# Painting black iron pipe?



## gregzoll (Dec 25, 2006)

Prime it with a good primer. Then paint it with the same paint you are using on the walls. It does help if you are using a good quality paint to begin with.

The water in the system, will not be enough to cause the piping to become hot enough to burn any oil left over from the threading process. Just wipe down the pipe with a clothe & Mineral Spirits if you want. You can open the windows & doors if you wish. But as long as you are not soaking the towel completely with the Mineral Spirits. It would be no different than cleaning with Ammonia or Pine-Sol.


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## ToolSeeker (Sep 19, 2012)

Clean it very well they use a pretty heavy oil when they cut the threads. To fire the boiler will take a lot of it off. May take a couple times to get it all.


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## gregzoll (Dec 25, 2006)

ToolSeeker said:


> Clean it very well they use a pretty heavy oil when they cut the threads. To fire the boiler will take a lot of it off. May take a couple times to get it all.


The piping does not get covered with oil. Any residual at the threads, gets cleaned off, before they place the caps on, if they are stock. If the pipe was cut per order. Still it is not going to have any oil, but within maybe the six inches of where they cut the threads.


Firing the boiler is not going to do anything. The cutting oil will still be there. Only way to remove, is wiping the piping off with Mineral Spirits, or Isopropyl Alcohol.


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## TheEplumber (Jul 20, 2010)

IMO- I'd put some pipe wrap insulation on it- then paint.
Granted, it's tucked in a corner but steam lines do get hot to the touch


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## cj133 (May 16, 2011)

TheEplumber said:


> IMO- I'd put some pipe wrap insulation on it- then paint.
> Granted, it's tucked in a corner but steam lines do get hot to the touch



I don't see that 1" pipe being much of an issue compared to the 115 sq ft of radiation I have in the same room.


I don't believe in radiator covers, in fact I hate them.


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## cj133 (May 16, 2011)

After thinking about it I think everyone is right, the steam isn't hot enough to do anything to the oil. I was thinking back when I installed the boiler it smoked quite a bit but I'm sure the block and stack get far far hotter.

I typically run 1oz or so of pressure other than when I do a recovery in the morning and even then I'm limited to 4oz so I'll never see much above 212F.


Thank you for all of the responses. As always I appreciate everyone taking the time to respond and held out.


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## gregzoll (Dec 25, 2006)

That bare black Iron, will actually cause the steam to cool. Especially if any part of it passes through an area that is susceptible to cold air from the outside. Insulating it would be the best thing to do.

If that is a closet that is to the right. It probably would have been better to take the pipe across the ceiling into that closet, then downstairs. That way it would not look like how they used to do the old homes, that they would go in and install Steam heat after converting from coal heaters.


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## Marqed97 (Mar 19, 2011)

Cj133 - 

Are you the same Chris from The Wall over at HeatingHelp? I only ask because I remember the pipe and closet arrangement...

Looking good to me. I actually like the look of exposed piping done well...downright artistic when it's done right. 

Andy


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## cj133 (May 16, 2011)

gregzoll said:


> That bare black Iron, will actually cause the steam to cool. Especially if any part of it passes through an area that is susceptible to cold air from the outside. Insulating it would be the best thing to do.
> 
> If that is a closet that is to the right. It probably would have been better to take the pipe across the ceiling into that closet, then downstairs. That way it would not look like how they used to do the old homes, that they would go in and install Steam heat after converting from coal heaters.





Marqed97 said:


> Cj133 -
> 
> Are you the same Chris from The Wall over at HeatingHelp? I only ask because I remember the pipe and closet arrangement...
> 
> ...




Hi Andy,
Yep thats me!

It's funny because if I'm not mistaken gregzoll just told me to do what I just ripped out. :laughing:


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## Marqed97 (Mar 19, 2011)

That's what I got out of it too. I'm 'Drewser' over there. Boiler replacement in 2 days! And of course we got 3" of rain in 2 hrs last night. Found all the weak spots in my basement water proofing!

I have hot water, not steam, but it's 100 years old so I like it automatically. My house (and my folks' place) have all exposed piping. I think they figured the lost heat was better off being in the living space than in the walls. Harder to freeze in our subzero winters, too. 

As a mechanic I'm probably biased, but I like to have easy access to the mechanicals of the house ;-) 

Still looking for a residential steam system around here to check out...no luck yet! Pretty much all hot water around here. 

Andy


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## Marqed97 (Mar 19, 2011)

And for advice on the painting...I'm not sure what type of paint to use. I've always ended up using latex interior paint on my pipes...so far so good, but of course steam gets MUCH hotter (as you know).

As much as I'd love to have all my rads powder coated it don't see it happening anytime soon. I just feared the oil-based paints would stink for quite awhile. 

Best of luck!

Andy


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## ToolSeeker (Sep 19, 2012)

gregzoll said:


> The piping does not get covered with oil. Any residual at the threads, gets cleaned off, before they place the caps on, if they are stock. If the pipe was cut per order. Still it is not going to have any oil, but within maybe the six inches of where they cut the threads.
> 
> 
> Firing the boiler is not going to do anything. The cutting oil will still be there. Only way to remove, is wiping the piping off with Mineral Spirits, or Isopropyl Alcohol.


You sure must get your pipe cut different than we did. When I was maint. superviser all our buildings was steam heat and black pipe. Then we started changing over to copper pipe and brass fittings. Any black pipe we ever got had oil on it. A lot of the time we had to stand there while they treaded it.


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## gregzoll (Dec 25, 2006)

Toolseeker, I have never seen pipe soaked so much in oil, that it was dripping. Even when my father redid the gas piping in a house we moved into in the early 70's.

Personally I look at it as more of a hazard, and haphazard, if you have to use so much oil when cutting threads. That the pipe is puddling where you stand.


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## cj133 (May 16, 2011)

Gregzoll,

The pipe I just installed is where the original pipe was. Sometime in the 80s the previous owner had that removed and a copper run like in the diagram was installed inside the closet. This worked terrible and I finally got around to spending the weekend ripping it out and putting a proper run in. Our house is an 1860s house that had the steam installed in the 1920s. I'm currently running an outdoor reset system and have a maximum pressure of 4oz before the system is forced into hold mode for 10 minutes. This usually only happens during a recovery as even with an outdoor temp of -5F I was only seeing 1oz of pressure with a 72F set temperature.


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## gregzoll (Dec 25, 2006)

I had no issue with how you ran it. I just wanted to give you a suggestion, in that you could maybe place it where you did not have to paint the pipe. Plus insulate it better, to keep the steam from cooling so quickly.

As for painting it. Getting a good primer coat on it, always helps. Latex will yellow over time. Because of the heat from the steam. You may want to go to a local auto paint store and get some engine block paint tinted in the color of the walls. At least then, you do not end up with that yellow aged tinge.

If you go with an oil based paint. Then of course you end up getting the Linseed oil in most of the older paints, that creates the Glazed Doughnut effect on steam pipes.

The only problem I have with the pipe insulation. Is that ever some time, it gets damaged and looks worse, than just boxing the pipe inside the wall & ceiling.

As long as you are still open for any suggestions on this or other projects. You do not mind suggestions. Keep asking. It is only those who get upset when they disagree with something that someone states as a suggestion. But never states why. That is why you tend to shrug your shoulders and wonder what the root cause of why they never stated why they were in disagreement.


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