copper central heating pipes - paint or not to paint?

[AL_n]

Is it better to leave visible central heating pipes (copper) unpainted?
Leaving them unpainted would certainly make mods of the system easier. I am
thinking of modifying the system (installing bigger rads etc.).

TIA

Al

[Mike Barnes]

If you're just talking about a few inches of straight pipe under the
valves, clip-on sleeving is the way to go.

--
Mike Barnes
Cheshire, England

[AL_n]

Mike Barnes <mikeba...@gmail.com> wrote in
news:d38tpo...@mid.individual.net:

Mike, Thanks for the suggestion. Are there any clip-on sleeves that cater
for right angle bends? The average amount of visible pipe in each room is a
few feet, with at last one right-angle bend.

Al

[Brian-Gaff]

Yes most paint changes colour with the heat or falls off. They have painted
the pipes in an office we rent and it looks terrible.
Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"Mike Barnes" <mikeba...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:d38tpo...@mid.individual.net...

[Dave Plowman (News)]

In article <mqnkfa$2n7$1...@dont-email.me>,

Brian-Gaff <bri...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
> Yes most paint changes colour with the heat or falls off. They have
> painted the pipes in an office we rent and it looks terrible.
> Brian

I used plasti-kote chrome (looks more like brushed stainless steel) on the
pipes leading to the SS towel rad in the bathroom - straight on, no
primer, just cleaned as you'd do for soldering. Still looks good as new
several years down the line. They are curved pipes, so clip on wouldn't
work.

--
*How come you never hear about gruntled employees? *

Dave Plowman da...@davenoise.co.uk London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

[ARW]

"AL_n" <fgdf...@fghfghfg.com> wrote in message
news:XnsA4F7880E...@130.133.4.11...

What is wrong with bare copper - unless there is a pd of 230V on it?

--
Adam

[Andy Burns]

ARW wrote:

> "AL_n" wrote:
>
>> Is it better to leave visible central heating pipes (copper) unpainted?
>

> What is wrong with bare copper

The wife of one of Dad's friends kept all the copper pipes in the house
polished and gleaming, very 70's ... but then this was in the 70's

[Andrew Gabriel]

In article <XnsA4F7880E...@130.133.4.11>,

Depends on the decorations near them.
In a kitchen with a red tiled floor and half uptiled skirting, I left
them to do dark brown copper colour, and they;ve effectively merged
into the background.

If they're going past a gloss white skirting, I paint them gloss white.
Gloss pain tends to make them look smaller because the sides of the
pipe as it curves around out of view tend to reflect the colour behind
the pipes.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

[ARW]

"Andy Burns" <usenet....@adslpipe.co.uk> wrote in message
news:282dnbfwmomG81LI...@brightview.co.uk...

Unless it's a gents urinal than there should be very little copper on show.

Small vertical copper stab up to the rad is all I have on show.

--
Adam

[Roger Mills]

The clip-on things are really intended to cover a few inches of straight
pipe coming up through the floor to the valves, and wouldn't be suitable
for your purposes.

Painted pipes probably look better than un-painted - particularly when
the copper starts to tarnish. But then if you do need to modify the
pipework, it can be a pain to have to remove the paint in order to make
new joints.

The alternatives are:
a) Make a feature of the pipes by buffing them up, and regularly
cleaning them to keep them shiny, or
b) Construct a box round them, and paint that

I've boxed in all my exposed pipework. It's relatively easy to remove
the boxes, modify the pipework to suit, and then adapt the boxes.
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
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[spuorg...@gowanhill.com]

On Saturday, 15 August 2015 21:04:41 UTC+1, Roger Mills wrote:
> Painted pipes probably look better than un-painted - particularly when
> the copper starts to tarnish. But then if you do need to modify the
> pipework, it can be a pain to have to remove the paint in order to make
> new joints.

Could you use a lacquer to keep them shiny, but would allow soldering through, as used on PCBs?

Servisol Plastic Seal perhaps?

Owain

[damdu...@yahoo.co.uk]

Retired Marine Engineers often had that habit which they found
difficult to drop after years working in ships engine rooms where
bright work was polished . It wasn't done just to make the place
look pretty, in the days before everything had a sensor it showed the
watch coming on duty that the previous ones had gone around checking
things.
A pipe that had lost its shine may not have been looked at for a
while.

G.Harman

[Tricky Dicky]

If you are going to paint the radiator tails then I suppose radiator enamel is probably your best seems to resist yellowing despite being subjected to heat. IME domestic management manages to do a pretty good job of chipping paint off the pipes with the vacuum cleaner.

Richard

[dennis@home]

Dulux satinwood is very good for painting radiators.
It doesn't yellow much when it gets hot and doesn't flake easily.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

In article <eadcf3c2-1c9e-42a2...@googlegroups.com>,

Tricky Dicky <tricky...@sky.com> wrote:
> IME domestic management manages to do a pretty good job of chipping
> paint off the pipes with the vacuum cleaner.

Cheap install. I route mine behind the skirting boards. ;-)

--
*If at first you don't succeed, avoid skydiving.*

[Chris French]

In message <mqnsv5$3d4$1...@dont-email.me>, ARW
<adamwa...@blueyonder.co.uk> writes

Older installations, and those in buildings with solid floors are more
likely to have more of the pipes on show.

Ours is an older installation (1970's?) in an in some places awkward
Victorian house. we have visible pipes all over the place
--
Chris French

[Andy Burns]

Chris French wrote:

> Older installations, and those in buildings with solid floors are more
> likely to have more of the pipes on show.

When parents' house was built in '68 they couldn't afford to have C/H
fitted, but dad being in the gas trade meant he fitted all the pipes
himself ready for rads and boiler later, before downstairs was screeded
and upstairs floorboarded - can't imagine an estate builder letting you
do that yourself during the build nowadays.

My own house, a few years younger than theirs has solid(ish!) floors and
C/H was retrofitted before I bought it ... this meant the upstairs
floorboards are hacked to bits, and there were three pairs of exposed
pipe drops downstairs, which I've since moved into less conspicuous
positions and boxed in.

Where there's more than 6" of pipe on display I've used chrome.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

In article <Na8p4Xcx...@familyfrench.co.uk>,

Chris French <new...@familyfrench.co.uk> wrote:
> Ours is an older installation (1970's?) in an in some places awkward
> Victorian house. we have visible pipes all over the place

Depending on design, Victorian houses can be easier than many to conceal
stuff - suspended wood floors, and internal stud walls.

But it all depend on how much time you want to spend concealing things.
Many simply don't bother. Mine had pipes (gas water conduit) and cables
showing all over the place when I bought it. Not anymore.

--
*INDECISION is the key to FLEXIBILITY *

[Cursitor Doom]

On Sat, 15 Aug 2015 17:43:05 +0100, ARW wrote:

> What is wrong with bare copper - unless there is a pd of 230V on it?

Looks very nice with a coat of clear lacquer, I think.

[AL_n]

and...@cucumber.demon.co.uk (Andrew Gabriel) wrote in news:mqo2a4$mdp$1
@dont-email.me:

> If they're going past a gloss white skirting, I paint them gloss white.
> Gloss pain tends to make them look smaller because the sides of the
> pipe as it curves around out of view tend to reflect the colour behind
> the pipes.

That's an interesting observation - thanks. So with my white-painted walls,
I might do well to spray-paint the pipes with rediator enamel, after a
quick rub over with wire wool. Does this sound sensible? (I hope it's not
nexessary to remove all the patina before painting, is it?

TIA

Al

[Andrew Gabriel]

In article <XnsA4F988D5...@130.133.4.11>,

I don't know how well it will stick - might end up scratching off easily.
Using a primer for copper would solve that (an acid-etch primer).

[rick]

My parents polished theirs with brasso then applied clear varnish ...
still there when they sold eth house.
White gloss paint yellows very quickly