# Possible to reuse Great Stuff Pro can after removal?



## jbrah (May 29, 2018)

Usually, I use a can until empty, but in a position where I have one gun and would like to switch between products (from Window & Door to Gaps & Cracks), while the first can is only halfway depleted. I know there are some ways to reuse the straw cans. Wondering if there are methods to reuse the Pro cans.


----------



## chandler48 (Jun 5, 2017)

When you buy Pro Cans, be sure to buy the cleaner right next to it. Run the cleaner through the gun and as it comes out of the gun, spray it on the foam can top to remove as much of the stuff as possible. Basically, yes, you can reuse the cans until they are empty.


----------



## Windows on Wash (Aug 30, 2011)

We never run the cleaner. The Acetone dries out all the seals. The foam cures with exposure to air (i.e. moisture). Granted, we use them 5-6 days a week, but if you leave a can with some left over in it on the top and let a little back of foam cure at the tip, they will stay good forever. You can switch between cans, but you just need to purge enough through line to get the old material out. With regards to the top of the can, you can usually snap off the chunk of left over and make it usable. That said, we are always running out cans dry and then swapping to a fresh.


----------



## chandler48 (Jun 5, 2017)

As a side note, I don't use Great Stuff. I use the OSI Quad system. I haven't had a problem with the o rings yet, but I like cleaning the guts out, but I also use WD40 to displace moisture in the head, too, and hopefully that will keep down the deterioration of the rubber gaskets.


----------



## jbrah (May 29, 2018)

Windows on Wash said:


> We never run the cleaner. The Acetone dries out all the seals.


I know regularly running acetone through the gun will ruin the seals, eventually leading to foam curing in the gun, rendering it useless.

How do you get away with never running the cleaner. I've run several cans through the gun, and the foam around the top of the gun is starting to build up. I haven't bothered to scrape this out since I always immediately install a new can after removing an empty can. I'm worried that if I stop to clear off the cured foam around the opening of the gun, the foam inside the opening will start to cure.



Windows on Wash said:


> but if you leave a can with some left over in it on the top and let a little back of foam cure at the tip, they will stay good forever. You can switch between cans, but you just need to purge enough through line to get the old material out. With regards to the top of the can, you can usually snap off the chunk of left over and make it usable.


If you remove a partially full can, once the foam cures in the nozzle, you're saying mounting that can on the gun and pulling the trigger will force that cured foam out? :confused1:


----------



## Windows on Wash (Aug 30, 2011)

Gun never doesn't have a can mounted on it. Foam in never cured in the barrel.


----------



## jbrah (May 29, 2018)

Windows on Wash said:


> Gun never doesn't have a can mounted on it. Foam in never cured in the barrel.


I should have been clearer, I wasn't referring to the gun. I'm referring to the removed can.

Here's what my removed cans look like.










I would guess that simply trimming some of that cured foam so I could screw the gun onto the can isn't going to be enough to get the can to dispense foam since the can's tube will have cured foam. Maybe using a narrow rod to punch the cured foam down into the can, then screwing can onto gun would work?


----------



## Windows on Wash (Aug 30, 2011)

You should be able to break it off and the area is usually clear enough after that.


----------



## Maxatzbutterfield (Dec 20, 2020)

I'm going to try an experiment using a cap full of mineral oil poured on top of a little blob of fresh Great Stuff in a bottle cap,just to see what happens. Maybe the oil will block moisture and air from the foam and it won't cure. If this works, maybe a partially used can could be saved by a short spray of cleaner to rinse out the valve, dry valve with cotton cloth to get rid of acetone, then a little mineral oil in valve and keep can stored upright with small pool of mineral oil protecting valve.


----------



## Randy Bush (Dec 9, 2020)

I always leave a can on my guns, I have found that if I pull a partial can off and the get cured stuff on top of the can a little brake clean will soften it right up and clean it all out.


----------

