Removing emulsion paint from radiators

[jimbob_808]

Hi

I have several radiators in my house that are quite old, but all work fine. They have all been painted with emulsion paint - some with many coats. Is theer any way of removing this and getting back to the original finish if the rads - or are they like this forever now?

I have searched the forums but couldn't find anything.

 

[Watchmaker]

I should think that to completely remove the emulsion paint would be a difficult and time consuming job, unless one of the advertised paint strippers works on emulsion. However, I had some rads which had emulsion paint on them and, a simple rub down with wire wool, and a couple of coats of spray enamel, brought them up like new. In my DIY innocence, I seem to think that the emulsion was a very good basecoat for the final finish. I did this a couple of years ago and they still look good.

 

[JohnD]

Look at the price of a new radiator and consider how much your time is worth.

 

[Welstead]

My new home had emulsion on the radiators. I gave them a sanding and painted them with gloss paint. They came up nice. I will though put new ones on eventually.

 

[Zampa]

Take em somewhere and get em dipped..prob about a tenner each.

Youll spend that in paint stripper and wire wools...and plasters!

 

[Maffmoose]

Hi

I have several radiators in my house that are quite old, but all work fine. They have all been painted with emulsion paint - some with many coats. Is theer any way of removing this and getting back to the original finish if the rads - or are they like this forever now?

I have searched the forums but couldn't find anything.

I know that this subject is very old but just incase, like I have, someone uses this to get some helpful tips i offer the following advice.

I have just redecorated a bedroom and have a thing for brand new rads, just think they give a new/clean feeling to a house. Anyway, was going to by one for about £40 but thought I would give stripping and repainting a go.

I used Nitromors general purpose stripper (£6), applied three coats, 1 then another when paint bubbles followed by scaping, then another after washing it down to get rid of residue. I did this in between paint and plaster drying time. Nitromors removed all emulsion (4 coats of) and original enamel.

Then give a good, but not too ririgerousub down with wire wool and a stiff wire brush in hard to get areas (we've all got those in the workshop havent we?)

I then applied Plastikote enamel radiator spray (£6), two coats, leaving 4 hrs in between.

The result?

A rad that looks brand new. I compared with those at diy stores and could not tell the difference.

To recap.

Nitromors (green bottle) general purpose stripper 3 coats - follow instructions exactly for top results.

Platikote Radiator Spray - 2 coats, follow instructions for best results.