Eggshell Thickened Up

[KS39]

A very strange thing has happened when I added a little water to a nearly full tub of Johnstones Trade Acrylic Eggshell. As I stirred it in the paint went very thick and firm and “bitty”, like clay. I’ve used this paint extensively last year to paint my living room, stairs and lots of trim and doors. No issues before, but did add water/Floetrol to help with keeping a wet edge as I found it hard to get a good finish without this, even with good brushes. But as I said, no issues before. The tin is about 10 months old but had hardly been used and was fine when I last used it. Why would a little water do this? It even says on the tub you can add water. I’ve maybe salvaged it by adding Floetrol to thin it back down, it’s far too expensive to waste. Anyone seen this effect before?

[dynamod]

What you're describing sounds like frost damage, in all honesty. If this is indeed the case, the paint is unusable, I'm afraid. Alternatively, it may have skinned over, and had the skin stirred into the paint. Sieving it through will remove the bits if this has happened.