Stripping paint off old cast iron radiators?

[treedimensional]

Have you done it? Can you point me to a good tutorial?

It seems like a PITA and I'd hire it out in a heartbeat if I could find someone locally to do it.

[sierramist03]

I agree you would probably want to remove it and have it sandblasted and powder coated

[darkling_glory]

Yup. Sand blast them. You might be able to rent one.

[downtoearth]

My parents did this with 13 radiators and they tried one for awhile - ended up paying for sand blasting. Call local paint/car detail shops and they can get you a price.

[pitterwoo]

It is the worst. We had one that we took out and had sandblasted and powder coated (don't recommend the PC). It was so heavy and hard to move out, back in and reconnect.

Another one I used a straight razorblade tool to chip at the paint and then sand some to blend edges. It was one of those things that I just worked on whenever because it was tedious and took forever.

So both ways sucked. The rest of the radiators got radiator covers. Lol, that solves the problem.

[treedimensional]

Jul 25, 2014 17:20:16 GMT -5 pitterwoo said:

It is the worst. We had one that we took out and had sandblasted and powder coated (don't recommend the PC). It was so heavy and hard to move out, back in and reconnect.

Another one I used a straight razorblade tool to chip at the paint and then sand some to blend edges. It was one of those things that I just worked on whenever because it was tedious and took forever.

So both ways sucked. The rest of the radiators got radiator covers. Lol, that solves the problem.

Why don't you recommend powdercoating?

I know they suck to deal with. We have already disconnected one of them and moved it outside and just doing THAT sucked. I'll be damned if I'm gonna waste my whole life on this one effing project.

[pitterwoo]

Jul 26, 2014 6:38:23 GMT -5 treedimensional said:

Jul 25, 2014 17:20:16 GMT -5 pitterwoo said:

It is the worst. We had one that we took out and had sandblasted and powder coated (don't recommend the PC). It was so heavy and hard to move out, back in and reconnect.

Another one I used a straight razorblade tool to chip at the paint and then sand some to blend edges. It was one of those things that I just worked on whenever because it was tedious and took forever.

So both ways sucked. The rest of the radiators got radiator covers. Lol, that solves the problem.

Why don't you recommend powdercoating?

When we got the radiator back from being powder coated, the finish was a little light in some spots ( more towards the interior). These spots have developed rust, so I was annoyed about the execution.

We've found the powder coated radiator to give off less heat than before and less than our others. It's in the room that was already the coldest in the house and now it gives off less heat. I would rather have painted it. I don't think paint inhibits the heat so much.