Do these tanks need to just remain white or can they be painted? I have a 500 gallon propane tank and a 1000 gallon diesel tank that would make a great canvas' and was wondering if it would heat the tank up to dangerous levels? Gets really hot here in the summer.
Painting 500 Gallon Propane tank
- Thread starter leswad
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Around the corner from me there's a butcher shop that specializes in pork. They have a BIG propane tank our front with a snout, ears and tail welded on, painted pink and to resemble a pig. The last time there was a big swine flu outbreak they rigged it up with a surgical mask made from a beach towel. I don't know if it's a functioning tank, and it's still a pretty light color, but it routinely hits 115-plus here in the summer.
I have seen painted tanks for years and they have not blown up yet!
Is it your personally owned tank or is it a rental from the propane company, that is the question!
Texas camo:
A urethane enamel like Imron would work and look outstanding. Urethane enamels are expensive though so a cheaper, easier way would be with the new latex DTMs. These two products won't fade near as bad as a regular alkyd enamel for metal. Don't skimp on the primer, use what the specs call for and get it clean before you do anything. If you have to use an abrasive to remove any rust prime it immediately after.
Also remember that a tank expands and contracts especially a full one, keep some touch up paint handy.
Also remember that a tank expands and contracts especially a full one, keep some touch up paint handy.
My wife told me to paint ours nearly 20 years ago. It's faded, but it's never blown up, nor has the gas company that owns it complained. It turned green & brown every year from the trees, & I had to spray it to keep it from being hideous. Now we don't really notice it, until it runs dry in the dead of winter. 
I think mine is a 350 gal.
I think mine is a 350 gal.Attachments
Is the tank owned or leased?
CAJUNLAWYER
Member
Absolutely would NOT paint it-reason is patently obvious
There's one on the South side of Tampa bay, a few miles South of the skyway that's painted to look like a yellow submarine. You can see it from the interstate. I always thought it looked pretty cool. Probably not a leased/rented tank though.
They won't blow up. They are equipped with a pressure relief valve to keep that from happening.
Paint it!
Paint it!
vonn
US Veteran
Might be legal requirements on propane tanks.
LNG ships' tanks are white.
The international petroleum cartel is about to build the largest LNG shipping facility in the USA right across the ship channel from my home town. (unless I can talk them into building it somewhere else)
I'll get back to you when they start painting.
The international petroleum cartel is about to build the largest LNG shipping facility in the USA right across the ship channel from my home town. (unless I can talk them into building it somewhere else)
I'll get back to you when they start painting.
Mine is about 70' from the house, it is a rented above ground 500. Tank is sort of in the lee of a hill so if perchance it does go BOOM it should not get the house.
Buried tank are quite popular up here in this rural forested area, many times they can be real hard to find fast.
And they're harder to paint. They don't bury LP tanks down here in the sand flats . . .
All the houses I ever built with propane tanks in Oklahoma had them underground and were installed free by certain propane companies as long as you signed a document to buy your propane from only them for 5 years. The propane companies won't do that anymore though unless you have a dedicated propane tank easement on your title so if someone doesn't pay their bills they can come over and legally dig and get their tank back. Without the easement they can't legally dig on your property and repo their tank apparently. For my own house I purchased an above ground tank so I could buy the propane from whatever company I wanted and am planning on building a small decorative fence around it and store bags of mulch and other landscaping junk. I've been planning on building that fence for 4 years now but I seem to be a bit lazier nowadays.
