Suggestion on how to cleanup a radiator

[Martin ©¿©¬]

Hi We have a central heating radiator on which the paint has blistered Tried removing the blisters with a wire brush in an electric drill. but this just left pot holes. Now rubbing down with fine emery paper which is doing a good job, but this is gonna take forever Anyone have a better method to get a smooth surface ready for painting/enameling please

[Phil]

radiators are surprising cheap so may be easier just to buy a new pre painted one

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[Brian G]

Martin,

This is a job that I have just done on two rads in the last week!

'Pot holes'! Are these in the paint finish or are the rust pits in the metal?

If they are in the paint - just use a 'rough' emery paper (60 grit) to 'feather edge the paint and then use a 100 and 120 grit emery to sort out the rest. If they are rust pits - it will probably be easier to renew the rad - as these will have to be taken back to bright metal and probably filled to get a good finish.

Depending on the size of the rad and number of chips, this can take me up to an hour to rub down.

Spot prime the 'bare' bits and then paint. As a matter of interest, I was once told by a technical paint rep to just use a couple of coats of gloss on top of the primer/existing finish (no undercoat) as this 'sticks' better (his words) - and I must admit, this has been successful for me for many-a-year with a good quality white gloss oil based paint.

BTW, have you removed the rad or is it still in-situ? I find it far easier to take the things off and sort 'em out on 'the bench'.

Brian G

[Martin ©¿©¬]

Thank you Brian The 'Pot holes' are just in the paint, so it is will just be a matter of feathering the edges and sanding generally The rad has previously been painted with rad enamel paint, the sort that you apply and then turn on the heating to stove, so it's as hard as nails. Probably have to use the enamel paint again, don't know if gloss would take now