Ever deal with bloated packaging on your line? It’s a nightmare. You spend all this time and money on a run, only to find out the seals didn’t hold. Most people just crank up the temperature when this happens. But here’s the thing: the heat setting usually isn’t the problem. The real headache is usually the infrared lamps. They aren’t hitting the gasket evenly. The “Hot Spot” Problem Standard IR lamps are finicky. You end up with these annoying “hot spots” and “cold zones” across the seal. If the heat drops off at the edges, the gasket doesn’t melt the way it should. It leaves behind these tiny, microscopic gaps. If you’re running a high-speed canning line, you simply don’t have the time to wait for the heat to “soak in.” You need that heat to hit the entire perimeter at once, with the same punch, every single time. Finding the Sweet Spot To get this right, we look at the lamp’s wattage and how the reflector is shaped. High-density emitters are great because they soften gaskets instantly. But you have to be careful. If you push too much power into a small area and your conveyor speed drifts even a little, you’re going to scorch your packaging. It’s a balancing act. You want a perfect fuse, not a burnt product. Cutting Down the Waste The fastest way to stop the leaking is to ditch those old, worn-out lamps for precision heaters. When the heat is uniform, the gasket softens evenly across the whole diameter. No more bloating. And a quick tip: check your lamp alignment and wipe down those reflectors every single shift. It sounds simple, but a dirty reflector kills your heat distribution. It doesn’t matter how much you paid for the lamp if it’s covered in grime. Keep it clean. Keep it aligned. Stop the leaks before they start.