Who do I contact to paint fire hydrants?

[BostonUrbEx]

I heard somewhere that people, and even whole neighborhoods, can request to paint fire hydrants. Who do I contact and what's the best way to do it? My town sucks ass, and the town budget disappears down an unknown drain, so there's fire hydrants that look like they're rusted shut all over the place. I want to paint the one between my house and the neighbor's a sexy silver, maybe silver with obnoxiously bright orange caps. Yeah, so what do I do?

 

[czsz]

Call town hall?

 

[datadyne007]

Yeah, town hall or the local fire department office #.

 

[BostonUrbEx]

Call town hall?

And talk to who, though? Some old hag at the front desk? D:


I'll try calling the Fire Dept. though, that sounds good.

 

[czsz]

Some old hag at the front desk?

Actually, yes. The older the better. Some of these people have been around for decades and know everything. They'll be able to direct you to the right people, or the people who can do so.

 

[BostonUrbEx]

Anyone think I could do the same in Boston? Would be interesting if universities could maintain their own in their school colors. I'll try contact the Boston Water and Sewer Commission on that one.

 

[statler]

Actually, fire hydrants are supposed to be painted based on a code signifying their GPM flow.
As far as I understand it, this isn't followed very strictly.

 

[BostonUrbEx]

Actually, fire hydrants are supposed to be painted based on a code signifying their GPM flow.
As far as I understand it, this isn't followed very strictly.

Yeah, that's clearly not followed in Boston, and it doesn't look like my town goes by that either.

 

[Lurker]

You'll want to remove all rust before painting.

Prime 2 coats, paint 3 coats, lightly sanding in between, and then coat any bare metal valve surfaces with marine grade grease.

 

[BostonUrbEx]

Yeah, I have no idea how to clean it without a pressure washer or sand blaster... It'll probably be the only thing that might hinder me. Will a brush with stiff copper bristles do the job?

 

[kmp1284]

Municipal property - I highly doubt the local constabulary will take kindly to some asshat artsy type painting "his" fire hydrant "pretty colors".

 

[Ron Newman]

Somerville has an official city program where artists can apply to paint traffic-signal control boxes. However, I've never heard of them extending this to fire hydrants.

Seems to me that fire hydrants all need to be a standard color, or else the firefighters may not immediately recognize them when they need to find them. Because of mutual aid agreements, the firefighters who respond to your fire emergency may not even be from your city or town.

 

[BostonUrbEx]

Municipal property - I highly doubt the local constabulary will take kindly to some asshat artsy type painting "his" fire hydrant "pretty colors".

Which is why I'm requesting permission first. From some searching it seems to not be all that uncommon.

 

[Lurker]

Yeah, I have no idea how to clean it without a pressure washer or sand blaster... It'll probably be the only thing that might hinder me. Will a brush with stiff copper bristles do the job?

Brass bristle brushes. A hand held grinder and a good pair of a goggles will make it easier. The brass bristles are softer than the steel but harder than the iron oxide. So the rust will be removed without damaging the hydrant. Use penetrating oil like PB Blaster or Liquid Wrench on the valves and chains. Let that sit a bit, then scrub those parts with brass wool. Degrease all surfaces, prime, then paint as directed. When the paint is dry, treat all the valve surfaces and the chains with marine grade grease.