Painting steam heat radiator

teri

Hi!
I have a 1920-early 30's cape cod and we have steam heat and the old radiator. The previous owner painted the radiators some pretty ugly colors. What I wanted to know is 3 things: To repaint them do I need a special paint or can I use the same flat paint (olympic)to paint them? Do I need to remove the old paint? And should I take the radiators off to repaint them? This is my first experience with steam heat. Any suggestions and ideas would be very welcome!!!

Firedragon_4

Go back to the home page here,

click on library, then on 'radiators', then on paint. More info than anyone could ever use.

Ken_8

Like any metal material

Loose scale must be removed first. Rust too.

Any paint rated for 220° can be used. Most paints today can handle that; both alkyd and water based. If in doubt, spray paints for cook-grill or engine paints are viable.

Wire brush and wash, then air dry in the sun and just do it. In thge 30+ years I've been in this biz, regardless of the paint type - I have never seen "scorch marks" of any kind on a rad - regardless of paint brand or application.

Keep in mind many folks paint rads the same color as the wall to "camoflage" them. K-Mart brand or "RL" seem to work just fine.

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

Mike T., Swampeast MO

Don't use latex over bare iron! It will rust through almost immediately.

If the current paint is in decent shape (just not a color you like) latex should be OK. Clean the radiator well before painting, and no, it's not easy. Flat paint on radiators tends to get dirty rather quickly and it's also very difficult to clean. Semi-gloss is likely a better choice.

Dean_7

Painting radiators

I recently restored and painted two of my radiators. First I stripped all the old paint off and (maybe this is overkill) had them sandblasted. then I spray painted them with high temp engine enamel (white). the result was absolutely gorgeous. it was time consuming but not that hard and well worth it.

Thad English

rads

Go one step further and powder coat those bad boys. You'll never have to paint'em again.

tommyoil

I did that

Thats exactly what I did. Lucky enough to have a bud in that line of work. To take it a step further, have a claw foot rad w/ tons of detail. Stripped it and had it nickel plated. I know its extreme but it looks cool with the mirror finish.

Mike T., Swampeast MO

Nickel-plated Radiator

Sounds like it looks great, but you have almost completely shut down radiation from that radiator.

Nickel shows an emissivity of 0.04 where 1.0 is perfect. Most other coatings are rather high in emissivity in the 0.75 - 0.95 range.

tommyoil

didnt realize

Went for the look here not even thinking about emissivity. The thing really throws the heat. I guess your saying it could throw more if it were just plain painted? I wouldnt consider doing this ANYWHERE but my own home. It really looks cool and gets a tons of comments. I guess I did it for the novelty of it. I wish I knew how to post pics. I gotta learn to do that. Thanks for the lesson. I'll file it in the memory bank.Much appreciated.

Mike T., Swampeast MO

It would probably give off more total heat were it not plated, but as long as it's still sufficient to heat the area it really doesn't matter. You're just getting almost pure convection instead of a radiation/convection mix--sort of like wooden radiator enclosures will do.

tommyoil

More education

Another lesson learned here on the wall. Thanks again Mike. I guess its like having an enclosure w/o having an enclosure. Wouldnt want to hide this thing. I got it out of a house where I also got a roast warming radiator. Ever see one of those in person. That beauty is still in the garage. I have plans to incorporate that into my kitchen when I re-do it. Guess I wont be nickle plating that bad boy. Do you see a problem w/ powder coating?

Mike T., Swampeast MO

Have only seen a few of those dining room radiators in person. Despite weight, they're in demand and quite valuable. Not sure of the exact composition of powder coat, but believe it's quite similar to porcelain enamel which has high emissivity around 0.90 essentially irregardless of color.

Bronzing is another option for old radiators and it lasts very long. It's a mix of linseed or other drying oil and "bronzing" powder. The name "bronzing" isn't the most suitable anymore as most such powders now use mica instead of powdered metal. It probably reduces radiation a bit as compared to most paints or powder coating. Lots of colors are available even if the materials can be a bit hard to find. Many different shades of "gold".

Here's a photo of a radiator I bronzed a few years ago. I'm not the biggest fan of gold radiators, so most are in somewhat unusual colors. Much of the metallic effect comes from lighting and your point of view, but you should be able to tell that it's decidedly metallic in character.

john_27

And....was this the reason that steam valves were nickel plated?

tommyoil

wow!

I cant believe youve seen a few of the roast warmers. The only one I have ever seen(in 30 years) I now own, and I almost had an accident in my pants when I saw it And this is prime radiator land here. I dont know if you've ever had the chance to visit Ellis Island, but I've been on many occasions. There we are, supposed to be researching family history, and all I can do is oogle over the circular rads.among other heating relics. I once asked someone to show me the boiler room there but they looked at me like I was a screwball. I think they might have showed me had it not been for 9/11. I'm pretty sure Weil/McClains in there. Its really quite a sight to behold. I try to hold on to the novelty rads. Nice job on the bronze by the way. Neatness goes a long way.

Mike T., Swampeast MO

Believe it or not, I've seen two (still in use) here in Cape Girardeau, MO, and the rest in tour homes around the country. Architectural salvage place in town has a pantry radiator (one of those multi-tier "shelves") for sale, but for the life of me I can't find a place to put it and it's too expensive just to buy. Have only seen pictures of the circular rads but have seen an angled one in a bay window.

Nearly every local basement I've been in where there is water heat with standing radiators still finds the original boiler--long ago converted from coal to natural gas.

Mike T., Swampeast MO

Seriously doubt it as it won't affect the surface temperature--just the level of radiation.

tommyoil

Come to N.Y.

You have got to make a point to get to Ellis Island. Youd be like a kid in a candy shop. I was.

Christian Egli

What a good radiator talk

> Seriously doubt it as it won't affect the surface

> temperature--just the level of radiation.




Radiator valves are either made of brass or bronze which has a nice gold color but turns green and ugly with time and water leaks. That's why they need to be finished and plating them is a nice and easy way to do it. Nickel used to be most popular, today chrome is more in fashion. Paint would also work, but brass and bronze are real easy to plate while steel and cast iron a little bit less. Like Mike says, the valves are not finished for radiation purposes.

The nickel plated radiator must be gorgeous, Tommyoil. Did you get the nickel plating to cover all the surfaces that are difficult to reach? Did you consider coating it with tin? the same way old hand cranked meat grinders look?

Has anyone ever used coal pitch on steam pipes? the same stuff that was used on cast iron water and sewer pipes. It's something I've long been thinking of doing because of the great emissivity. Tell me if it is a stupid idea.

My high-school had circular radiators on a hot water system, they were definitely the best place to hang aROUND. They were painted a shiny dark green. Ellis Island is now on my list of places to go visit.

The Henry Ford museum in Detroit also has circular radiators. They wrap around each massive concrete column that supports the roof. They are about 8 ft high and light grey. It's a nice place to visit, it appears that Ford had a thing for steam engines and boilers and collected them on a grand scale.

Looking at radiators beast watching TV, everytime.

Christian Egli

> Seriously doubt it as it won't affect the surface

> temperature--just the level of radiation.



Radiator valves are either made of brass or bronze which has a nice gold color but turns green and ugly with time and water leaks. That's why they need to be finished and plating them is a nice and easy way to do it. Nickel used to be most popular, today chrome is more in fashion. Paint would also work, but brass and bronze are real easy to plate while steel and cast iron a little bit less. Like Mike says, the valves are not finished for radiation purposes.

The nickel plated radiator must be gorgeous, Tommyoil. Did you get the nickel plating to cover all the surfaces that are difficult to reach? Did you consider coating it with tin? the same way old hand cranked meat grinders look?

Has anyone ever used coal pitch on steam pipes? the same stuff that was used on cast iron water pipes. It's something I've long been thinking of doing because of the great emissivity. Tell me if it is a stupid idea.

My high-school had circular radiators on a hot water system, they were definitely the best place to hang aROUND. They were painted a shiny dark green. Ellis Island is now on my list of places to go visit.

The Henry Ford museum in Detroit also has circular radiators. They wrap around each massive concrete column that supports the roof. They are about 8 ft high. It's a nice place to visit, it appears that Ford had a thing for steam engines and boilers and collected them on a grand scale.

Looking at radiators beats watching TV, everytime!

Christian Egli

What a good radiator talk

Radiator valves are either made of brass or bronze which has a nice gold color but turns green and ugly with time and water leaks. That's why they need to be finished and plating them is a nice and easy way to do it. Nickel used to be most popular, today chrome is more in fashion. Paint would also work, but brass and bronze are real easy to plate while steel and cast iron a little bit less. Like Mike says, the valves are not finished for radiation purposes.

The nickel plated radiator must be gorgeous, Tommyoil. Did you get the nickel plating to cover all the surfaces that are difficult to reach? Did you consider coating it with tin? the same way old hand cranked meat grinders look?

Has anyone ever used coal pitch on steam pipes? the same stuff that was used on cast iron water pipes. It's something I've long been thinking of doing because of the great emissivity. Tell me if it is a stupid idea.

My high-school had circular radiators on a hot water system, they were definitely the best place to hang aROUND. They were painted a shiny dark green. Ellis Island is now on my list of places to go visit.

The Henry Ford museum in Detroit also has circular radiators. They wrap around each massive concrete column that supports the roof. They are about 8 ft high. It's a nice place to visit, it appears that Ford had a thing for steam engines and boilers and collected them on a grand scale.

tommyoil

Headin' to Detroit

You come to N.Y. I'm going to Detroit. And yes the rad if fully covered. A friend mentioned/offered to do it. I thought it sounded cool so I had him do it. Never considered tin. It was never offered. That would look equally nice, I'm sure.