Painting the inside of water tanks

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Jeva

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Would appreciate some info on what paint to use to repaint the inside of steel water tanks. Obviously non toxic but also something that will stick and easy to apply.
Cheers
 
RichardS said:
Stainless steel presumably? Why would you need to paint it?
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If it was stainless, he wouldn't :). So I assume it's mild steel (hopefully galvanised?)

Personally I'd go for one of the epoxy products approved for contact with drinking water. May or may not protect the tank as well as some other paints, but I'd prioritise my health over that of the tank. Paint and resin chemicals are nasty things.

Pete
 
prv said:
If it was stainless, he wouldn't :). So I assume it's mild steel (hopefully galvanised?)

Personally I'd go for one of the epoxy products approved for contact with drinking water. May or may not protect the tank as well as some other paints, but I'd prioritise my health over that of the tank. Paint and resin chemicals are nasty things.

Pete
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Your difficulty is not just application of paint but time/temp of curing. You are going to need ducted air into the tank to achieve this.

Call up the manufacturer and ask for technical advice (not a salesperson). You'll get someone in a white coat who knows what he is talking about.

Get it wrong and you could have water that is harmful.
 
When I built a steel yacht, I painted the inside of the water tank with a bituminous paint, but that was many years ago and I don't know what is now recommended.
 
RichardS said:
Just hoping to forestall another one of those threads where all the suggestions are a waste of time because the full facts were not given in the original post. :(

(See Fridge)

Richard
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True but sometimes such threads end up answering other people's questions. (Like especially mine!)
 
I twice painted inside my yacht's galvanised water tanks.

The first time was using 'water tank paint', a one-part black bitumen based paint which I believe canal barges use underwater. Very cheap, but the water thereafter comes with a tarry flavour.

The second time with two-part epoxy - but most importantly, it must be "solvent free". The stuff I used was Altex AltraShield 2000 polyamide epoxy with a special thinner, Altex X-100. It was reasonably easy to apply - after all, what do a few drips inside a tank matter? It lasted many years, gave no flavour, and I'm still going strong, so it can't be that bad. It isn't easy to source in the UK, but International Interline 925 would appear to be very similar.
 
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Just got back, thanks for the answers. Thought it was clear 'steel tanks' not SS. The tanks haven't been opened in recent years so don't no what to expect when I go diving, don't even know if they need repainting, I'm just trying to be prepared for the worst.
 
I used an epoxy that is aquarium safe - basically the same stuff as for potable as nothing can leach out but a lot cheaper to buy from aquarium suppliers than boat suppliers (and I did thoroughly check that it was the same product)

I did the painting in winter which was perhaps foolish in retrospect because the supposed touch dry in 4 hours, usable in 24 was way off - I ended up just dangling a hair dryer in the tank for a few hours and that cured it off nicely but you will want to arrange heat and airflow in to the tank somehow to make sure it all sets properly.
 
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