The heat gun. This handheld tool that sort of fills in the gap between the blowtorch and a modern hair dryer is surprisingly versatile, and will come in handy whenever you need a safe, flameless source of steady heat.
Having a heating tool is a must for more projects than you may realize at first – electronics, refinishing, plumbing, surface preparation or glass installation, all these can be done much faster with the right heat gun in your toolbox.
What Do You Need a Heat Gun For?
Paint Removal: Heat guns are often used for shaping plastic material, including paint – in fact, the ability of a heat gun to make paint removal a breeze is already worth the investment on its own. With a heat gun, even dried and aged paint comes out in neat strips that can be gently scraped off with a scraper, leaving the surface clean and ready for resanding.
Heat guns can be used for loosening tiles, too, in case you want to keep them intact as you remove them.
Electrical Work: Heat guns are much hotter than hand dryers, and the heat is often enough to melt materials with low melting points. This makes heat guns especially useful in electronics, with their ability to melt and remove solder. On lower settings, heat guns are also able to cinch heat shrinking cables and straps. Taking the time to put on heat shrinking cables leaves your splices looking much neater than just covering them up with electrical tape.
Heat guns are also useful whenever there’s something that needs reshaping, like making tar roofing hips and tarps, welding plastic sheets, or bending PVC pipes and conduits. In the garage, you will also find a heat gun handy for things like removing and re-installing window tint and cleaning trim to bring back their black glossy shine.
Around the house, heat guns will let you thaw frozen pipes, dry out damp wood, close up shrink wrap packaging and shrink film, patch vinyl, and leather, or reupholster furniture. A heat gun is a tool with a hundred and one uses, and you may even discover a new use yourself!
Choosing a Type of Heat Gun
Heat guns are mostly classified by their power source, and you have two major choices in the market as it is today: gas powered cordless heat guns or electric corded heat guns. Aside from these two choices, you can also have infrared heat guns or industrial heat guns.
Gas Powered Heat Guns
Gas powered heat guns are compact, inexpensive, and you can carry them just about everywhere. For their price, they are surprisingly effective, in fact, many industrial heat gun models are upscale versions of your basic gas powered heat guns.
These guns, while they use butane or propane for fuel, are still flameless heat guns. Many models are refillable with the same butane that you use for lighters, and even the mini heat guns are easily capable of temperatures exceeding 600 degrees Celsius.
Features to Look for In Gas Powered Heat Guns
- Piezo electronic ignition systems make turning on a gas powered heat gun convenient, with the tool coming on at a press of a button almost every time.
- Windproof heating elements let you ignite the butane fuel even in a stiff wind.
- Waterproof ignition keeps the tool functional even after being exposed to rain or snow.
- Refillable butane or propane fuel cells not only make refilling convenient, while it also lets you carry extra fuel in ready form.
- A safety locking switch keeps you from accidentally turning on the heat gun while it’s inside a soft bag with other things.
One issue with gas powered heat guns is, as the case with other gas powered devices, they should not be used in places with open flames, sparks, or a naked power line.
Electric Heat Guns
Electric heat guns are your mainstream choice when it comes to your heating tools. They are similar to glue guns in that they also come in mini-gun forms or even pen forms for use in small projects and shrink wrapping items, as well as the regular-sized form which are powerful enough for bending pipes and desoldering electronics.
There are also larger models that are built for continuous use, like in the case of stripping paint or re-upholstering large pieces of furniture.
Features to Look For In Electric Heat Guns
- Temperature setting features let you use the heat gun for a wider variety of materials. Some heat guns come with dual-temperature controls, while a few others come with more.
- Flat backed housings and Integrated stands let you put the tool down without the hot nozzle touching the surface.
Some heat guns can also be placed on a surface such that the nozzle point directly upwards, which lets you handle the material to be heated with both hands. Very handy if you are bending and shaping a lot of pipes using your heat gun. - Integrated LCD display shows the temperature that the heat gun has reached, while also letting you adjust the temperature using a touchscreen.
- Built-in overload protection shuts the heating element down in case of overheating, which can help prevent fires.
- Ergonomic grip lets you comfortably hold on the tool longer.
- Accessories, like nozzles and scrapers included with the tool, let you use the heat gun for a variety of applications.
Infrared Heat Guns / Speedheater Infrared Guns
Unlike most heat guns that use an electric heating element to heat up a current of air, infrared heat guns use infrared waves to transfer heat and energy to the target surface. These guns are relatively new compared to classic heat guns, and they come in handy in certain situations.
Infrared heat guns give off lower heat, with most models topping out at 315 degrees Celsius (599 degrees F) or so at most. What the infrared gun lacks in heating power, it makes up for in flexibility – you can control the exact temperature of the infrared heater and the output responds almost immediately.
This lets you use the gun on some temperature-sensitive applications – stripping lead paint, for example. Stripping lead paint with an ordinary heat gun will cause it to vaporize and expose the user to toxic fumes, while a speedheater will tend to avoid that hazard.
Industrial Heat Guns
These are just like your good old mini heat gun you use for stripping paint, but made with components that will hold up better over continuous use at a very high power setting. Industrial heat guns are made to deliver power and heat accuracy, and most models give you fine control the temperature down to 12 degree Celsius (around 50 degrees F) increments or finer.
These are designed for contractors that need to continuously heat large areas at a time. Industrial heat guns are perfect for roofing applications that require welding a lot of plastic tarpaulin and shaping tar roofing materials, and make quick work of it, too.
Most industrial heat guns used for onsite jobs are the corded electric type, and some assembly plants use larger industrial gas powered heat guns as well.
Features to Look For In Industrial Heat Guns
- Fine temperature control lets you tune the heat output to match the material you will be using the heat gun on, for consistent results.
- Heat setting memory programs let you store and recall heat setting configurations, letting you switch from one task to another instantly.
- Brushless electric motors are more power efficient and deliver maintenance-free performance for years.
- LCD information display lets you see air flow, temperature and the current program at a glance.
- A fine dust filter protects the air intake and electronics of the heat gun from dusty worksite conditions.
- A carrying case makes it easier for you to carry the heat gun as well as all the accessories that come with it in one convenient bag, which is always appreciated.
How To Compare Heat Guns
Heat guns are relatively simple tools, and comparing two similar models is often straightforward. When it comes to heat guns, you want to have one with the right temperature and air flow for the tasks you need to do.
Temperature and Temperature Settings
The simplest of heat guns can only go to one temperature – the temp that they can manage to bring the heating element up to. Most simple gas powered heat guns are capable of 340 degrees Celsius (644 degrees F) or so, which is enough for applying shrink wrap, applique and shrink tubes.
Electric corded heat guns, on the other hand, can do 600 degrees Celsius (around 1,100 degrees F) or higher, and that is with a much greater degree of temperature control, too. At these temps, your electric heat gun will easily heat up some of the more heat tolerant materials but may be too much for the more delicate ones.
If you need to shape tar tiles or weld PVC and plastic, then you can consider getting a heavy duty heat gun, or even invest into a proper industrial heat gun if your business depends on it. Industrial heat guns are capable of sustaining 700 degrees Celsius (roughly 1,300 degrees F) of flameless heat.
Air Flow
The air flow rating of a heat gun is cited by manufacturers in terms of cubic feet per minute (CFM), or sometimes in liters per minute. Air flow speed is also sometimes given in terms of feet per minute, as well. The higher the CFM and FPM, the harder and faster the tool blows air over the heating element.
A high airflow rating, combined with the right nozzle, gives your heat gun more effective range to do its job. High airflow is important in ensuring a consistent, even heat on the surface you are working on.
Power
In the case of electric heat guns, power is usually given in terms of wattage (W), which helps give you an idea of how powerful the heater is or how much volume the blower can push out. Electric corded heat guns have wattages that exceed 1,500 watts for most consumer models.
Gas powered heat guns, on the other hand, have their power cited in terms of British thermal unit, which is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit.
Heat Gun Nozzles
Heat gun nozzles help you aim the heat gun blast over precise working areas, and having the right nozzles can be vital in certain tasks.
- Main nozzle – the main nozzle of a heat gun is often enough to do the vast majority of the jobs you need to do with the heat gun. Sometimes, though, you need to have more control over the heat gun output, and that’s where the other nozzles come in.
- Glass protector nozzle – this nozzle helps you keep the hot blast of the heat gun away from glass panels, if you are removing paint from window frames, for instance. The direct heat of a heat gun can cause the glass to crack, and this nozzle helps prevent that.
- Fishtail nozzle – or flat nozzle, this nozzle sends out the blast of the heat gun over a wide area. Perfect for stripping larger areas of paint, installing lap siding, or loosening tiles.
- Cone nozzle or pin point nozzle – these nozzles focus the blast of the heat gun to one spot, letting you heat a small area very quickly. Handy for welding plastic tarpaulin, spot shaping vinyl or shaping glass with your heat gun.
- Spoon reflector nozzle – useful for shaping tight turns on plastic tubing, or for evenly heating up a shrink tubing from around all sides at once. Also useful for quickly loosening up a frozen pipe.
- Surface nozzles are used for welding purposes.
- Scraper nozzles let you heat and scrape with one attachment.
Most heat guns also come with separate spatulas and scrapers that will help you scrape off the paint loosened up by the heat gun. One common scraper design lets you scrape the paint even off of beaded corners or inside door or window frame grooves.
