Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion WHAT CAUSES THIS TO HAPPEN TO A SIGN?????

WENT OUT TO THE GARAGE YESTERDAY TO FIDDLE AROUND WITH WHATEVER, I LOOK UP AND SEE ONE OF MY THERMOMETERS DISINTEGRATING RIGHT BEFORE MY EYES!!!! ITS PRETTY MUCH RUINED NOW!! NOT SURE IF THE DRASTIC CHANGE IN TEMPERATURES WITH A POORLY PREPPED SURFACED HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH IT. LOOKS LIKE SPEGHETTI FALLING OFF OF IT??? IT WAS NEVER A MINTY THERMOMETER, BUT I HAVE NEVER SEEN THIS VERSION OF THE FRAM THERMOMETER BEFORE !!!!!!!

MY GARAGE HAS 14 FT CEILINGS AND THIS WAS HUNG AT THE VERY TOP....PROBALLY GOING TO KEEP THE PORCELAIN STUFF AT THE TOP FROM NOW ON!!!!

Just guessing but weather related somehow. Out here in CA. it's the sun that tears them up. Are you on the coast if so I would say salt air. Everybody wants a CA car as long as it's 30 miles inland. LOL Ted

I saw a painted sign, look like your thermometer after some brake fluid soaked onto/into the paint. Happened in our trailer, when we were in a hurry getting the car ready for the next practice. We all forgot about wiping down the sign during the weekend and before we packed up to head for home. 10 days later, a good portion of the paint was bubbled up and in some parts actually had "slipped to the bottom of the sign".

I dont believe that the temp was the CAUSE of that, but may have been the factor in making it peel. Poorly prepped surface would be my guess, unless it was exposed to something like brake fluid like Bob mentions.
John

I washed an Oilzum 5 quart(my 1st one) last summer, no different than I usually do, about an hour later it started peeling just like your thermometer. Have you washed it or wiped it down recently?

HOOOWEEE! THAT NOT GOOD! I HOPE THAT'S NOT A CONTAGIOUS TREND!

I have owned this sign for about six years..... I haven't touched it except when I moved 4 years ago. It's bee hanging in the same spot for 4 years. Out of reach. Never thought of a fluid being splashed on it 20 or 30 years ago. Thanks for the input.... Just thought I would share this nasty photo!!!

Being at the ceiling height, was the temp. inside the garage very cold, then did you turn the heat on to the garage. I have seen here in minnesota the sudden temp. change will cause this. Pull a nice warm tin sign out of your truck from the auction and take it out in cold weather. This will happen.

If brake fluid was splashed on it 20 or 30 years ago, the paint would have been off when you first bought it. Brake fluid eats the paint really quick. Probably as Tankar says, the temp caused the problem...Dale

spider/bug *****.

Ok, temperature did not cause this. I am in Canada and my signs and the few thermometers I have are in my Garage or workshop. They are only heated if I plan to work in them. I will turn the propane furnace on 1 hour before going out. The signs and thermometers have withstood up to -45 celcius temepratures and I have never had this happen to any of them.

Rather than the cold, I would suspect the extreme summer time heat that would be near the cieling

I think temp changes & air humidity will cause that also. I have a sign in the barn that is doing the same thing.

i have seen that happen at the Columbia Missouri show one year.......one of the Minnesota guys bought a rare expensive sign & it was near -10 or -15 below........ after they purchased it they put in a nice warm van & the next day the same thing started happening, it was shocking....the paint just started peeling & falling off.........

My guess is that the cause is condensation (water) on the sign. If the room (and the sign) were very cold, and the heater turned on, you could get condensation on the sign just like a cold beer can at a barbecue. I've heard of the same thing happening to another painted sign stored in a non-climate-controlled environment.

Wes

I think this is,in fact,because of temperature extremes. Metal expands and contracts with the warm and cold temperatures. Enamel paint- at least the old lead base paint does not stretch and shrink with the metal and will fail to stick to it. This will create an air pocket between the metal and paint and eventually the paint will flake off. This was a big problem with painted highway billboards several years ago. Does anyone remember seeing highway signs with large chuncks of missing paint in the late winter or early spring?
Also, the old painted signs were often done without using any type of primer. A lot of signs were screened on metal blanks that were even rusty, thus rust spots under the paint.
If your thermometer was hung high in the garage near the roof then over time I think there could have been enough of the expansion and contraction to eventually cause the paint to let loose.

Down East here in Raleigh we call that a 'moisture sweat' ....... not good - Take Care !!!