Painting plastic downpipes etc.

Hi

I have various pieces of external downpipe, waste pipe, guttering etc which are black plastic. Some of this has faded over the years, and I'd like to paint it if this is practical. In fact I *have* painted pieces in the past with ordinary gloss paint: it looks great for about a year, then starts to flake off.

Does anyone have experience of a product that is designed for painting plastic pipes?

Proper preparation by a good wire wooling followed by a suitable cleaner to remove all residues then use Plasti-Kote. Most good hobby shops do it.

In message , Londonman writes

I've only ever used normal gloss (Dulux Weathershield) at it's always lasted well. I've not done any prep other than wash down, but a keying with wire would probably help if adhesion it is an issue

I am surprised. I have painted grey and white wastes without any problems. I am pretty sure that grey waste is the same plastic as white (but white is different, and softer).

Try really careful cleaning?

I don't know if you can still buy it now, but ideally you want is what was standard oil based (or solvent based) gloss paint, top coat only, the stuff you used to buy before paint solvents were banned. There is no way this will ever come off, because the solvent dissolves into the PVC surface and solvent-welds the paint to the PVC.

I managed to buy some about 4 months after manufacture was banned by getting the paint warehouse to search for older stock at back of the shelf, but it's now over a year since manufacture was banned, and may be impossible to find.

Hammerite is solvent based. Not sure what the solvent is though. Normal gloss is turps based. I thought it was still avalable but unlikely to bond to plastic as you describe.

John

Look for gloss top coat which doesn't have the low-VOC label.

Normal gloss solvent was miscible with turps (so it works as a thinner), but I'm pretty sure it wasn't turps. It smelt completely different. It is something which dissolves into PVC, which turps doesn't.

It's a sort of cellulose base. I've satisfactorily (fsvo) cleaned Hammerite brushes with MIBK and similar solvents.

The solvent in the paint is mostly hydrotreated naptha, the thinners is mostly that and acetone.

This has gone off on a weird tangent... I was referring to the solvent in traditional gloss paint before 2010, not hammerite. (or are you're saying it's the same as in hammerite?)

I think Skipweasel was referring to the comment:- "Hammerite is solvent based. Not sure what the solvent is though."...

Nope, I was answering the "Hammerite is solvent based. Not sure what the solvent is though." comment. So it was about Hammerite solvent.

You think thread-drift is bad here - try uk.rec.sheds...

SolventRays!

The old enamel house type paint is turps based,Automotive lacquer both old (cellulose)and newer (acrylic) have solvents which will react with your pipe. But no one would use them on house pipes. We just use a good undercoat then whatever you want on top

In message , Skipweasel writes

So what is Xylene made from/for? Truck loads used to be common on motorways.

regards

IIRC destructive distillation of wood.

Nope, it's an oil product.

In message , Skipweasel writes

And for?:-)

regards

Making Hammerite? :-)

Cheers great help