Heat guns have many uses. By providing hot air, it enables you to carry out a wide variety of little jobs around the house. Depending on the task you assign to it, you must choose the appropriate nozzle and set its temperature. Here’s how to use your heat gun.

How the heat gun works

The heat gun looks like a hair dryer and works the same way, producing hot air, but at a much higher temperature.

When you turn on your heat gun, you must wait a minute for the expelled air to be at the right temperature. Once you have finished, you should wait until it has completely cooled down before cleaning it with a simple cloth or paper towel and then put it away.

For all your work sites, you should wear thick DIY or gardening gloves, being careful that they do not contain plastic that could melt and burn you. Always use safety goggles if debris is likely to fly around. Finally, use a face mask that filters out toxic fumes from the materials you heat.

The various uses of the heat gun

Choose a quality heat gun that allows you to select the air temperature so you can use it for a variety of tasks.

The heat gun for stripping

The heat gun is used for all building renovation operations. Perfect to strip all surfaces (paint, wallpaper, window adhesive, etc.), as well as to remove PVC floor tiles.

For this purpose, use a paint knife for large flat surfaces and/or a triangular scraper to access the nooks and crannies of the furniture.

Depending on the surface to be stripped, choose a nozzle:

• all-in-one with integrated blade, ideal for large flat surfaces ;
• conical if you need to concentrate the hot air;
• flattened which distributes heat over the surface, e.g. for floor slabs.

The heat gun to weld and soften your hoses

The heat gun is used to solder copper pipe fittings. Be careful to protect your wall, so as not to blister its coating. Prepare your pipes by rubbing them with sandpaper to create fine streaks, then fit them together.

Heat your gun to a high temperature to melt your tin filler wire. The material will diffuse by capillarity and you just have to wait for it to cool down.

If you have PVC piping, your heat gun can help soften them and give them the proper curvature for your pipes. It also allows you to nest them together. To do this, heat only the male part of the fitting that is positioned around the other part. As it cools, the tube tightens, fixing the coupling.

The heat gun for defrosting

The heat gun is perfect to defrost and thaw your equipment by setting it to a low temperature so as not to risk damaging it.

You can use it for your locks or pipes, and even for defrosting your freezer.

The heat gun for shrinkage

The heat gun is also useful to shrink your electrical sheaths, set it there too at low temperature, so as not to risk damaging the sheaths through which the electric wires pass.

The heat gun for waxing

Your heat gun can be used to polish your floors and furniture. First you spread the wax on the surface, then you pass your heat gun set on a very low temperature to make the wax penetrate deeply into the wood. Then polish your surface with a woollen cloth.

This method is very effective in removing the clear traces left by water on the wood (wet shoes, glass bottoms, etc.).