Powder Coating Radiators; Yes or No?
So you’ve decided to give your old cast iron radiators a new lease of life. You love them but they look like they’ve seen better days, besides, you really want to show them off more and admire them as a piece of furniture, not just as an efficient heating appliance.
It must be said that having your radiators refurbished or restored by a reputable dealer is not cheap, however, this is reflective of the amount of work, the tools and equipment, the experience and expertise and the care that goes into completing the finished product to ensure that you get the results you were looking forward to.
Don’t be fooled by offers of cheap ‘renovation’; our workshop is often full of radiators that make their way to us for attention and repair after having been subject to that “too good to be true” cheap deal.
Cast Iron Radiator
So what are your options?
Here at Radiator Renovator we have a number of services available (terms and conditions apply). Please ask us for details and we’ll be happy to send you our service information leaflet
It’s a bit of a minefield deciding how to go about upgrading your cast iron radiators. We firmly believe that the better informed you are the better choices you are able to make.
Once you’ve decided which service you’d like us to undertake you will no doubt be eager to know what it will look like and how we’ve finished it off.
The most inexpensive method of finish is powder coat. This is simply because it’s less labour intensive as it saves having to get into all those nooks and crannies with a paint gun - The powder is attracted to the radiator by way of an electrical charge, it finds its own way to those hard to reach parts. The powder is then baked at around 200 degrees for around 20 minutes. We do have to say that we would NEVER choose to powder coat our own radiators and strongly advise you against doing so
Less reputable companies will use powder coating simply because it’s so much easier and cheaper – or they don’t know the product.
What are the main pro’s and con’s of powder coating?
Pro:
Powder coating is less expensive than paint.
Powder coating is easier to apply
Powder coating is harder wearing than paint
Con:
Powder has less choice of affordable colours
Powder coating conceals delicate pattern and patina
Powder coating leaves imperfections and surface bubbles around jointed areas
Powder coating can chip when knocked and cannot be touched up
BUT MOST OF ALL - Powder coating is likely to break otherwise good seals due to the baking process.
Faulty ornate cast iron radiator
It is the risk to the seals that we have to draw the main focus of your attention. In our experience around 10% - 20% of seals fail due to powder coating (we can’t tell how it’s affected the rest). It is a cheaper option but you need to consider this risk, the choice is yours. Depending on the size we typically charge an additional £8 - £14 per section to finish in paint but the risk of seal failure from baking is eliminated and in our view the finish is superior. A further drawback to powder coating is that we do not know whether a seal has failed until after all the work has been completed and a final pressure test has been undertaken. By this point you will be charged for the full work. (we did say we thought you should be fully informed). We never powder coat fully renovated radiators or any radiators where we have replaced seals. This is because we do not wish to subject the new seals to any baking processes.
If you do instruct us to powder coat in order to save some money (or maybe you just prefer the look or you want something a little more hard wearing) and a seal does fail, all is not lost, we can dismantle your radiator as carefully as possible and replace the seal. There will be an additional charge for this service and there is a high risk we will damage the already applied powder coat. You should be aware that the cost of repairing seals damaged by powder coating will exceed the cost of choosing the painted option in the first place.
