new coating for galvanized pans

[akane]

We got some metal pans with our new cage stack that have rust and caked on urine. They were free and we were covering them with fleece anyway so I didn't care. My husband though wants to scrub them down with steel wool and put a new coating of something on them since sometimes the animals burrow under or pull up a section of fleece. Since these aren't under wire what's a safe material to spray/paint them with and then what is safe to clean them with? The chin forum had a thread months back on coating the pans before using them to prevent rust from ever happening but I can't find the thread. We didn't do it for our new pans in the other cages but we've been very careful what we use to clean them so we don't strip the galvanized layer off. Most of the time I just use water and dry immediately. Last time my husband cleaned the chin cages and used our green coconut based cleaner we keep for bird cages and items.

 

[luvabunny]

For the caked on, I generally leave the pan sit full of water for awhile (read a couple of hours) to soften and then scrape with a putty knife. Since it's so cold everywhere right now, that might not be an option, but soaking certainly helps loosen everything up.

You don't have to be too careful scraping galvanized pans. I had some that were scraped with a putty knife 2-3 times a week for 10 years and still never leaked or developed rust.

As far as coating, I would think maybe the rustoleum type sprays might work well, but I don't know how much your animals would chew them, or if it would be safe. Many items like that are, but some are not. I do know you can find an animal safe spray (paint) but I've never used it and can't remember what it is called. I just remember reading about it.

Lots of things you wouldn't think are safe truly are - for instance, it is quite common to use regular super glue to attach your corals to your live rocks in a very expensive salt water fish tank. Who would have thought? Probably just need to ask your local Home Depot or Lowe's clerk what could be used for your pans.

 

[HowlsOfAngels]

I don't know about cleaning the pans and removing rust, but an awesome paint that you can use is Rustoleum, a lot of rat and other small animal owners use it to coat worn powder coated cages and galvanized cages.

Though a lot of the people that use it also let it air out and set for a week or two before using it due to the fumes... so you may want to contact the company about that just in case.