Bought a heat gun at Harbor Freight for $15 to shrink tubing, caught fire after three uses

Ended up spending $60 on a decent one after that, plus the cost of a new wire harness that got scorched when it melted. Anyone else have a cheap tool fail at the worst possible time?

2 comments

2 Comments

christopher95210d ago

Honestly, three uses? That's not even a bad luck thing, that's just a straight up fire hazard. I've had cheap tools crap out on me before but catching fire is a whole other level of scary. For $15 I guess you get what you pay for, but man, a heat gun is supposed to get hot, not become a torch. That's wild it burned your wire harness too, that probably cost way more to fix than the $60 you spent on the replacement. Makes me wonder how many of those things are sitting in people's garages just waiting to go up in flames.

rivera.jake10d ago

Bro no kidding, that's the exact same kinda crap that happened to me last year. I picked up a cheap heat gun from some hardware store, thought I was saving a few bucks. Used it maybe twice to strip paint off an old door and on the third go it started smoking like crazy then just burst into flames in my hand. Scared the hell out of me. I had to throw it into the driveway before it melted through my workbench. Ended up having to rewire a section of my garage outlet too cause the thing shorted out when it caught fire. Now I just borrow my buddy's Milwaukee when I need one, not worth risking your whole house over a $15 tool.