Heated a seam iron too hot for years until a old timer corrected me

I was cranking my seam iron to max heat thinking it made stronger bonds, but an installer with 20 years in Denver told me that's actually melting the backing. Checked his infrared thermometer and he was running 50 degrees cooler than me - seams held way better after I dialed it back. Anyone else been running too hot this whole time?

2 comments

2 Comments

andrewh4319d ago

Learned that lesson the hard way too, wasted plenty of material.

janab8219d ago

yeah that infrared thermometer thing was a real eye opener for me too. I was the same way, cranked it up thinking that would make it melt in better and last longer. Turns out I was just cooking the backing and making it brittle. The old guy who set me straight showed me how the glue actually activates at a way lower temp than most people think, and once you go past that you're just damaging the material. I started running my iron around 250 instead of 300 and my seams stopped lifting after a few months. It's crazy how many of us just assume more heat equals better bond without ever actually checking.