Replace wall heater cover

[Higgs Boson]

At this URL:

I have posted a picture of the cruddy, rusted cover of my ancient gas wall heater. The other side opens into the hall past the open door. . Have HATED the looks of it for years, but It doesn't seem worth trying to clean and de-rust it. I bought the proper paint months ago, but haven't got around to DOING something.

Anybody know of a source for this type of Golden Oldie wall heater cover?

TIA

Hypatia

[DD_BobK]

If oyu have a local shop that can strip the paint & phosphate coat, you'll be already for spray primer & paint

or

go with powder coating, just be sure to tell the stripper you plan on a powder coat.

either way you choose do solve this it'll be money or time spent

cheers Bob

[Limp Arbor]

DD showed you the link and gave you good advice on cleaning it up.

or do it yourself:

[Bob F]

I'd sandblast it, then paint it with automotive "touch-up" primer and paint.

[Lp1331 1p1331]

If by some chance you ever found a used one that would work, it would most likely look worse than the one you have, and if the mfg. of yours is still around and has a new one, it would likely cost as much as a new heater. If you have a Habitat / ReStore, or similar,in your area, it still wouldn't hurt to browse. You just might get lucky. Otherwise, the easiest and cheapest thing would probably to do as the others have suggested. Larry

[Joe]

Some automotive machine shops have glass bead blasters that won't pucker up the louvers like a sand blaster. After that, Rustoleum primer and topcoat ought to make it look like new. If there is a heat issue with the paint, consider the high heat paints available at auto speed shops, for example.

Joe

[Oren]

I'm really curious, so I'll ask. Does this heater work?!

If not, I have some ideas.

[Tony]

You do realize that if you make the heater look nice and new, you're gonna have to fix that big crack in the wall, and the little cracks too, then give the whole wall and trim a fresh paint job?

[Nate Nagel]

you want the easy way to do it?

Get yourself some EZ-off oven cleaner. Not that fume free stuff, the "take your oven outdoors before cleaning or it'll kill ya" stuff. Remove cover. Hose down with oven cleaner. Let sit. Rinse. That'll get it good and clean, and hopefully take all the paint off. If it didn't, go to the auto parts store and get some paint stripper in a spray can. Repeat same process as with oven cleaner. (outdoors, obviously.) Now it'll be bare metal, although possibly rusty.

Now take an old plastic trash can, a piece of rebar or other scrap steel, some washing soda, and an old battery charger or low voltage power supply.

Follow procedure here:

Now clean, prime, and paint (quickly; that freshly derusted clean steel will flash rust very fast.) I'd recommend spray primer and paint for that application; brushed paint won't look right.

I've used this method on many really hideous looking car parts and they always come out looking far better than you'd expect.

nate

[Oren]

Near San Diego? There is a BIG architectural salvage store (near a new stadium?) I visited the store and killed a couple of hours. Maybe mail a pic to them and they might check their stock.

The name escapes me, but look for the oldest/largest salvage store in SD.

[aemeijers]

Ah, Sandy Eggo. Been there 2-3 times. Lovely city, climate to die for, traffic from hell. All the government-rate hotels in a little hotel ghetto, where you can't get ANYWHERE without driving.

-- aem sends...

[The Daring Dufas]

I like the baseball cap on the website, I think I may get one.

TDD

[Tony]

Sort of looks like that Earl character, or is that you?

[The Daring Dufas]

Naaa, Earl would post a picture of his butt, or is that his brother Randy who he could talk into doing it?

TDD