What is the Difference between a Heat Gun and a Hair Dryer?

By Catherine Jordan

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Before understanding whether a hairdryer can be used in place of a heat gun, it is first necessary to understand the functions, similarities, and differences of a heat gun and a hairdryer.

How a heat gun and a hairdryer work

It is often asked can we use a hair dryer in place of heat gun or which one is better between hair dryer and heat gun. Before talking about heat gun vs hair dryer we should know how they both work.

A commonality between a hairdryer and a heat gun is that they both have a fan and a heating element or heating coil. The universe motor powers the fan. On igniting an electrical current, the fan will start blowing out a large volume of air.

The heat produced by the coil heats this air. This warm air is passed out of the hairdryer or heat gun.

Sometimes they both work in pretty much same way but the fundamental difference in the working of a heat gun vs hair dryer is that the purpose of the heat guns that comes out of the heat gun is for melting substances.

In contrast, the air that comes out of the hairdryer is meant to hasten the evaporation of water from damp hair.

Read More: A Guide to Choose Best Hair Dryer

Heating Gun Vs Hair dryer : Similarities

Heat gun has design and shape just like a hair dryer, resembling a gun.
The source of fuel is electricity for both hair dryers and other one, although some heat guns use a different fuel source such as gases like propane or butane.
Both hair dryers and heat guns have various nozzles that can be detached or attached. Every nozzle serves a different function owing to its unique design and shape.
Both hair dryer and heat gun use the same principle for functioning with the fan and heating coil. Heat guns just have very high temperature levels and it would be way too hot for most of small works.
Heat gun has a trigger handle just like a hair dryer, which starts working when pressed.

Heat Gun Vs. Blow Dryer: Differences

Now we are entering in the battle of heat gun vs hair dryer. The fundamental difference in heat gun vs hair dryer is that you cannot use a heating gun to dry your hair because you wouldn’t want something as hot as heat gun near your face and hair.

A heating gun, when used on damp hair, will straighten your hair. A heating gun has been crafted to melt substances, not drying them.

A hair dryer, on the other hand, has been designed to blow out air, at a temperature, appropriate for hastening water evaporation from hair.
Another critical difference between a hairdryer and a hot air gun is the difference in the temperature levels of the two devices.

If you were wondering how hot does a hairdryer gets, then you should that a hairdryer temperature range falls within 100 to 205 degrees.

A heat gun, on the other hand, has a temperature range of 100-1000 degrees. There are some heating guns whose upper limit of temperature settings go up-to even 1400 degrees.
Heat guns need to be placed in an upright position for which they require a surface stand. Heat guns have to be placed on a surface stand to prevent them from tipping over.

A hairdryer does not have any such requirements. They can be simply held in your hand and used with ease. Hairdryers simply have a cool button to reduce the air temperature to room temperature.
Also, the temperature settings on a heat gun can be adjusted with ease, depending on the task you will need it for. This feature is not available in a hairdryer.

Functions of a heat gun

To understand the circumstances in which you can use a hairdryer instead of a heat gun, it is first necessary to understand the utility of a heat gun. Most of the everyday purposes of using a heating gun have a high-temperature requirement. For example:

Heating gun is the perfect tool for the removal of floor coverings. This task requires a minimum temperature of 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
one more use you can do with this tool is for removing paint, which has a temperature requirement of a minimum of 750 degrees Fahrenheit.
Heating guns can also dry paint at lower temperature settings of 250 degrees Fahrenheit.
Frozen locks can also be fixed with a heat gun. The minimum temperature required for this purpose is 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Heat guns can be used to remove rusted bolts with a minimum temperature setting of 1150 degrees Fahrenheit.
At a temperature setting of 250 degrees Fahrenheit,hot air guns can bend the plastic.
Heat guns can also be used for cleaning refrigerators, specifically to defrost. This purpose is served at a temperature setting of 250 degrees Fahrenheit.
Heat guns can be used for fixing frozen water pipes by defrosting them at a temperature setting of 1150 degrees Fahrenheit.

When can you use a hair dryer instead?

Even though hot air guns are suited for more substantial duty jobs, there is a slight overlap in the temperature ranges of hairdryers and heat guns. Therefore, tasks inching very low-temperature settings of a heat gun can be performed by a hair dryer instead.

If you need to do a job that involves a temperature requirement between 100 and 140 degrees, and you don’t have a heat gun at hand, then you may use a hair dryer instead. Sometimes hair dryer works in creative way like-

We can use a hair dryer for the removal of stickers and labels.
you can use a hair dryer for molding plastic glass frames.
You can use a hair dryer to remove candle wax from tables, floors, and other surfaces.
You can use a hair dryer to remove marks made with crayons from furniture and walls.
Another useful function of the hair dryer is that hair dryer is the perfect tool to warm up wax strips.

Some things to keep in mind

Before submitting the heat gun with a hairdryer, you should consider some facts about hair dryer and heat gun. Though you can use a hair dryer for hastening the process of removing paint that is peeling or for drying a new coat of paint, it is not recommended.

It is not recommended because paint removing is not the purpose a hair dryer was crafted to do. Although you can use the hair dryer in a pinch, it will take a lot more time to execute the tasks mentioned in the previous section.

Air flow in heat guns is narrow and highly concentrated in comparison to a hair dryer. Heat guns produce a much more hot air. Hairdryers have been designed to scatter air, which is ideal for drying damp hair.

Continued usage of hairdryers for tasks which require heat guns can damage the hair dryer permanently, which would consequently hold it back from performing what it was even designed to do!

The final verdict

Although a hairdryer and a heat gun may look similar and work under the same principle, and most of time they work in pretty much same way,it is not quite possible to say that they can be used interchangeably.

Even some times one can not replace the other. After all, each tool of them designed to serve two different purposes altogether. Though you cannot use a hairdryer for defrosting a pipe and never use a heat gun for blow-drying your hair, there are certain tasks with low-temperature requirements that can be executed by using a blow dryer, when in a pinch.

It’s just important to remember that there are many things that a blow dryer cannot do that a heat gun can and vice versa.

Now you know the utility of the two devices along with their commonalities and differences and make informed decisions about which one to use and when to use it.

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