing that I painted all four years while I was attending college for a professional company and feel that I am qualified to answer this question.

The best way to prime new drywall is with a latex primer called Kilz-2. You can get it in gallon and 5 gallon buckets. Before the latex product came along not too long ago you needed to use the oil based version that was just terrible to use because of the smell but it was by far the best preparation for paint or wall coverings.

They don’t think they make an aerosol product however I don’t understand why you would want all that mess of over-spray. Get yourself a nice rolling pole, ½ inch roller cover (I always use Purdy products), a rolling bucket and a 2 ½ inch latex brush. Make sure the brush is NOT for oil paint. Pour yourself some paint into the bucket and cut the room in. Seeing that it’s primer you don’t have to be perfect, just watch for drips. You really don’t have to cut the corners more than an inch or so on either side as your just going to roll into the corner as close as you can without hitting the other wall. Trust me you don’t want to deal with spraying. It’s not going to save you any more time.

[This message has been edited by sungen99 (edited April 17, 2003).]

I would not go with the aerosol spray either as it would be expensive and not save time. Plus the aerosols are solvent based and there would be alot of bad fumes from that much spraying.
You can use a latex drywall primer if the finish will be flat or acrylic undercoater if the finish will be satin, eggshell or semi-gloss. Be sure to cover the walls evenly with the primer as this will make a difference in the finished product.

Kilz does sell their primer in aerosol spray cans.

Moreover, with all due respect to the other two posts, I do think you have the right idea in wanting to spray instead of brush corners. I actually prefer spraying paint, altogether, with either a compressor sprayer or a Wagner Power Sprayer. Although you do need to protect from overspray, it is not much different than protecting from drips and spills from a roller or brush.

Most importantly, spraying reduces painting time in half. Some of that saved time is lost cleaning the spray gun, but it still amounts to less time. The coverage is also better and more uniform.