Painting tanks

[vam302]

Some of my tanks are starting to show some wear in the form of paint chipping off. I want to repaint them, possibly even change the color altogether.

What type of paint is the best to use? If I decide to strip it completely, is there a certain primer that I need to use? Thanks in advance.

 

[vam302]

Nevermind...after doing a little research on here, it seems that the best thing to do is just blast 'em. Sorry for wasting the space

 

[peterbj7]

Take them to a hydro station. They should strip the paint off anyway as you can't properly check a tank with paint on, especially after it's started flaking off.

 

[JaredWaites]

So what kind of paint is best? I've heard that epoxy based paints are suitable. Anything that doesn't require baking such as power coating, etc. as it changes the structure of the metal since it goes through a tempering type process.

 

[FredT]

Aluminum tanks shouldn't be repainted, unless you intend to have a hydro test stamp THROUGH the coating afterwards before filling it.

Aircraft paint stripper will safely pull the old paint off them. There really is no point in repainting them as far as corrosion goes, and several good reasons not to.

 

[crlavoie]

So what kind of paint is best? I've heard that epoxy based paints are suitable. Anything that doesn't require baking such as power coating, etc. as it changes the structure of the metal since it goes through a tempering type process.

There's lots of threads and I can't get into too much detail here but I'll try to summarize.

Epoxy is kind of a misused generic term. Most epoxies, while very corrosion resistant, are not at all UV resistant and will quickly form a "chalk" face. This not a necessarily a bad thing but most folks will not like the way it looks. An epoxy primer with a catalyzed urethane topcoat is far superior in terms of overall durability and appearance. In a perfect world, you would strip the tank and have it cleaned and pretreated with a zinc phosphate coating prior to painting. Barring that, a vinyl wash primer is the next best alternative. All of these require proper spray application equipment including ventilation and curing.

There are many "low cure" powder coatings on the market that don't require enough heat to cause any change to the substrate. Their biggest draw back is application and processing / curing equipment.