painting pipes

[J Bean]

Iv got heating pipes running surface around my house that need a touch of paint... whats the best way to tackle this?... what type of paint can you suggest?... also should i rub down the paint that is already on the pipes...
what pit falls should i look out for?...

cheers

[peteftw]

the three coat system is: primer, undercoat, topcoat and that works for pretty much any bare substrate.

a small tin of all purpose primer or metal primer will do, then a coat of u/c, then your topcoat. you didnt mention weather it was inside or out, if its outside you'll need to use gloss as your topcoat if its inside you can use what ever you have done the woodwork in.

yes rub down any previously painted pipes and any places its flaked off dab in with a bit of primer.

to be honest if im doing a room and the pipes from the radiator to the ground are bare id rarely prime them id just give them a coat of eggshell but the way ive said above is the proper way to do it and it will last years if you follow that way.

[Robbie uk]

If your going to paint raw copper pipes then the proper stuff to use would be Calcium Plumbate, this is an etch primer that will make the paint stick to the copper and stop the paint turning green, which is what generally happens over time. Then undercoat and gloss in the normal way.