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I have a gas range (gas stove - indoor) for cooking, and the metal grate that goes over the top has some areas of rust.

If I was to sand down the rusty areas, would it be advisable to paint it with a high-temperature rated paint, such as Rutland 1200 Degree Brush-on Stove Paint or Black Porcelain Repair Enamel?

rusty grill to be painted

The main concern I have is not about the effectiveness of the paint product at adhering, but the safety considerations of having a paint in contact with a flame when preparing food in a pot on-top.

CJBS
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3 Answers3

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Given the direct flame exposure, and that the flames are actually quite a bit hotter than BBQ paint is rated for (1950C for natural gas, 2392C for propane) I'd suggest sticking to clean, coat with vegetable oil (wipe on a thin layer) and bake. This makes a pretty good finish, and does not involve anything that's not going to happen in normal food preparation as far as "what might burn off."

Wikipedia on flame temperatures. These are probably a touch high for "in practice", but given that they are also in Celsius, and the grill paint is rated in Farenheit, I'll stick with "grill paint will burn off."

Ecnerwal
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    This is what I'm looking for - and explains why I've seen mixed responses (elsewhere online) about whether sing BBQ grill paint is appropriate. Clearly if the flame temperature of natural gas is hotter than that rated on the grill paint, then it's likely to burn off - and possibly release some toxic gas in the process. That's what I don't want. So I think I'll go with the bake-on-oil approach, also suggested by @shirlockhomes above. Thanks. – CJBS Mar 24 '14 at 04:11
  • +1 - not only will the paint not hold in the long run but how do you paint these to look nice? Often there are deep chips and you would be just painting the chips. Probably a reason why there are hardly any new gas ranges with painted grates now. A good question is if anybody has had luck in losing all the paint on the grates. – DMoore Mar 24 '14 at 06:36
  • I think most of the "coated" grates are not painted - more of a porcelain enamel (basically glass) coating that's fired on. As such, getting it all off would be a major pain. The oil-finish process is common from blacksmithing. – Ecnerwal Mar 24 '14 at 13:41
  • I'm not so much concerned with it looking nice (although that would be an added bonus) as preventing additional rust. I use the stove-top (gas range top) to place my wet pots and dishes on after washing (to dry) -- my main aim is to prevent further rust. – CJBS Mar 24 '14 at 18:19
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Yes you can paint them with high heat BBQ grill paint. You can find this paint at any hardware store, walmart or lowes etc. It is rated for 1400 degrees normally. Be aware, however, that the surface in contact with your pans will wear off fairly quickly. I personally would paint the grates, then burnish the paint off where it makes contact with the pans so the paint doesn't transfer onto the pans.

The other way to renew the grates is to sand off any rust etc, then season them with vegetable oil in your oven. This is the same technique as one would use for a griddle. They will not be jet black, but will be rust free and look like a professional range top.

shirlock homes
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  • +1 for the first reference to the oil-bake method. I have read about this before, but am not sure how long it lasts, nor the colour. Burning baked-on olive oil isn't going to be a health hazard, eithr. http://www.wikihow.com/Season-a-Cast-Iron-Skillet – CJBS Mar 24 '14 at 04:06
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Yes, the paint on the range grills is only rated to 950 degrees (hence why you aren't suppose to put them in the self cleaning oven).

virtualxtc
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