Red Oxide Primer

[giggles321]

This is such a lovely colour, is it ok just to paint my radiators with this and not put a top coat ie white on it?
Can you buy the colour just to paint radiators ie not as a primer?
Thanks.

[buildersmate]

Red Oxide is lead oxide and has long since been withdrawn as a paint type on grounds of health.
As a colour it may well exist, of course, using colour pigments - try looking on the colour charts of the main paint suppliers at the DIY sheds who all do the mixing service.
You can paint radiators any colour, and indeed painting them shiny white is just about the worse colour one can select because white is the poorest radiating colour of the lot - black is best. I've never understood why folks paint radiators white and prefer a colour that fits against the wall colour.

[heathfield]

Red Lead Oxide paint was also known simply as Red Oxide. ''Red Oxide'' is commonly available today , but the difference is that it no longer contains lead. It's a primer and undercoat, and as such it might not be as hardwearing as a finishing coat. But there's no reason why you shouldn't use it.

[ChuckFickens]

sorry, little off topic here giggles,

I would very rarely question anything buildersmate says, but it really makes virtually no difference to the efficiency of radiators what colour they are painted. Firstly modern radiators are not really radiators, they are more convection heaters, secondly the colour of the surface makes virtually no difference to the thermal emissivity of a radiator, if it was in direct sunlight it would make a difference to the thermal absorptivity of it, but that is unlikely to ever be an issue.

A gloss or matt finish in any colour will make more difference for the simple reason that a matt finish increases the surface area of the rad.

[buildersmate]

Alright, guv, I'm only of simple builders' labourer stock. I'm allowed the odd mistake, innit?
But how is that a matt surface increases the surface area, guv?

[ChuckFickens]

oppps, my bad :)

matte surface even :) (guess I'm the simple one now LOL)

[heathfield]

Think of it this way, BM...Imagine the paint under a really powerful magnifying glass. The smooth gloss finish could be compared to a smoothed-off concrete wall, while the matt (or matte) finish would look like pebble-dash, because of the teensy particles in it that give it its effect. The pebbles create more surface area, as you'll know from using up a lot more masonry paint on them, compared to what you'd use on a smooth surface.