Cold Galvanizing

[Piston]

Hi,
I read up on old posts on cold galvanizing and I went out looking today for the paint. I found a few things and I wanted to get them cleared up. I looked all over and the only pain I could find was Rust-Oleum Cold Galvanizing spray paint. I read that you should get paint in a can so it would last longer. I don't really care, the paint is cheep $8 a can. When I asked the man in the paint department, I told him my intentions and he said the minute I got in the water it would start to peal off. ??? I was wondering if it would be safe to use on my tanks? Heres what the can says:

Contains up to 93% pure zinc in the dry film for ultimate galvanic protection
Maximum corrosion protection
Excellent adhesion to galvanized metal
Fast-drying
Protects in moderate to extreme environments
Ideal for touch-up repair of galvanized metal
USDA acceptable¹ and Agriculture Canada approved

The tanks I have are old and already galvanized but they have a few scratches that were made when getting them and it went all the way to bare metal. So I wanted to spray them b/f they started to rust. Any ideas? Can I use the paint? Also what about getting a VIP? Will they still aprove?

 

[teknitroxdiver]

I've heard of lots of people using this on steels. Seems to work fine. Just be sure that if you've got your tanks doubled, let them warm up to room temp before removing the bands, otherwise the paint will stick and peel off with the bands.

 

[TazTheSpaz]

Unless your galvanized tanks have very deep scratches, you should not need to repaint them. The cool thing about galvanizing is that it's "self-healing" - small scratches will fill in with the zinc coating and rustproofing will be maintained. If you have extensive or large scratches, touch-up with a spray can won't hurt a bit (just make sure you mask the valve opening:11

 

[standrod]

i use cold galvanizing (zinc) paint on my steel tanks and everything else...

if you clean the surface well and allow the paint to dry it should work good. it does for me.

marcus

 

[Piston]

Heres what I have:
I got two old 72's first hydros were in 74 and the other was 73. After that they both had 1 in the early 80's and none after that. When I was removing one of the tanks it fell and there is a silver scratch along one of the sides. The normal color of the tank is a dark gray. I thought that the scratch might have hit bare steel, do I don't want to dive them till I get the scratch fixed. Also there is "goop" from all the stupid stickers I pulled off. So I went out and got a scrubber brush and im going to try to get all the stickum and salt off b/f I paint. Right now there getting hydros. Is the only reason that the ZRC is recommended over the spray b/c of cost? I looked at the zinc values and there only 2% off, so it ant much. Im going to be doing a lot of salt water diving over the next two months so I wanted to make sure my "new" tanks were protected well.

 

[captain]

I use the ZRC Galvite and roll it on with a foam roller. It's about 30 bucks a quart but it goes a lot further than a spray can plus you get a thicker coating that is very durable. I buy it direct from ZRC as it is an industral product and is generally not found in retail stores.

Captain