Thanks for the tip! For the original poster and others, what kind of foam do you use and where do you get it? I'm in Canada, so Home Depot or Rona have the Great Stuff gun style foam cans and the gun cleaner. I'm just curious if there is a better and or cheaper option.

Cheaper? Probably not. But Touch 'n Seal and PUR Fill are clearly better products and you get more from each can. I don't think Home Cheapo carries either. Maybe In Canada. Go to a lumber yard.

Thanks for sharing this.

I've got 2 questions:

1) I've also found the HT500: Contractor Grade Gun Foam - HT300, HT500 Handi-Tool® Dispensing Unit (look on the specifications tab)

The only difference between the 2 is the 500 has a "narrowed" barrel as apposed to the "smooth" on the 300. Also, the 500 has a "teflonized basket".

What is the bennefits of these upgrades? Would the 500 be worth the extra few dollars?

2) Will this gun accept the Great Stuff Pro can?

Thanks!!

Bump.

Anyone?

Sorry about the delay in responding....
The differences are that on the HT500 the tip of the barrel can accommodate a door/window needle and the basket is apparently treated with Teflon. The window needle is like a ball pump needle which you fit on the tip so you can squirt foam deep into small gaps when installing a new door or window. They are one time use only but they are cheap. Personally I don't need this feature as I'd really rather just use caulk for such miniscule gaps. The Teflon basket also doesn't interest me because you should be keeping you gun clean to begin with. Also a part of the cleaning process often involves scraping the basket with a razor to get dried foam off and that will trash any coating any way.

Thanks for the info. I'm going with the 300.

You won't be disappointed. At least not any more disappointed than with a regular Pageris. We've had them in the field being used every day now and we have probably had a 40% mortality rate. Actually that's pretty good numbers. Foam guns don't last a real long time when you run 20 can + a week through them.

The best advice I can give is to keep them clean. If you aren't going to be using it for a while, blow some cleaner through it and store it dry and canless. My most recent gun died because I kept a can on it for several weeks without using it and the needle got gunked up. I was overzealous when cleaning and now it doesn't hold a seal between the barrel and the needle.

Happy air sealing!

I bought my foam gun 3 years ago and I keep a can on it all the time, everyone else I know who has foam guns also keeps a can on theirs and has had good luck.

I'd opt for the better gun because at least from the photos it look like it has less plastic and from what I've seen of the plastic parts that they use it that it makes it hard to control and more likely to jam up.

I'll just add that I bought the 300 on the recommendations here. thx sf. and it's has worked perfectly. I've used one can of Tytan Extreme Climate. I'm in Canada and I did a lot of foaming this winter. I've got a can of great stuff waiting for when the Tytan empties completely. But let me tell you. I've filled almost 200 feet of joints between sheets of polyiso with one can (and a bunch of gaps in the metal roofing where the bats found their way in). I'll look for the PureFill at Lowes in the states.
I have the cleaner ready for when I change cannisters but haven't used it yet. The current can has been on and in use intermittently for five months. I scrape the tip clean with my thumbnail, shake the can, and away I go.

Thought I'd offer my thoughts after doing a full basement rim joist insulation project. I know SF recommended trying to find something other than Great Stuff but I could not find anything not by Dow at local retailers.

I ended up buying the Great Stuff gun (the metal one) referred to as Pageris style in this thread. Works nicely, good control and it's nice the foam shuts off when you release the trigger.
-Cleaning the gun is definitely critical. About 3/4 through my project I had a bad can of foam, it jammed it up and I could not get it clean again. I now have the same issue as SF, there is a clog at the needle and the seal does not hold so foam leaks out. Gun dead unless I can take off the nozzle and clean it out manually.
-Another downside is you will blow through cans if you don't hold the can upside down. I noticed a big difference with how much is left in the can when the propellant runs out if I was tilting it. This proved very difficult as the way my basement is poured has the joists sunk into the foundation, so that there is about a 2-3" space between the top of the foundation wall and the bottom of the 1st floor sheeting. Filling that is very difficult to get the angle, you might think the tip on this gun is long, but even with the extension it won't reach all the way to the back (about 8") because of the angle with the can inverted.
-I tried making extensions with tubing, it works to some degree at about 6" length. Any longer and the foam separates by the time it gets to end of the nozzle.
-Heating the cans is also highly recommended. Get a pot, put the cans in there and and pour water from a kettle in there and fill it up. Leave them until they are hot to the touch (15-20 mins). shake them a few times. If you do this and hold the cans the right way you can pretty well drain them.

Great Stuff sells the same cans of Pro Foam with a better straw type applicator then you get on the basic cans. You get more per can than the basic foam and these cans seem to do fine if held at any angle. I used these to finish up the last 1/4 of the project, and truthfully didn't see much downside. You use basically the same cans, but you can hold them in any direction. This solved my issue with reaching the back of the cavity in the rim joist as I could hold them upright, nozzle pointed to the outside of the house and reach all the way into the back of the cavity and fill.