Before starting work on cleaning the heating radiator from paint, it is necessary to prepare the room. It is best to clean the paint before the work on finishing the walls, ceiling and floor begins, since the process of removing the old coating from a metal surface is associated with the formation of dust and dirt, which, under the influence of electromechanical tools, fly apart over a long distance.
If the work has to be done in an already finished room, the walls and floor should be covered with cardboard sheets and plastic wrap. When using thermal or chemical surface treatment, it is necessary to provide for the possibility of effective ventilation.
The best option for handling a battery is to disassemble it. The removed radiator is taken to the street and already there they begin to remove the old coating in any of the possible ways - the sandblasting apparatus is particularly effective, which is able to quickly and efficiently rid the metal surface of any kind of paint.
To work at home, the master will need to cook:
- respirator;
- protective glasses;
- thick thread gloves (if processing is carried out chemically, you need to purchase thick rubber gloves).
Before starting work, it is recommended to disconnect the radiator from the heating system and thoroughly wash the battery, as dust and dirt will make it difficult to remove the paint.
Methods for removing old paint
In order to decide how to remove old paint from the heating battery, you should first consider all the ways in which you can do this job yourself.
To clean the metal surface of radiators from old paint, three methods are used:
- Mechanical.
- Chemical.
- Thermal.
There is no single correct method, and therefore, before cleaning the surface, the conditions for the performance of work and the availability of special devices should be taken into account.
In some cases, it is possible to combine surface treatment methods (batteries in the rooms are dismantled and thermally cleaned, and heated towel rail pipes in the bathroom are processed chemically).
Mechanical
The mechanical method is the most time-consuming, so you should not count on a quick result. How to clean a cast iron battery from old paint with a minimum expenditure of time and energy? The most reliable way is the use of an electric drill with a hard nozzle to remove enamel or oil paint.
This tool processes the maximum radiator area, after which small areas are manually cleaned with sandpaper with medium grain, a spatula or a metal sponge.
Instead of a drill, you can use a grinder with a special nozzle - a kratsovka, or a manual grinder with an abrasive nozzle.
Chemical
To remove paint from a metal surface, it is not necessary to process it with abrasive tools for a long time.In construction stores, you can purchase special chemicals to soften the old paintwork.
Before dissolving old paint on batteries, you should carefully prepare:
- provide for the possibility of effective ventilation of the room;
- prepare a respirator, thick rubber gloves and safety glasses.
Paint thinners are very corrosive chemicals and, if exposed to exposed skin or eyes, can cause serious injury. Affected areas should be washed with plenty of running water.
To remove paint, do the following:
- 50-100 ml of solvent are poured into the container;
- using a brush, the liquid is applied to the radiator, while it is necessary to carefully treat the inside, for this I use a brush with a curved handle;
- according to the instructions, the time required to soften the paintwork is maintained; surface readiness for cleaning is usually determined by the appearance of flakes and delaminations;
- to clean the surface of the radiator from the previous paint should be a metal spatula of medium size, to clean the inner fins, you can use a narrow spatula;
- full cleaning is carried out with a brush with a metal pile.
Before starting work with the use of chemical solutions, thoroughly rinse the battery from dust and dirt. Such preparation will greatly facilitate the dissolution of the previous coating.
There is an option for filling solvent into spray cans.Using such a tool, one should more carefully approach the protection of walls and flooring.
Before painting the batteries, the cleaned surface must be washed, dried and treated with a primer for metal.
Thermal
Before removing old paint from the heating battery using devices for heating the surface, you need to prepare the appropriate tools:
- building hair dryer.
- metal wire.
- spatulas of different sizes.
- a rag.
Thus, cleaning the radiator in the apartment without removing it will not work. With the thermal method, the battery must be dismantled, and work is performed on the street.
If the conditions do not allow to dismantle the battery, as well as when processing stationary pipes, to carry out work with a construction hairdryer, it is necessary to arrange wall protection. Usually the surface is covered with thick cardboard.
The process of removing paint occurs in the following sequence:
- Use a hairdryer or blowtorch to heat up the old paintwork on the radiator until bubbles appear. The paint will begin to peel off, which means readiness for cleaning;
- The paint is cleaned off with a medium-sized spatula on a hot surface, since when the metal cools, the coating hardens again;
- It is recommended to heat small sections of the radiator. It is important that the area of the battery treated by the hairdryer can be cleaned one time before cooling.
Before you start painting, you should treat the cleaned surface of the radiator with a primer.
How to remove paint in hard to reach places
Getting rid of old paintwork in hard-to-reach places is best done mechanically. To remove paint, you need to prepare sandpaper of medium grain size and a wooden battens. The thickness of the rail, together with sandpaper stretched over it, should allow it to pass between the transverse fins of the radiator.
If a chemical agent is used to remove paint at home, cleaning will have to be done with a narrow spatula.