Great Stuff question

amakarevic

i noticed, after the first time that i used it, that great stuff foam coming through the trigger/straw leaves residue inside it that dries rendering the bottle no longer usable whereas there is still tons of great stuff left in the bottle.

am i doing something wrong or is the thing so sticky that it can be used only all at once ?

Chris Johnson

Great Stuff is not so Great, It is designed for you to use it once and use it right. You can clean it up, but the cost of the cleaner is as much as the foam cans themselves. I use foam guns and the foam cans that screw on, they last much longer, this is ideal if you use spray foam regularly like I do, leaving a partial can on the gun without cleaning it can last for the better part of a month, after that I need to disassemble and clean it out.

__________________
Chris

Sammy

I consider Great Stuff to be expendable after one use.

Why they dont sell it in smaller cans I dunno...

I always try to plan my work to get as much out of the can as possible from the one time shot.

Dap makes a latex/water clean up version which you can clean the nozzle and reuse but it doesnt have the adhesion of great stuff.

jerryh3

Agreed. I love my Hilti dispenser.

timber

I've been able to clean out the straw and can with a stiff piece of thin wire. I couldn't tell you what gauge, but once the stuff stiffens I'll take the wire and twist it into the nozzle on the can and pluck the dried foam out. Then i'll take the stiff wire and ram it through the straw to clean it out. Sounds like a lot of work, but I don't waste any that way. Never fails, I use a lot myself, but always seem to have two or three cans laying around half full, and the waste pissed me off because now at my lowe's it's 7 bucks a can! Now if you spend more than about 10 minutes on this it's futile! This is how much of a tight-wad I am! lol!

XSleeper

Shish-ka-bob sticks work good as well. I keep a pack in my van for poking caulking tubes, etc. The Great Stuff Pro gun and cans do work better if you use any amount of foam, they're worth it. I've found that the cleaner is usually a waste of money. I never clean guns between uses and have never had a problem. Just switch cans on the gun as quickly as you can, and always keep one on the gun!

timber

We you guys getting that "pro gun" at? I need one!

XSleeper

Google "great stuff pro". Around here, Menards carries them.

redline

I think there is one that you can store for a longer period of time after use and the foam will still flow. You will have to read the back of the can. The tip of the nozzle is bowed back and slides on a tab at the top of the can to seal it.



see link below - Should the can be re-used.

http://www.touch-n-foam.com/faqs.htm#reuse

jerryh3

Hilti sells a disposable can with a straw that bends back and it plugged back into a tab.

timber

Thanks, sorry for hijackin the thread amakarevic!

Tscarborough

Let the can settle for a few minutes, invert it and blow a couple of short blasts.

troubleseeker

Great stuff was always a "use it all" or take space to store it, and throw it away later item for me.
They are not a hard as Great Stuff when they dry, and do not expand nearly as much (actually safer for doors and windows), but the tubes on the water based foams (like DAP) are easily cleaned by sticking them under a faucet.

6n165

My husband usually just cuts the straw a little then sticks something in it to unclog the rest. I just plan to use the whole can or leave the half ones for him.

I just figured out you can do the same thing to caulk as well. I spent forever trying to get caulk tubes to seal correctly never realizing you can just poke through the hardened caluk and go from there.

XSleeper: It is nice to know someone else uses Shish-ka-bob sticks for something else. I love those things.

Clutchcargo

Anybody know of any place to buy just the Great Stuff trigger/straw? There should be a market for these. I every now and then that the straw is missing from a few cans in HD.

__________________