That expensive seam iron I was skeptical about finally proved its worth

I spent $180 on a Rotovac seam iron about 4 months ago and honestly thought I got ripped off at first. My old $40 iron from Home Depot was doing the job just fine for 2 years. But then I had this commercial job in a office building downtown where the seam tape kept lifting on a cold concrete slab. The Rotovac held consistent heat even when the subfloor was 55 degrees and I haven't had a single callback. Has anyone else noticed cheap irons struggle with temperature consistency on cold floors?

2 comments

2 Comments

noahw532d ago

I saw a guy on a carpet forum break down the internals of a few different seam irons and the cheap ones basically have a thermostat that swings like 20 degrees before it kicks the heater back on. The Rotovac and some of the older Crain models have a much tighter control loop so they don't just spike hot and then go cold. Makes a huge difference on slab work where the concrete is basically a heat sink pulling the temp down faster than a cheap iron can react.

tara3452d ago

For real, that makes a ton of sense. I've been on slab work before where my iron just couldn't keep up and the seam would cool off before I even got the tape down. It's frustrating because you're doing everything right but the tool just isn't built for that kind of heat loss. I never knew the cheap ones had such a wild swing in temperature, that explains so much about those cold spots that pop up. Solidarity to anyone who's had to fight a losing battle against a slab with a bargain iron.