A heat gun has one job, and that’s to heat things. They’re super simple devices, and they’re super simple to use. But, that doesn’t mean it’s always that easy.
Eventually, you’ll run into trouble with these tools sometimes. So, I want to help you prepare for when that happens by telling you more about some common heat gun problems and their troubleshooting!
Troubleshooting 5 of The Most Common Heat Gun Problems
- Overheating
Funny enough, the most common complaint I see about heat guns is that they’re overheating. Their whole job is to heat other things up, but sometimes they end up doing it to themselves.
For newer devices, something like this only happens when you use the gun a little too much. Keeping it on for several minutes at a time will keep the internal temperature too high.
There are thermal breakers inside these tools that keep them safe from this. These breakers go off the instant they sense dangerous levels of heat. That keeps components safe from damage.
Prevent overheating by giving your heat gun breaks during use. Turn it off after every 5 minutes or so. That will keep the heating element at safe temperatures and stop the gun from overheating.
If the thermal breaker went off, you can’t do anything about that. The only option is to wait everything out and let your heat gun return to normal temperatures.
While there’s not much else to do, you can speed up this process by storing the tool in a colder environment than usual. That will help bring it back to a suitable heat lever much quicker.
- Damage From Overheating
I talked about the thermal break mechanism, and how it saves the heat gun from harm. But, this breaker is only effective for so long.
As you use these guns more and more, the parts inside slowly get weaker because of the temperatures. There’s nothing you can do to stop this, as it’s normal for heat to have this effect.
Eventually, the components inside your heat gun can get so weak that the thermal breaker might not even go off by the time they already have damage. This is extremely common for older heat guns.
These types of things usually start happening at the end of the tool’s lifespan. You can confirm if the heating element damaged other components by opening the device up as I have below.
When the heating gun is open, you’ll be able to smell or see burn damage. If any components have it, they should stand out as extra smelly or discolored.
- Heat Gun Not Getting Hot
As the name suggests, the heating element is responsible for producing heat in these tools. It’s the most important component of them all because of this.
But, when this element stops working, your heat gun isn’t of much use at all. It’ll stop producing high temperatures entirely, and you’ll be left with something that does nothing but blow some air.
You can easily tell when a heating element isn’t turning on.
Other than the obvious signs of no high heat, one thing you can do is hold the element with a tool after opening the device up, kind of like what I’m doing in the picture you see down here:
Now, notice the difference between this element and the element I showed you in the photo from the first tip. That element had light, but this one is completely dead.
This absence of light means the element isn’t turning on, and not producing any heat. So, when you see something like this, you know it’s time to get a replacement for your heat gun.
The heating element usually only dies when these tools are at the end of their life cycle. You can’t stop it, and it’s not much use to repair it.
Instead, I advise that you get a new heat gun. It won’t cost you much more than a new heating element, and it’ll be a much better investment in the grand scheme of things.
- Something Wrong With The Battery
I’m sure all of you are familiar with battery issues. If you’ve had a phone, portable gaming console, or any other electrical device for a while, you probably know exactly what I mean.
That’s because no battery stays good forever, and that goes for the ones on your heat gun as well. The packs or cells you use on your tool will start to get weaker sooner or later.
In fact, this happened to me pretty recently. I had to buy a new battery for my heat gun since the old one wouldn’t work anymore. You can see them in the image below, both old and new.
When a battery goes bad, there’s not a lot that can be done for it. If the battery is just bad because of inactivity, you could kickstart it by connecting it to another battery.
But, if it just got worse and died with old age, there’s nothing to do about it. At that point, a replacement is 100% necessary. Depending on the battery, they only last around 2 years.
- Heat Gun Not Turning On
At one point, depending on how long you use it, the heat gun will stop turning on entirely. No matter what you do, it won’t work and it won’t be good for any job.
The most common cause is a bad battery. But, it’s by no means the only reason. A bad motor, a faulty trigger, or other components with issues are also possible culprits.
In short, the issue could lie anywhere on your device. But, with this troubleshooting list, you should be able to find the cause for it!
I’ve also made a video about how you can fix your heat gun if it’s not blowing hot air anymore. You can watch it below.
A broken heating coil would likely cause your heat gun not to work properly. To inspect if this component is broken, you need to remove the cover of your tool.
Once you’ve completely remove all the cover of your heat gun, you can inspect if its heating coil is still working as it should be. If it’s not, then you may have to replace it.
All the issues I talked about so far are most of the common problems for a heat gun not turning on, and with my troubleshooting tips, you should be able to find out the exact cause and snuff it out.
After you identify the issue, use my tips to deal with them. Then you won’t have any problems at all with using your heat gun, or a new one if it’s necessary!
