removing green coating

[elvis]

I'm repurposing some pipe. It will not function as pipe anymore. I need to remove the green coating efficiently. Rapid strip wheels on the grinder are going to take forever.

Is the coating made from epoxy?

[JTMcC]

It's a sprayed on epoxy coating, meant to last a long time underground. There isn't a fast/easy/cheap way to remove it. Wear a mask if you have a lot of it to do.
Bare pipe would in the end be cheaper most times. Free, coated pipe involves a ton of labor and consumables to make it clean & bare.
You can burn it first, but it's still a lot of work/expense.

JT

[elvis]

Hey neighbor!

That is what I was afraid of. I don't have too much, but a couple hours worth of grinding. The funky wire wheel I was using was effective, but it was easily used up.

[jbillingsley]

do you need the whole pipe cleaned off? if not, just clean where your going to weld.

[elvis]

That would work, but then the finished product will not look perfect! Just a looks thing.

[fabricator]

you can chip it off a lot easier than burning or grinding.

[JTMcC]

you can chip it off a lot easier than burning or grinding.

I'd like to know what tool will chip off FBE??

JT

[elvis]

Haha me too! I made quick work of it with a 40-grit flap wheel to take most of it off and then clean it up with a quick strip disc. I was hoping for a chemical that would do all the work for me,sort of like removing hot roll mill scale...

[go2building]

Did you try a needle scaler?

[A_DAB_will_do]

That green or red epoxy is a mother to get off. Here's what I know works best.

If you can, heat the inside of the pipe to 300F - 350F. The epoxy on the outside will soften and peel off with a putty knife. You can clean up the exposed surface with a stripper wheel or flap disc.

If you can't heat the inside of the pipe then you can apply heat to the outside with a weedburner or rosebud. BUT, you need to be very controlled with the torch. The coating will scorch and the smoke smells terrible; it's probably not safe to breath either.

Heating the inside is best. If you don't want to use a putty knife you can use a wire cup or brush. BUT, you don't want to make a bunch of airborne dust out of the epoxy either. I have been told by a reputable source that breathing the dust is also very bad for you.

If you must grind, you and a friend should where particulate filters and use a shop vac with a good filter to collect as much of the dust as possible. Again, I don't recommend this at all. Much better to soften the coating with indirect heat and peel it off in large pieces.