Insulating coatings for steel

January 15, 2008 3:13 PM

Insulating paint? Anyone have any personal experience with such products?

I have a large sun room in a 1960's era home. The frame around the glass is steel. When I run gas heat in the winter the frame sweats like crazy to the point where I have puddles of water on the floor. I googled and found several products like this . I see "NASA" and, for what ever reason, think scam. Anyone know of a paint or other coating that can be applied to steel that will provide some level of insulation greater than regular paint. Any ideas will be appreciated.

posted by Carbolic to Home & Garden (6 answers total)

I'm in the process of having my house painted right now. I saw that Hy-tech site a while back, and when I was getting bids I asked painting contractor about their experience with insulating additives like that. None of them had heard of it. Some were willing to try, albeit at an additional cost. I believe they felt that the particulate size that they'd have to work with to accommodate the beads would mean running their spray equipment at a PSI that might shorten their compressor's life. Or something like that.

That doesn't mean it's a hoax, certainly, but if nothing else, you may have a hard time finding someone who uses it professionally. I opted not to be a guinea pig, unfortunately. This 100 year old house of mine can use all the insulating help it can get.
posted by mumkin at 4:40 PM on January 15, 2008

Best answer: Check out the forums at the Metal Boat Society. I live on a steel sailboat in a cold and damp climate. There are lots of ideas to beat condensation.

The easiest approach is to paint the metal with an epoxy paint that has micro-sized glass beads suspended in it. The beads have enough r-value to stop the condensation.

Good Luck!
posted by Fuzzy Dog at 5:23 PM on January 15, 2008

Response by poster: There will be no spraying. The steel is just the frame. It's basically a 30 x 30 room made entirely of glass other than the steel frame so any paint will be hand/brush applied. The metal boat references looks like a good lead.
posted by Carbolic at 6:16 PM on January 15, 2008

Do you have a humidifier hooked up to your furnace? It may be turned up too high.
posted by lee at 6:45 PM on January 15, 2008

If I had a gas heater that emitted enough water vapor into my living space to cause a significant condensation problem on cold window frames, I'd be concerned about the amount of carbon dioxide and (much worse) carbon monoxide it was emitting in there as well, and I'd probably replace it with a flued one.
posted by flabdablet at 6:49 PM on January 15, 2008

Might also want to look into the feasibility of squirting some of that spray foam stuff into any dead cavities of the metal frames. I actually get frost on my aluminum framed patio door, and intend to try this too.

Assuming that the humidity level is correct, you might be out of luck. I have to think that the heat in the room will conduct right out through the metal, no matter what sort of paint you use. Please report back any successes!
posted by gjc at 7:38 PM on January 15, 2008