Painting cast iron fountains, Restoring rusty fountains

A. The best thing to do is have it sand blasted, Then a heavy primer. Paint it right after its blasted, it will rust up on you real quick.

A. Another alternative is as follows. Use a hand or power wire brush to remove the loose rust. Check for a Rust Converter [affil link] (spray or brush type). Coat according to instructions on the converter and then paint with an appropriate top coat. This stuff works very well and actually turns the rust into an oxide that seals the metal surface from further rusting. Not very expensive either. I use the Mar-Hyde brand and have excellent results. Hope this helps.

A. Try cathodic protection. Good luck and hope it helps!

A. First, no coating is going to be absolutely foolproof, because humans apply it. No disrespect intended. My choice would be a fiberglass resin, with no mat. One with a white tint should work well, based on your pictures. I would use two or preferably 3 coats, with the last one containing wax. Good fiberglass sources can easily set you up with this. Wearing an activated carbon respirator would be a good idea also.

A. I install steel cisterns for rainwater catchment. We use a product called 'Blue Max' by Ames Research →
It is really easy to use and we've had great results. We've been using it for at least 2 years now and have not had any leaking systems.

A. I am in the coatings business. A product that will fix your problem is Vortex Applied Coatings.

A. I am also looking for a finish to stand the elements. This company claims to have a product specifically for fountains called Permalac 2k

Hi. We appreciate the responses from everyone who has tried to help; still, this site discourages suggesting of sources or brand names for a bunch of compelling reasons ( huh? why?). Please try to suggest types (epoxy, polyurethane, lacquer, varnish, penetrating oil, single-component or 2k clearcoat, etc. rather than brands. Thanks!

I think Goran offered good food for thought with his posting about cathodic protection. You won't see a ship or a nuclear containment structure or even a water heater without sacrificial metal anodes, so it may be a simpler way forward for amateurs and home installations than using exotic coatings.

Regards,

A. Try Hammerite paints-special paints for iron (modified silane based-- www.hammerite.com/). Hope it helps and good luck!

A. Hi Andrew. I think the epoxy primer would be okay, as would fiberglass products whether epoxy or polyester based, as would the proprietary products mentioned -- but I agree with Goran's earlier posting, and feel that magnesium anodes are a big part of the right answer.

I think you would find sand blasting much faster and easier than grinding. Good luck.

Regards,

A. Electrolysis. Followed by drying completely and rubbing beeswax into the metal. It will turn a beautiful slightly glossy black.

I think you could submerge the whole thing by building a wooden tank around it somehow.

-Not an Expert.

A. Hi Christine. There are probably 3 approaches to slowing the rusting.

1. Purer water, lower in chlorides and sulphates, and less conductive. Drain the fountain, and use only distilled water or rain water in the fountain. If fertilizer, de-icer or anything else gets in the fountain, drain it and refill.
2. Sacrificial protection. Put a magnesium anode from a boating store or plumbing supply store in the water, firmly connected to the steel that the fountain is made of. Replace the anode periodically.
3. Coating the steel with paint to retard the rust. I don't know how this suits your aesthetic taste, but painting after a phosphoric acid (rust converter) treatment will greatly slow the corrosion.

I'd do all three. If it suits you to paint it the color of zinc with a "cold galvanizing compound", that would probably provide 2 & 3 simultaneously. Good luck.

Regards,

A. Hi again. Yes, rust converter and paint will get rid of the rust, but it will then be painted rather than raw metal. I don't know if that suits your wishes. And the repair will have a limited life before touchup is required; I don't know how long.

Regards,

A. Hi Christine. I've told you the things that I think can/should now be done, and there are 2nd, 3rd, and more opinions on this page. I am very sorry that this expensive artwork turned out so unsatisfactorily for you, and best of luck with it :-(

-- but apologies, I'm not going to get involved with contract disputes or lecturing an artist with after-the-fact "should haves".

Regards,

Cathodic protection Ted has posted a number of good suggestions. Here are a few more: (1) Pipelines are routinely protected with an impressed DC current. For details, see → (IMHO pipelines protect the public from accidents caused by rail or truck transportation and cathodic protection protects the pipelines from corrosion.) (2) Steel corrodes much more slowly at an alkaline pH. Platers who plate steel use this to protect in-process parts by dipping the parts to be plated in an alkaline rinse. Depending on the environment, the otherwise unprotected parts can go quite a long time without rusting. So making the water alkaline will almost completely stop the corrosion. (3) Rust is the reaction product of iron/steel with water. Take the water out and you have no reaction. So perhaps a non-aqueous solvent could take the place of water in your project. Tom Rochester CTO - Jackson, Michigan, USA Plating Systems & Technologies, Inc. Oxalic Acid [affil link] is commonly used to remove rust stains. Perhaps that might help. Then, you could remove any remaining rust mechanically, apply a phosphate wash primer, then coat with lacquer or wax. Yes, a lot of work. Sadly, it's always easier to avoid problems than to fix them afterwards. Dave Wichern Consultant - The Bronx, New York

A. When coating cast-iron fountains it is always best to first blast-clean the metalwork and then apply a coat of Zinga, which is a one-component pure zinc coating →
It will be rock hard in around one hour and will normally sit there for 30 years, because this coating literally galvanises the steelwork.
You can then seal the zinc layer with an epoxy sealer like Intergard 269 and then apply your aesthetic colour-coat.

People's Park in Dublin: before and after


I have used this system on public fountains and always with great success, giving written guarantees for 25 years.

A. Hi John. I don't think I can answer exactly where they should go, but after we agree that they have to be constantly wet, and you don't want them where people will notice them, and they probably can't go inside the 2" dia. stem, you'll probably attach them to the metal frame.

Luck & Regards,

A. Hi again. I'm not really understanding that description -- a picture would probably help -- but they have to be immersed in the water; out in the air would accomplish nothing.

Luck & Regards,

A. Hi again,
I understand not painting the inside of the 2" dia. stem because it's difficult or impractical, but why would you not paint or at least clearcoat the base? I can't foresee clear water with that rusty base sitting in the water. Unfortunately, fresh water isn't highly conductive, which is why you need active magnesium anodes rather than zinc anodes, but I think anodes are an auxiliary method for small amounts of exposed metal in tough situations (like the inside of pipes) rather than an alternative to corrosion-proofing the base.

Luck & Regards,

A. Hi John. A sacrificial anode needs good metal-to-metal contact so it can conduct electricity. Other than that it's probably positioned okay. But I'd take a knife and scrape at least a little section of it to make sure it's not coated, anodized, or treated in a fashion that is limiting its ability to readily dissolve.

Luck & Regards,