Blasting a dented stainless appliance with a heat gun is another oft-recommended technique across Reddit and YouTube. There are countless posts and videos showing dents magically beginning to disappear after a few seconds of being faced with a heat gun.
“Heat does cause things to expand,” said Nate Sniadecki, professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Washington. Heat imparts energy to the atoms, Sniadecki explained, making it easier for the atoms to move around and “slide past each other.”
In theory, this movement and expansion can cause the metal to gradually pop back to something resembling its original shape.
In practice, however, I found this method to be the Vegas high-wire act of online hacks. It was the Gom Jabbar of dent removal. Yes, this method works sometimes, but it can quickly (and often does) go very, very wrong, with irreversible consequences.
When we blasted the smaller, smoother dents with heat for just a few seconds, the depressions did seem to improve visually, though not as much as they did with the suction method.
However, when we were attacking anything more substantial, the amount of heat required to see any progress was also enough to scorch the steel and permanently ruin the surface finish of the appliance, leaving behind a dark, discolored ring. This extended exposure also melted what appeared to be a fingerprint-resistant resin coating. Nimble application of heat simply did not move the needle, nor did repeated brief stints of heat.
Using the suction cups in addition to heat — even after a period of cooling off — either melted the suction cups onto the surface of the steel or did not represent any improvement over using the suction cups alone.
In the hands of a panicked, over-zealous person attempting to remove a small dent, this hack risks scorching your appliance and is not worth the potential for disaster. There is a decent enough chance that using a heat gun may permanently ruin the steel face of your appliance, adding severe discoloration without any notable improvement to the dent itself.
