Infrared Paint Strippers

[Corsetière]

Have we discussed this before? I didn't come up with much when I searched the forum.

A friend is going to let me try out her Infrared paint stripper. From what I gather, it seems to work best on flat surfaces? Anyone have one? Do you have a brand preference? I know they are expensive, but so is chemical paint stripper at $150 for a 5 gallon bucket. Even after the abatement is over I will still have quite a lot of trim and doors to restore, so it might not be a bad investment.

[1918ColonialRevival]

I have one. They were all the rage about 10 years ago when we bought our house.

It's a little awkward to use due to the size. I'll usually just set it up and move it every half minute or so once the paint starts to soften. Works ok on doors and window sash that can be removed and set on a bench, but hard to use anywhere else.

I personally prefer a heat gun. Does the same thing, easier to handle, and costs way less. The trick is to keep it moving like a hair dryer.

[heartwood]

the 'speedheater' is the original infrared paint remover...the 'silent paint remover' is a 'copy'...I had a silent paint remover and found it worked to fast for stripping profiles on muntins, stiles and rails...for large flat surfaces it can be a time saver...
the fairly new 'cobra' is a smaller version of the speedheater...lighter and easier to manage...there was a discussion about some of the issues people have run into using it on a window restoration forum (closed forum)...issues with switches not lasting, loose screws causing issues with the bulbs and overall early malfunctions of the tool...some were covered under warranty, others were not...a number of people, like me, prefer a heat gun to the infrared tools....

$25 wagner heatgun vs $500 cobra or $5-600 speedheater...I've had the wagners burn out in months and other last well over a year....

.....jade

[Corsetière]

Yeah but after taking the course on lead abatement I learned it is not safe to strip paint with a heat gun unless you are using a PAPR. I think the PAPRs are probably at least $500, maybe more? I've used a heat gun in dire circumstances outdoors when nothing else was working on the paint, but apparently a standard half face respirator is not sufficient protection. A friend of mine who was trying to get pregnant had a series of blood tests and she tested high for lead right after stripping some cabinets with a heat gun and half face respirator.

[GibsonGM]

I don't know how hot the infrared units get, probably in the specifications. If you stay below 1100F, you are safe, according to the EPA and all the state info I've read. The lead won't gassify below that. I use a heat gun on the 'low' setting, which is around 700. I still wear a respirator often anyway, because at the same time I'm usually generating dust. I do this in the barn, never indoors.

A 'standard' 1/2 face respirator with a HEPA filter is perfect protection, if one has been fit-tested for it and understands its use. They can be quite harmful if you pull one off the shelf and don't know their proper use. They usually come with purple & silver combo filters, purple is HEPA, silver is organic vapor. What happens is the mask is not kept tight enough, the person is uncomfortable and loosens it, and so on. There is training for this. People work on asbestos with North 1/2 face masks with no problems. I was an environmental consultant in the petrochemical industry for a number of years, did some environmental health & safety work, and worked in asbestos management and had to wear one regularly...went thru medical monitoring and all that, and I'm still here Tho not in those industries anymore, LOL.

That said, if I was 'trying to get pregnant', I'd run from any sort of lead paint, associated dust and so on. The exposure may not have been 'at the cabinets' while working. It gets in everything, on hands and clothes, we eat it, you can't really keep it out of your house, and the consequences can be devastating. A $500 HEPA vac helps. That said, I restore probably 5 LBP houses per year...and I'm still here

Your experiences may vary.

[1918ColonialRevival]

Metallurgy 101: For a metal to produce gases (fumes), it has to be at its boiling point.

The boiling point of lead is 3180 degrees F, or 1749 degrees C for our friends in Canada. Compare that to the heat generated by a heat gun, most of which top out at about 1000-1200 degrees F. This is the temperature at the core of the heating element in the gun - heat loss begins as soon as the hot air exits the gun. You're probably doing good to get 700-800 degrees out of the front end.

Bottom line - you are not getting exposed to lead fumes using a heat gun. It doesn't get anywhere near hot enough. The smell that rises from melting paint is that of dirt, waxes, and other impurities in the paint burning off, NOT lead no matter what the safety folks are trying to tell you. I've seen people go ballistic over the idea of stripping old paint with a heat gun, yet many of these same people have no problem with sanding it and getting dust everywhere, which is a real concern.

I'd be willing to bet your friend didn't get her lead exposure through the heat gun stripping itself. My guess would be she probably got it through the cleanup process after the stripping was over. Or, it could have been completely unrelated to the cabinets. Lead is a naturally occurring element and is present in the environment. When she was tested, she probably told them she had recently stripped some cabinets, so naturally they assumed that was the culprit, despite the fact that there's no way physically possible to generate lead fumes with a heat gun.

The legal community has turned lead paint into an 800 pound bogeyman.

On a lighter note, a couple of years back I was stripping paint in a third floor room that originally held a small maid's kitchen when the house was built. When I got down to the bottom layer of paint, it smelled just like a hot skillet full of bacon grease! The room had last been used as a kitchen around 1927.

[Manalto]

If I'm not careful with the heat gun sometimes it can scorch the paint, which gives off a terrible smell and plenty of smoke. I know about the evaporation point of lead but is there fine particulate lead in this smoke?

[Corsetière]

Yeah I am going to go with the licensed professional advice I got from the instructor that taught the contractors course on lead abatement that I took and not do any paint stripping with a heat gun (without a PAPR).

But I'm more interested in discussing the benefits of infrared. I'm going to borrow my friends tool on Sunday, so I'll see how it goes.

[1918ColonialRevival]

If I'm not careful with the heat gun sometimes it can scorch the paint, which gives off a terrible smell and plenty of smoke. I know about the evaporation point of lead but is there fine particulate lead in this smoke?

Particles are possible in that situation, but not molten lead vapors. Anytime a situation is created where bits of the paint can get into the air for a few seconds there's a risk. The same also applies to the hardened "crispy" pieces of paint that have to be cleaned up when you're done.

If I'm doing this inside, I always have a window open, wear a respirator, and I always have a drop cloth on the floor. Before disposing of the drop cloth, I'll take a spray bottle and mist the old paint pieces on it before folding them up inside the drop cloth for disposal.

[Mick_VT]

the cobra is all the rage - gets amazing reviews. I have the speedheater and it is useful for somethings, but the cobra looks more like it would be heat gun-easque in use