We sometimes hear vendors selling a refurbished barrel racks as "almost like new and at a much lower cost" than new barrel racks. In the case of a re powder coated product this is really not the case.
Western Square build a virgin steel barrel rack from scratch that is sent through a five stage conveyorized wash and coat system. The first thing done in this system is to remove all potential contaminants present. These contaminants can be oils, soils, metal fines and even some fresh or blush rust.
After cleaning the barrel rack, an iron phosphate coating is applied and cured at a temperature of four hundred degrees. The phosphate coating is critical to endurance and performance since it acts as a sacrificial coating protecting the base metal. Powder coated barrel racks are prettier longer than painted barrel racks. Since a powder coat finish is organic, it will breathe. When a pin hole appears, any moisture will find its way to and through that pin hole. Without the iron phosphate coating under the powder coating, corrosion forms and will creep. This condition is called filiform corrosion. Visible rust on painted barrel racks still happens faster. Simply put this is a form of corrosion that will migrate under the powder coating and ultimately you will have a delamination or lifting of the powder coating, displaying rust.
With a refurbished product the procedure is most commonly to remove the existing powder coat using sand blasting or other blasting methods and re apply powder without the iron phosphate pre treatment system. You are then faced with a product that may look good, but hides the corrosion that will ultimately lead to premature failure. And anyone who has ever sanded away rust and re- painted steel can tell you that rust never goes away.
A re coated product is not the same quality as new and will display signs of corrosion much quicker than new. There is also the question as to how much metal fatigue is being hidden with a new finish. It would seem that replacing a barrel rack with a new one is a better strategy than the false economy of saving a couple of dollars now and perhaps paying much more at a later date.