Painting spa-flex

[OneReef]

Yesterday I painted my PVC pipe and spa flex with Krylon Fusion for plastics. I am doing my plumbing in a navy blue and orange scheme. The PVC pipes dried quickly in about 10 minutes. Here it is 24 hours later and the spa flex is still tacky and the paint comes off on your hand. Did I paint it in too humid of conditions ? (hot and humid here in the South), or do I need a different kind of paint for spa flex? Any experiences anyone had had in painting the white rubbery type spa flex would ne helpful.

 

[Hagisan]

Did I paint it in too humid of conditions ?

Possibly. When I painted my steel stand out in the sun the metal got too hot the the paint was tacky for a long time and took very long to cure.

The only other thing that comes to mind wuld be if there is any residue or oily film on the flex pipe that is not allow ing the paint to adhere or cure. But I believe you're using the right paint for the job.

 

[lunarlanderboy]

oh wow- I just had this exact same problem and then found this. It's got to be something with spa-flex. I spray painted the back of my aquarium, some hard PVC fittings, and some spa-flex hose- 6 hours later and the the spa-flex is still super gooey. Everything else dried in 15 minutes. I ran a fan on it for a long time and it didn't seem to help at all. I might have to start over...

 

[r-balljunkie]

ha ha, tried this too several years ago. never dried, had to go and buy new spaflax.

 

[lunarlanderboy]

yeah so weird- It was a bummer because I finally splurged and bought SpaFlex online and then promptly ruin it. I tried to get the junk off but it was way to gooey of a mess...

 

[BrklynArch]

I did the same thing, but rather than redoing the plumbing and replacing the spa flex just get a couple of rolls of black electrical tape and wrap it all the way up the line covering the sticky paint.
Mine have been this way for more than a year now, no sign of wear and tear and the tape hasn't lost its tension.
Don't have a picture on my phone but if you check out my build thread there are a bunch that shows how it came out

 

[lunarlanderboy]

that's a good idea- I'm sure there's no way that tape is coming off considering how sticky the Krylon was