A heat gun is pretty useful, but not if it isn’t turning on & working like you need it to. You won’t be able to use it for much at all if the device can’t power on.
Luckily, it’s not that hard to troubleshoot these tools if you know what you’re doing. So, let me help point you in the right way by showing you common reasons for this happening, and tips for each one.
Heat Gun Not Turning On & Not Working – 4 Reasons
- Power Supply/Battery
Whenever any kind of device isn’t turning on, the main thing to check is the battery or power supply. That’s the case with your heat gun too, as they’re electronic devices that need a steady power.
When they stop getting that, they won’t turn on or work. That’s probably why your heat gun is doing the same thing, so make sure to check its battery/power supply before all else.
If your heat gun is wired, check the socket you’re using it on. Try multiple different sockets to make sure the outlet isn’t to blame. After that, make sure there’s no damage to the wire either.
As for people who have cordless models like mine, it’s a bit more complicated. As you can see from my photo here, these operate on a battery pack, which can be hard to diagnose.
A few different things could be at fault here. The temperature of the heat gun could have caused a problem with the battery getting too hot. The cells inside could have expanded, leading to issues.
There can also be other similar kinds of damage that are caused by misuse and rough handling. These types of things are hard to spot because they could be inside of the battery.
Lastly, the battery itself could just be old. An old battery has a significantly weaker capacity compared to a new one. This gets worse, to the point where the whole battery just stops working.
The usual fix for most of these battery complications is to get a new one. But, you might also be able to get a repair if the damage isn’t too serious.
- Overheating
It’s quite ironic, but even a heat gun can overheat. This often happens when someone uses these guns for more than 15-20 minutes straight.
Though the entire tool’s job is to produce hot temperatures, even it can’t withstand those temperatures. The components inside start getting too hot, and can eventually be ruined.
To safeguard your heat gun against this, most of these tools come with a cut-out mechanism. This mechanism completely stops the device from working or even turning out.
This forces the device to stay off until it reaches a safe temperature again.
So, if you were using the device for too long and it suddenly stopped working and now won’t turn back on, wait for your heat gun to cool down before trying to power it on.
In case you encounter a problem wherein your heat gun won’t get hot when you turn it on, I have written here an article about how you can fix it. I showed 2 ways how ways how you can fix your heat gun if it doesn’t get hot.
- Problematic Wiring
Sometimes, users aren’t so lucky when it comes to getting away with overheating. Due to the extra high temperatures caused by prolonged use, sometimes wiring can burn off.
The casing around the wires can start melting, or the copper inside them might start losing its shape. All these are normal things for wires when they’re put in front of such high heat.
So, if your device recently overheated and hasn’t turned back on no matter how much you wait, there might have been some serious issues. A wire or other component could have burned.
You can better understand this if you’ll disassemble your heat gun and inspect its internal mechanism. You can watch below the video I made which shows how the internal mechanism of a heat gun works.
After you remove the cover of your heat gun, you will see its two most important parts, the blowing motor and the heating coil. Check if the wiring between the heating coil and the motor is OK.
This can also cause damage to the fan of your heat gun. Here’s an article I’ve written about how you can fix the fan on your heat gun if it’s not working.
The best way to check something like this is to open the heat gun up. Remove its casing like I’ve done in the picture here, and try to find any visible or smellable damage.
While you’re at it, make sure that none of the wires are detached from any of the main components either. Some wires can come off the heating element, or the motor.
If you put these back in place, that should get the heat gun operating as it needs to.
If you have another heat gun, you can use it to fix the broken wire. I have made a video about how you can do this.
As you can see below, it’s very easy to fix the broken wire using a heat gun and bottle cap.
- Minimal Airflow
Over time, the airflow inside of a heat gun can get worse. This could be because of internal melting slowly sealing off small crevices that air can easily escape from.
Regardless of the reason for its loss, airflow is extremely important. Without it, all the temperature inside your heat gun stays there, and that makes it much easier for it to heat up.
I don’t think I need to tell you just how bad that is for your tool. So, I recommend always keeping your heat gun clean and checking its fan, motor, and edges regularly to ensure proper airflow.
As for your current heat gun, if it isn’t turning on due to a loss of airflow, an internal component has probably fried.
I think buying a new heat gun is the best option here. A heat gun that’s already has so much damage that it won’t turn on will be expensive to fix, and will go bad soon anyway.
