Heat pump scratches - how to fix / cover / touch up

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timmmay

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#248303 19-Mar-2019 13:25

A painter recently scratched the edges and top of our heat pumps outdoor units down to the metal in places. I figure it will rust more quickly if it's not protected.

Is there such a thing as a touch up pen for heat pumps? Or a standard color? The Daikin and Fujitsu are both light beige, very similar colors.

I could of course find color charts, get test pots, etc, I'm looking for something fairly easy.

neb

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#2201704 19-Mar-2019 14:24

I'd just get standard paint and apply it with a cotton bud, if you look at e.g. SuperCheap Auto you're paying $20 for 7ml of paint.

One other consideration, how old is the outdoor unit? Touching up an underage unit can get you into trouble, while paint is technically applying makeup so that's OK.

timmmay

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#2201722 19-Mar-2019 14:38

I was hoping there's something fairly standard for this. I have a friend at Dulux who can get anything made for me, 500ml of the right paint / color. Finding the right color (or close enough) would be the challenge.

Both outdoor units are 5+ years old, well out of warranty.

neb

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#2201730 19-Mar-2019 14:47

I don't think you need to go to that much trouble, you can get $5 test pots from any paint place (including Bunnings/Mitre10/etc) in any number of shades of white, just grab a test card/cards and compare them to the outdoors unit. Depending on how deep the scratches are you may want to use metal primer first, but that typically means sanding as well, if it's just a few scratches you probably don't want to spend too much time on it.

timmmay

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#2201732 19-Mar-2019 14:50

I'm looking for really low effort.

neb

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#2201765 19-Mar-2019 15:12

A $5 test pot sounds like the best bet then...

timmmay

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#2201783 19-Mar-2019 15:33

I was looking for a concrete recommendation really. "Get a test pot" is fairly abstract and obvious. Brand, colour, gloss level are the key information, with cheap test pots you get few options.

neb

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#2201842 19-Mar-2019 16:19

Resene test pots typically only come in semi-gloss, which I assume is what the outdoor unit is. So that's the brand and gloss level, the only remaining thing is the colour for which you'd need to get a test card and match it to your unit.

Even with that though, it's really not rocket science and doesn't need to be that specific, go to your nearest paint/hardware store, grab one or more test cards of whatever brand they have, and see what matches the outdoors unit. I've just done it with mine and Resene Half Sea Fog is a good match, so I'd get a test pot of that if I wanted to do my one.

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Dial111

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#2201846 19-Mar-2019 16:23

Well if you really want a bang on job than email the manufacturer and ask for the paint code and take that down to your mate at dulux to make it up.

Brand, colour and gloss level, no one will have that information other than the manufacturer unfortunately.

timmmay

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#2201863 19-Mar-2019 16:44

Yeah doesn't need to be perfect, no-one's going to examine it. I think heat pumps are likely full gloss, they're pretty shiny. Semi is probably good enough for fixing scratches though. I might actually email them for the paint color, because it won't take much effort to do.

Thanks @neb I'll check out that color if I can't find the exact one.

mattwnz

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#2201864 19-Mar-2019 16:44

timmmay: I was looking for a concrete recommendation really. "Get a test pot" is fairly abstract and obvious. Brand, colour, gloss level are the key information, with cheap test pots you get few options.

I would have thought some automotive touch up paint would work, although probably not too many beige cars. I really do wonder why some workman don't take more care. Would have been a 2 minute job protecting it with a dropcloth or something.

The heatpump manufacturer also may sell touchup kits, because it must be fairly common for damage during construction considering the lack of care some workman have.