# painting a propane tank



## jsheridan (Jan 30, 2011)

UFO, would this happen to be the fuel tank for your ship? I would suggest an aerospace primer/finish.:laughing:
Wire brush the loose scaling rust, prime with a quality oil primer rated for ferrous metals, then apply the finish of your choice. Or, prep and apply two coats of a product like RustOleum, or something recommended by a real paint store.


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## UFoPilot (Apr 24, 2008)

jsheridan said:


> UFO, would this happen to be the fuel tank for your ship? I would suggest an aerospace primer/finish.:laughing:
> Wire brush the loose scaling rust, prime with a quality oil primer rated for ferrous metals, then apply the finish of your choice. Or, prep and apply two coats of a product like RustOleum, or something recommended by a real paint store.


My spaceship runs on beer!
I asked at the Sherwin Williams store but the salesKid seemed like he'd never heard of a propane tank and didn't act like he knew that they have to be painted. :no: I don't think there's any rust, so I think I'll just wash, prime and paint.


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## housepaintingny (Jul 25, 2009)

Wash it, scrape any loose flaking paint, grind and wire brush off any surface rust. Apply Sherwin Williams Oil Base Kem Bond Primer to any bare and/or rusted areas. Apply 2 coats of Sherwin Williams DTM Acrylic.


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## jsheridan (Jan 30, 2011)

housepaintingny said:


> Wash it, scrape any loose flaking paint, grind and wire brush off any surface rust. Apply Sherwin Williams Oil Base Kem Bond Primer to any bare and/or rusted areas. Apply 2 coats of Sherwin Williams DTM Acrylic.


Easy with the sparks, sparky. Remember, it's UFO's fuel tank.
By the way, good to see you Tom.


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## housepaintingny (Jul 25, 2009)

jsheridan said:


> Easy with the sparks, sparky. Remember, it's UFO's fuel tank.
> By the way, good to see you Tom.



Ya, make sure there are no leaks first. Nice to be seen Joe.


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## mustangmike3789 (Apr 10, 2011)

jsheridan said:


> Easy with the sparks, sparky. Remember, it's UFO's fuel tank.
> 
> SSPC-SP4 Flame Cleaning- removal of all loose scale,rust and other detrimental foreign matter by passing a high temperature, high velocity oxy-acetylene flames over the entire surface, followed by wire brushing.:no:


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## housepaintingny (Jul 25, 2009)

Scratch the grinding. I sometimes forget I'm on a diy site. I have shrouds on my grinder that are hooked up to a vacumne that suck everything up and there are also special blankets you can use, but for a diyer its probally not worth the exter expense to set yourself up to grind, as its not cheap. We do industrial work occasionally and sometimes re painting of large exterior generator fuel tanks.


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## jsheridan (Jan 30, 2011)

Besides that Tom, not to disparage OP, but have you ever seen an HO with a belt sander? I'd be concerned that, in their perfectionist zeal to do a "great" job, they end up removing necessary thickness required to hold the pressure of 500 gals of propane. OP, I use propane as well, however, my company owns my tank. Mine needs painting as well, and the company says they replace it with a freshly painted one and restore mine for use elsewhere. I have an empty tank now and will have it replaced soon before refilling for the winter. They're not allowed to recapture the gas, so any your holding is burned off. Sorry, at 2 something a gallon, you're not burning mine off.


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## UFoPilot (Apr 24, 2008)

mustangmike3789 said:


> jsheridan said:
> 
> 
> > Easy with the sparks, sparky. Remember, it's UFO's fuel tank.
> ...


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## Bud Cline (Mar 12, 2006)

Hey Pilot,

You should check with local authorities first. You cannot paint a propane tank just any color you want. They must be painted with a light-colored refective paint. This is why so many of them are either white or silver.




> *
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## UFoPilot (Apr 24, 2008)

Bud Cline said:


> Hey Pilot,
> 
> You should check with local authorities first. You cannot paint a propane tank just any color you want. They must be painted with a light-colored refective paint. This is why so many of them are either white or silver.


It's already white, I'm going to paint it white again.


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## Bud Cline (Mar 12, 2006)

A few years ago a local dairy farmer painted big black blobs on his white propane tank to simulate his dairy cows. Authorities made him change it.


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## UFoPilot (Apr 24, 2008)

There's one in Florissant Colorado that's painted like a Yellow submarine. It's been that way for at least twenty five years now. :laughing:


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## 95025 (Nov 14, 2010)

UFoPilot said:


> It's already white, I'm going to paint it white again.


The question is what kind of end result you're after?

My family lived on an acreage for about 10 years. 500 gallon propane tank. I painted it once during that time, and it looked perfectly fine.

All I did was power-washed it, let it dry, and rolled on gloss-white Rustoleum. 

Was it the very best paint job that could have been had? Nope. But it was pretty darned good, and lasted a long time. I'd do the exact same thing again if we still lived there.


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## Blondesense (Sep 23, 2008)

jsheridan said:


> I use propane as well, however, my company owns my tank. Mine needs painting as well, and the company says they replace it with a freshly painted one and restore mine for use elsewhere.


Similar situation here. Our propane company owns the tank and told us that if we clean it, they will come out and paint it.


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## myowneq (Dec 26, 2011)

There's a small round tank by house painted yellow with a black smiley face. But I live in the country.


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## georgepiccot (Apr 10, 2017)

I know this is an old post but hopefully this information will help someone in the future...

For a 500 gallon tank, you will use 1 gallon of primer and 1 gallon of paint. As far as the type of primer and paint to use, I would recommend a universal rust inhibitive primer and either a silicone alkyd white enamel, blued white enamel of aluminum tank coating. If you would like a manual on how to paint a propane tank and what to use, I can give you one. Just message me.

Hope this helps.


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## georgepiccot (Apr 10, 2017)

georgepiccot said:


> I know this is an old post but hopefully this information will help someone in the future...
> 
> For a 500 gallon tank, you will use 1 gallon of primer and 1 gallon of paint. As far as the type of primer and paint to use, I would recommend a universal rust inhibitive primer and either a silicone alkyd white enamel, blued white enamel of aluminum tank coating. If you would like a manual on how to paint a propane tank and what to use, I can give you one. Just message me.
> 
> Hope this helps.


Not sure if this will post but here is a link to the manual...

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5DZ1NQxk8DMSzVhdU5ENHhzSkk


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