brightening exposed copper pipes

ron

in an unfinished basement, copper 1/2" and 3/4" water pipes that are exposed at the ceiling, are 40+ years old and dark in appearance. What is the best/easiest way to brighten them up to make them look more attractive? Don't say cover with K-Flex insulation.

pecmsg

Brasso copper polish.

Had a restaurant in NYC that the porter polished the copper in the compressor room. It sure was pretty.

EdTheHeaterMan

Grit cloth and elbow grease.  Then spray clear lacquer on them to keep them from turning dark again.

hot_rod

dishwashing pads work also. It depends on how dark it is, Brasso alone works well, wear rubber gloves, or your hands will smell for days!
keeping it shiny will be the tougher challenge even with car wax or clear coat it will darken again.

mattyc

we we just started using steel wool and brasso on all of our installs. So far (about 6 Months) pipes stay shiny bright and all flux residue is cleaned off so none of the typical green streaks or corrosion that you get when you don’t clean flux off properly….I tested it in my own house first on some old pipe and it cleaned it up nice. As @hot_rod said. Wear gloves Bc the brasso stinks!

Tim_D

Duraglit

HomerJSmith

Ed, I've looked every where, Home Depot, Lowes, Amazon, for elbow grease. I can't find it anywhere!

I've used Tarnex and a scouring pad.

DJD775

HomerJSmith said:

Ed, I've looked every where, Home Depot, Lowes, Amazon, for elbow grease. I can't find it anywhere!

I've used Tarnex and a scouring pad.

@HomerJSmith Elbow grease is banned. Known to cause cancer in the state of California.

Paul Pollets

It seems to me the pipes should be insulated, not polished.

Larry Weingarten

Hi, I must agree with @Paul Pollets , My understanding is that shiny copper pipe has a much greater emissivity than tarnished pipe, so if the polished pipe carries hot water, it will lose heat faster.

Yours, Larry

EdTheHeaterMan

HomerJSmith said:

Ed, I've looked every where, Home Depot, Lowes, Amazon, for elbow grease. I can't find it anywhere!

I've used Tarnex and a scouring pad.

Looks like it is more popular in Great Britain in the paste form https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmopuR7a7O8
To get the High Temperature stuff You will need to go the the internet/

ARMSTRONG was the brand of Elbow Grease I grew up with, but I hear they don't teach that stuff in school anymore.

As @DJD775 mentioned, California may have banned it. I remember when learning about this new fangled thing called a computer. CRT was short for Cathode Ray Tube and WOKE meant you were not sleeping. But what do I know?

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes

I’ve just about had enough with the California bashing!  
We actually do a lot of work here, moving all the homeless around.