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Heat Gun Safety Tips

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Heat guns are very important to have in your house. You never know when you are gonna need them, you can use them for a lot of things starting from shrinking, and a lot of other small projects, like replacing an iPhone screen. You can even use heat guns for paint stripping.

The list is big, and you have only to be a little creative on your work and you will find out that heat guns can help and make your work-life easy, no matter what you work.

Heat guns are mostly used for home projects, but there are also big heat guns that are used for industrial work and are really powerful that can heat up to 1000-1500 degrees in a matter of a few minutes.

People use heat guns for different things and as we have mentioned they are really helpful and make your work really easy and faster, but since they blow really hot air and are really hot (literally) they can be very dangerous, especially for the people who never used them and don’t have any safety gears to protect themselves.

If you are a newbie that never used heat guns here are some tips that you need to follow in order to protect your self, to protect the object you are working and to protect people around you!

Safety Gear

If you never used a heat gun then it is highly recommended to use safety gears, such as safety goggles to protect your eyes while working, also if you are using the heat gun to remove paint then its recommended to use a respirator mask because they help to avoid the inhaling fumes that come off the paint.

These are just some basic things you need to do. For myself the most important thing to do once you are working with heat guns is to use gloves, especially if you have a heat gun that doesn’t have temperature control and its just a basic one that blows out hot air because they can heat a lot since they don’t have any in-built protection and once you touch them you can get skin burn.

Also, if you have long hair make sure you use a hat or something to hold your hair back because if they fall down they can get burned pretty fast.

Location Check

You have to check the place you are using the heat gun, if you are using it inside then make sure to check for anything that can get harmed by heat such as sensitive plastic or anything else.

If the object you want to use the tool on is moveable then it’s preferred to take the object outside and work with it there, because working inside is not only bad for other sensitive object but also for you and other people there because of the toxic fumes you inhale.

Since the temperature of heat guns goes up to 1000 degrees or more, they automatically are marked as a dangerous tool. Make sure to never direct the hot air on your skin or to anyone else’s skin since it can cause permanent skin burn.

And lastly when you have completed the job with heat gun make sure to wait until the heat gun is completely cooled down or if the hot air gun has the “cool down” feature where instead of hot air it blows cold air then make sure to turn it ON and wait a few minutes before putting it back to its case

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Here’s a little story about the first time I used a heat gun that shows why safety gears are important

my first experience with heat guns I think you have to agree with me when I say that heat guns are not so easy to use .. right?

Well, yes and no, and let me tell you what I mean about that…

Yes, using them for easy tasks is easy, right? By easy tasks I mean using them to heat something up, is not that hard. You have been doing that all your life what can possibly go wrong? Well, that’s what I thought when I first started thinking to buy one heat gun to fix some stuff on my home.

Oh boy, I was wrong…

I was alone at my home, so I decided to go and buy one heat gun, I went to the nearest shop in my town and bought a simple one. Pretty much the only thing I could do with it is to turn it ON and then once I was done I had to wait a lot of minutes for it to cool down. Pretty basic. I didn’t know at that time that digital heat guns with LCD Display even exist.

After I got back home I decided to try it to heat something up. Keep in mind that I had never used heat guns before and I was home alone. I went all over the house to find something to shrink or at least heat up. Once I found it I got really excited and I turned the heat gun ON and waited for it to heat up.

Clearly, that heat gun heated really fast, but I didn’t know that! I left it ON for 10 minutes and still thought to my self that maybe it’s not heated up to its fullest temperature.

So I left it up there flowing air, thankfully no object or anything was near it but…

Once 10 or 15 minutes had been passed, I decided to check out the heat gun temperature. Keep in mind that my heat gun was as simple as possible, there was no option for me to check the temperature, to control it or to be honest there was no option for anything at all. So just like anyone who has never used a heat gun before I decided to check my temperature with .. my hand!

As 15 minutes have been passed since I started the heat gun I pick it up and put my hand somewhere between the heat gun and one object. Unfortunately, my hand was actually cold since I just used cold water to wash something, so at the first second my hand didn’t feel the heat at all.

So I decided to put my hand closer to the heat gun, oh boy .. the burn I felt!

Since then I have made a lot of other mistakes, and a lot of other bad things with heat guns. Another one was when I wanted to shrink a small object, I was actually pretty tired that day and when I’m tired just like everyone else, my mind doesn’t work. So I decided to get the small object and put it on my glass table, and put nothing between the glass table and the object.

So I started the heat gun and let it heat up a little, this time I didn’t put my hand because I had already learned my lesson in a hard way. After 3-4 minutes I got the heat gun and started to direct the airflow at the small object.

Yes, the little object started to shrink but while shrinking the heat gun just heated up more every moment and once it reached a big temperature the little object started to shrink even more and at that very moment I hear something. I stop my heat gun and started to see what caused that noise. I moved the little object and I saw my glass table. Half of the glass was cracked by the heat.

I had to replace my glass table, go to a doctor for my hand and throw a lot of another object I destroyed while using the heat gun. That’s the moment when I decided to create this website. All of this could have been avoided if I just started my computer and made a simple search on google on how to use heat guns in a safe way.

But I have learned the hard way, and you don’t have to! The fact that you are here reading this means two things. You have learned in a bad way and now you decided to check google to see how to use heat guns properly, or you have been smart enough and searched this before using the heat gun.

Now, this post is about why I have started this website and my first bad experiences with the heat gun. But, you can find a lot of helpful tips and tricks about heat guns that I have written here by just using the search button.

Of course, since I have used many heat guns I know how a good and bad heat gun looks like and why you need them. I have made a big post on how to choose the perfect heat gun. Make sure to read that post and our review posts as well.

Also, if you are in a hurry here are a few tips if it’s your first time using heat guns.

Always wear gloves

Always wear gloves

As we know heat guns can be very dangerous in many ways since it blows a lot of heat. Gloves can help you to prevent your skin from burning, especially when you are changing nozzles on mid-job.

Don’t direct the hot air to your skin

You have read my story on how I got a big burn from heat gun when I tried to check if the temperature was big enough, the same thing applies here, but not only to your skin, you should never ever direct the hot airflow to someone else since it can cause permanent burns.

There are a lot more tips that you should follow when using heat guns. Make sure to read my other post here and make sure to keep in mind that heat guns can be very dangerous if you don’t use them in a proper way.

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We’re a team of engineers, contractors, technicians, and woodworking experts who use power tools daily and share fact-based information, tips, and recommendations. At thetoolgeeks.com, we debunk myths about power tools and share methods to use them effectively.

The Tool Geeks Team

We're a team of engineers, contractors, technicians, and woodworking experts who use power tools daily and share fact-based information, tips, and recommendations. At thetoolgeeks.com, we debunk myths about power tools and share methods to use them effectively.

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