Good price on a foam gun
 

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1392230650

The Handi Tool HT300

Someone where I worked discovered a generic foam gun that can be had for about $20. It appears to be an EXACT copy of the Pageris, which is a very nice gun, except it's blue, not green, and doesn't have the Pageris sticker on it. Everyone in my company bought one. I figured I'd wait a while to see how they work out before recomending them. I can say that after several months of having them in use they are working great! They are outlasting the GreatStuff guns in a dramatic way and they cost $30 less. The GreatStuff guns fail all the time. They are cheap and they seem to break any place you could or couldn't imagine. Glad I never bought one. Every GreatStuff gun where I work, both personal and company owned, has failed and been replaced. The gun it made by "Handi Tool" and is called the HT300. You can readily find them online and get them to your house for around $20. GreatStuff cans are really a waste. The foam is unimpressive and they are expensive. A can of PUR Fill costs about $13. I haven't bought GreatStuff in years so I don't know what they cost but it's probably around 1/2 the cost of PUR Fill or Touch 'N Seal. The PUR Fill is my favorite. I like the foam the most and you certainly get more out of a can of it that Touch 'N Seal. If you're sloppy and glue the can to your gun though it's easier to get a Touch 'N Seal can off because you can get some pliers on it. Either will probably have about 4X more foam than a GreatStuff can. Maybe more. Maybe a lot more. You can also just use a little bit of the can and then let it sit on the shelf for months. GreatStuff cans get glued shut so you have to use the whole thing, waste some of the can or spend hours trying to clean out the straw. I've done the latter twice in my life. Never again.

It's a Pageris (about $100) with no name tag and goes for $20. Amazing. I hope this will help some ecorenovators free themselves from the shackles GreatStuff.


Fomo Products Inc. F61050 HT - 300 7" Polymer Dispensing Unit - amazon.com

Thanks for the tip. I know I love my greatstuff gun, and it hasn't fallen apart yet, but the price tag was quite high! I checked amazon.com and the HT300 is just over $50 on there. So, next I checked ebay and there was one seller selling for $17.50 plus $8 for shipping to me. The link should bring you to an ebay search for the gun.

Handi Tool HT300 | eBay

Where did you buy yours?

https://www.google.com/#hl=en&sugexp...w=1598&bih=819

You can get them all over the place. I'm not sure what site my company picked them up at but they came to $20 after shipping. The GreatStuff gun really isn't the end of the world. If you don't use it day in and day out it will probably last a long time. The thing is that the HT300 is a much better gun and is cheaper, so why not? Unless, like you, you already have one. The last on in my company was decommissioned last Tuesday. The second to last one died a little over a month ago when I was using it. I had just put a new can on and the gun wouldn't close. It emptied an entire can on a bath fan. That was a nightmare.

I currently have the Great Stuff Pro 14 gun and I've never had an issue with it, I had the Great Stuff Pro 13 gun and returned it the same day I got it because it was junk, the big issue I had was the plastic trigger flexed and weak return spring kept it from shutting off all the way!
The Pro 14 gun has a steel trigger and everything else is either brass, stainless steel or Teflon coated, I've had it for over 2 years now, sealed my attic with it, around doors and windows, loaned it to neighbors, loaned it to my parents and brother, left half full cans of foam on it for 6 months at a time (best way to store it, if it's long term storage install a can of cleaner on it and flush it out!) with how it's holding up it should be around and used for decades and I use my tools hard, so anything that holds up I'm impressed with.

How do you clean the guns? Is there cleaner to run through them?

Yeah, there is a special can of cleaner that you put on it to blow a bunch of cleaner through it so you can store it without the foam solidifying in the gun.

Also.... you need to run the foam can all the way down before removing it and when unscrewing it you keep the trigger depressed, or else foam will puff out the inlet and when you mash a new can on it can get glued on. If you follow these simple procedures you won't need to clean the gun too often. You can store the gun with a foam can on but (so I have been told) unless it's stored can up it can loose pressure if left for extended periods of time. I have never witnessed this but then again I never go for more than a week or so before finishing a can. If you blow foam cleaner through it you can store it with no can on but it must be squeaky clean. Also don't be afraid to scrape the foam off the tip of the nozzle with a utility knife. If you don't it won't dispense properly. Foam cleaner is acetone and evaporates quickly. You can clean it off hands, furniture and the like, but only if it's still went. Once it's cured the only way to remove it is mechanically.

The can of cleaner I have screws on just like a can of foam so you can install the can of cleaner and store it on the gun to keep everything sealed.
I've stored my foam gun for 6+ months at a time with half a can of foam on it and found it to work perfectly, I also don't do anything special when changing cans, nor do any of the other people who I loan my foam gun to, never had a can glue it's self on.

So you can store the half full can right on it without cleaning?

Yes, at least with the Great Stuff Pro 14 foam gun, it has tight enough seals that in the 2 and a half years that I've owned it I have't removed the can other then to swap a new one on, I bought the can of cleaner just in case I wanted long term storage, but as it is it seems happy for 6 months or more at a time.

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.

The only thing I have found to clean the foam before it cures is brake cleaner. You can clean the regular greatstuff cans and tubes with it and also spray it into the nipple of the can and you can reuse the can at a later date. Brake cleaner is basically methanol in a spray can.