Radiator paint

nick z.

Custmer called me with a good question.They had a Rad. sand blasted and they wondered what would be the best type of paint to put on it.I told them that it had to be good for at least 200 deg. and the old "let me get back to you on that." what do you guys recommened?

John@Reliable

What I tell customers is this,

Oil primer and oil based paint to match the wall behind unit,this way it blends into wall.Takes a couple of hours of heating before smell goes away and light colors will darken alittle,PS use a "hotdog" roller & brush to paint quick

EricR_2

Better than paint

I have done several radiator refinishing jobs and I have them Powder Coated,the stuff is almost impossable to mar(lugging them back in) and you can get them done in a huge array of colors. My customers love them, never have to repaint.

Harley Soltes

High Temp Aluminum Engine Paint

I have refinished many antique cast iron
radiators. First I stripped rust or old paint
via wire brush and sandblasting. I then painted
all of them with cans of High Temp Aluminium colored
Engine Paint from hardware store.
All have been painted over 10 years and they look brand new.
This paint is designed to get hot and not fall off.
The radiators still look brand new.

John@Reliable

Harley,this is not the best color

to use. click on Hot Tech Topics and look for http://www.heatinghelp.com/newsletter.cfm?Id=38 you may be surprised! John@Reliable
P.S. the powder coat is really nice!

Harley Soltes

Amazing helpful reading, but I still like Aluminum color

I will file that info away for an instance
where I need to control individual rooms.
I am about to do an installation where the radiator is not
on an outside wall and will be giving off less heat as a result, so maybe I will try White.

Mike T., Swampeast MO

Traditional Radiator Finish

4 oz mica powder (www.siniopia.com) or BIG art supply houses, 8 oz boiled linseed oil, 1 oz cobalt drier (any art supply store). This makes enough for a large radiator.

Nothing fast about this, but it is beautiful. Extremely thin and you must stir frequently. Use an artist's brush with the ferrule bent at about a 30° angle and stroke only ONCE. Usually needs two coats about a day apart. Dust-free in a day or so, but takes a long time to dry fully (unless connected and the heat is on).

j_4

sinopia makes linseed oil w/cobalt drier

-great looking blue rad....i think i'll try it, since sinopia is 1 block from my house

Wayne_2

Paint

Check HOT TECH TOPICS.

Dan has a great article on painted radiators

LoriMae

Silver & Gold Radiators

All my rads are silver or gold in color. I am assuming that they are painted. Does this paint have to be removed? If I read right, the paint can reduce the radiant heat ability by up to 20%?

My first home with steam heat. Reading everything I can and trying to learn

Harley Soltes

Radiator Paint

I wire brushed my old radiators and painted with high termperature engine paint (silver) I did not take all the old paint off. The radiators crank heat out and none of my paint has flaked off (15 years). I would not think that thin sprayed on paint would have much insulation properties.

Rodney Summers

health hazards of sinopia

As you know, sand is a substance known to the state of California (and New Jersey, I believe) to cause cancer. Once your regulators are overly paranoid, it's hard to tell what's really dangerous and what isn't.

Not to say that this stuff is as safe as sand, of course. . .

-Michael

Mike T., Swampeast MO

Metallic (or any type for that matter) paint doesn't "insulate" the radiator. Metallic paints reduce a radiator's ability to radiate by lowering the emissivity (fancy name for the ability to transmit and receive energy in the form of heat).

Regular paints are almost always highly emissive. Flat is a bit better than glossy and dark colors a touch better than light. Flat black is technically the best for emissivity.

The emissivity is governed by the surface--it makes no difference what kind of paint is underneath. The only reason why you would need to remove any existing paint is if it's peeling and flaking. Wire brushing will frequently take care of any problems. Just do not use latex over bare cast iron--it will nearly immediately rust through! The bare iron must be primed with an oil-based paint!

Most modern metallic paint gets its' character/color from mica, a mineral. All of my radiators have been painted with mica paints and if there is any reduction in radiation ability, it is very slight at the most. In the old days powdered bronze was used. Silver paints are the exception--most use powdered aluminum but I do believe that mica is available in silverish shades.