Effect of Painting

Some busduct manufacturers paints the bus bars with dull black paint and recommends ampacity
margin to the tune of 15%.
However, as per Aluminium conductor handbook suggests following:
The ampacity of bus conductors can be increased for a given temperature rise indoors by painting
with a dull finish paint of non-metallic pigment. The ampacity of a single conductor can be increased
by 15 to 25 percent for the same temperature rise (-18,23). For example, the effect of painting a single
I" x 10" bar is to increase the ampacity about 15 percent. As multiple bars are added, the percentage
drops off since the effect of improved emissivity applies only to the outside surfaces. This leads one to
consider that it is more desirable to paint the outside bars of multiple ac bar buses than dc buses since
the outer bars in an ac system tend to run hotter than the inner bars because of skin effect. Painting of
the outer bars very closely equalizes the temperature differential for four bar ac buses.
Further, suggestion on this same issue from Copper Development association is as under:
In some countries it is common practice to attempt to increase emissivity to improve the dissipation
by radiation by treating the surface of busbars, for example by painting them black. Since the natural
emissivity of a copper bar that has been in use for even a short time will be above 0.5 and probably
approaching 0.7, the benefit of increasing it to 0.9, although positive, will be small. On the negative
side, the paint layer acts as an insulator, reducing the efficiency of the convection process. In general,
painting will give little increase and possibly a reduction in the current-carrying capacity of a busbar
for a given working temperature. Painting may be worthwhile for very wide bars (where convection is
less effective) operating at large temperature rises (where radiation is more effective).