Our Speedheater™ Infrared Paint Remover products are designed by a Swedish historic restoration specialist. Speedheater™ products are manufactured in Sweden meeting their internationally-known, high-quality standards. Professionals and DIYers who invest in their old homes and in their family health, choose our products.
Pick the Speedheater™ model and scrapers which match the needs of your specific paint stripping project.
We’ve paired two of our tools for DIY homeowners and professionals stripping interior woodwork: our Cobra Infrared Paint Remover and our Boomerang Scraper. Together they make your close up work of stripping wainscoting, baseboards, chair rails, crown moulding, door and window frames, stair spindles and even furniture go quickly.
The Cobra efficiently heats 3” x 3” areas for stripping in less than 5 seconds. The Boomerang Scraper is designed to clear many layers of paint from narrow grooves, curves, and hard-to-reach areas. The bottom of the V-shaped Boomerang blade works well on grooves 1/2” – 1” wide. The two sharp tips are 1/8” in diameter and easily remove paint from very detailed, carved wood and very narrow grooves. The two convex, side blade edges can be used on flat surfaces. The one inner, concave blade edge is excellent for rounded edges such as window sills, column bases, and louvered shutters.
Special Scraping Technique: When removing paint from surfaces of different depths, the following technique is most efficient. With the Cobra, heat the 3” x3” area of paint to the bubbling point. Then, first scrape the deeper areas which cool off faster. Second, scrape the higher surfaces which stay hotter longer. This optimizes clearing both depths in the same heating application.
Our Speedheater™Standard 1100 Infrared Paint Remover works great on large paint stripping jobs like siding, floors, doors, window frames, and porches. Using the right-edged blade to fit surfaces to be stripped cuts down on extra scraper strokes. Most of our customers need at least two scrapers: one with straight edges and one with curved edges. We created the Speedheater™Standard 1100 Kit including our two most common scrapers to meet this need. The size and sharpness of our metal blades and the ergonomic handles make stripping paint softened by the Speedheaters so much more thorough and easier than with traditional scrapers. One application of our larger Speedheater™Standard 1100 heats about a 3” by 11” area in 20-60 seconds. The next area can be heated while the first area is being scraped. Our hands-free accessory, the Classic Arm, can be added to double one worker’s productivity.
Eco-Strip is the exclusive distributor of Speedheater™ Infrared Paint Remover products in the US and Canada.
Our products are manufactured in Sweden and provide fast, clean, safe, and eco-friendly stripping of old, thick paint and varnish.
Speedheater™ products are manufactured in Sweden to their high standards of quality and safety. As with any highly-specialized technology, maintenance is required. Below are some tips. We also discuss the…
Read MoreA. Area stripped: The Speedheater™ Standard 1100 heats a 3” x 10” area evenly with only one application. The specific infrared wave lengths used in the Speedheater™ heat only what is directly in front of the heat source. They do not heat the surrounding area. Heat guns blow super hot air unevenly across a strip only several inches wide. The heat gun has to be in constant motion which makes it difficult to control where and for how long the paint is heated.
B. Paint temperature required to make the paint bubble: The Speedheater™ infrared rays need only to heat the paint to 400-600℉ to separate the bottom layer of paint from the wood. Heat guns must heat paint from the top down to 1000℉ to make it bubble for scraping.
C. Risk of fire: The blowing hot air of heat guns goes between and under boards and into crevices where dust and debris can easily ignite. The high heat penetrates onto the reverse side of the wood and into the materials behind the wood. Undetected from the surface, these can catch fire later after the stripping is done. The infrared rays create heat only in the upper portion of the wood and in the paint. They are not pushing heated air. The rays do not heat the back side of the wood or behind it.
D. Operator skill: The infrared bulbs of the Speedheater™ evenly heat paint in one application to a lower temperature. It requires less operator skill to safely monitor the heating. Using the Speedheater™ pull scrapers one can quickly remove all the paint layers down to the bare wood in a few, long strokes. Heat gun operators traditionally use dull putty scrapers. Push scraping at the correct angle with each stroke is difficult. Reheating and rescraping is often necessary to remove the paint thoroughly. Without experience, it is easy to mar the wood using these common tools.
Lead in paint turns into invisible, toxic fumes at 900-1000℉. Using a very specific infrared wave length, the Speedheater™ does its job very differently and with the paint only at 400-600℉. Lead fumes are not created at this low temperature. The wave length is not harmful to the eyes; it is the same as what the embers of an open fire emit.
Wearing heat-protective gloves, eye protection, and a respirator or dust mask is recommended. Lead paint debris must be thoroughly contained and carefully disposed of. For more information about how to follow Lead-Safe Work Practices in the US, visit: https://www.epa.gov/lead. For other countries, always follow laws and regulations regarding hazardous waste.
The Speedheater™ works well on both exterior wood such as siding, window trim and porches and on interior woodwork such as baseboards, doors, windows, floors, and cabinets. Proper ventilation is needed when you work inside.
Close all doors and all but one window. Place a window fan in this open window to pull the paint (not lead!) fumes outdoors.
They quickly heat varnish, oil-based, latex, acrylic, or plastic paint. They do not work on shellac, milk paint, or stain.
Speedheater™ was designed to work on wood. It is also effective on metal window bars and sheet metal painted with oil-based paint. On plaster and sheetrock, the paint may soften but the scraping may damage the surface. The Speedheater™ is less effective on thicker metal, marble, concrete and other stonework as the heat tends to dissipate into these. On brick, the paint may separate from most of the surface, but the brick’s uneven surfaces make complete scraping the soft paint difficult and damaging to the scraper blades. For most of these non-wood applications, we recommend environmentally-friendly chemical strippers.
