Hello-

Wondering if anybody out there has had any luck with these UV resistant clear coats for protecting outdoor labels from fading?

Here's an example:
http://www.krylon.com/products/uvresist ... r-coating/

What other solutions worked for you guys to keep labels from fading for ~5 years?
Thanks!

Try using thermo transfer labels, they do not age outdoors. The label stock I use comes from Graphic Products.

Not true. Mine have faded out. And the glue tends to degrade over time, too. In a coastal Southeast environment, we get about 6-36 months out of them, MAX. Might work OK in some Northwest area where it's cloudy 300 days out of the year

And Graphic Products label stock is very irritating to use. There is an RFID tag buried inside the cardboard tube to force you to use their label stock instead of generic, and there is a little RFID reader inside the printer that Graphic Products stuck in there by modifying an existing off-the-shelf printer and having it produced with an orange housing instead of the standard grey.

The problem is that the RFID reader is very flaky. So sometimes it won't even recognize it's own materials and sometimes it will. So everybody I know of fights with this stupid printer because of the ridiculous RFID reader. Eventually you figure it out and carefully extract an RFID tag from the cardboard tube and then glue it to the side of the printer so that the problem is solved permanently. And on the next printer, don't buy it from Graphic Products. Do a little product research and buy the real printer (grey housing) which lets you do everything you can with the Graphic Product one and more since you are no longer limited to only the thermal transfer materials they sell.

I don't know what the brand name is but you can buy UV overlay sheets and I get them from a local printer. So you can just lay down the sticker (thermal transfer or otherwise) and then lay down the UV overlay.

I haven't had a huge issue with fading - yet - but don't have any outdoor labels that have been in place more than a year. I am thinking about buying some of this tape to tape over the labels and giving it a try though if my labels start fading:

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/e ... 394&rt=rud

Kinda pricey but one roll would probably do all the outdoor labels I have:

https://3m.pack-n-tape.com/3M-7070UV-In ... -case.html

The prep video looks like overkill for a 4"x 5" arc flash label though. I'd probably just wipe the dust off and tape over and call it good and see how well that worked or didn't work first.

We have been getting all labels printed by a sign printer (no kidding; it is a laborious process, that has been challenged several times but never superseded). The same agency has long experience printing outdoor signs for dumpsters and other equipment etc., and when we first specified these, a process with UV protection was included.

During the past 10 years a different label process was introduced not requiring specific UV protection.

Some of the first labels installed more than 10 years ago remain sharp and as legible as when applied, however; the underlying glue is sometimes not effective on corroded surfaces. (And just for the record, we have relabelled everything at these plants several times since 10 years ago, due to on going changes in NFPA 70E; it is when we encounter one that was not replaced that the longevity is apparent)