Painting tanks?

[waterwade]

I'm looking for advice on painting some steel tanks. What is the best way to prep the tanks and what kind of paint should I use?
One suggestion I have had is to use a wire wheel on an angle grinder and to a two part epoxy paint. Any other ideas or suggestions? Or Concerns?

 

[waterwade]

Nevermind I just found Alot of info on passed forums.

 

[Air Head]

If it were me, i think i would sand blast the cylinder, clean it, have it tested and powder coat it.

 

[curve]

Powdercoat it

 

[Captain_Bob]

Don't powdercoat it!! the heat used to bake on the powdercoat will weaken the tanks it will not pass hydro, if I am doing a Visual inspection and
i see a tank that has been powdercoated I would condemn it

 

[Akimbo]

I have heard that there is a new lower temperature Powder Coating system but our local shop didn’t know the cure temperature or how durable it is. The estimate was between $100-$200 per cylinder depending on prep work for standard powder coating.

Normal powder coating cures at 200°C/390°F for 10 minutes. I have been advised by industrial cylinder suppliers that this temperature is high enough to effect steel cylinder heat treating. I would check with the cylinder manufacturer for maximum temperature exposure since it is process and alloy dependent, if I were willing to spend that much on the coating.

 

[AfterDark]

I painted my steel 72 because last hydro they noted it needed to be painted. It was a horror. I wet sanded the tank leaving a lot of the paint on it because the best primer is old paint. With the tank hanging I applied 7 coats of Rust-oleum primer wet sanding between each coat then 3 coats of Rust-oleum paint again wet sanding each coat then 5 coats of clear wet sanding all.
I put a mesh protector on it to ......protect it.

 

[BrianG701]

Soda blast it then coat it with POR-15 and the POR-15 top coat to protect it from the UV, I use this paint on parts for my LOCOST Super 7 and the stuff is simply awesome

 

[Ulfhedinn]

Soda blast it then coat it with POR-15 and the POR-15 top coat to protect it from the UV, I use this paint on parts for my LOCOST Super 7 and the stuff is simply awesome

Por-15 is excellant stuff!

 

[wetfox]

Maybe I'm naive, but all I do with my steel 72s is wet sand the cylinder, give it one or two coats of galvanizing spray paint, then one or two coats of a spray top coat. No heat, easy to do, and the cylinders look great.