I have some jet lighters in my shop. I’m not a smoker but they are useful for other things too. My problem is that they seem to not work at all?
When I buy them they are fine, push the button, clear “click” sound and a fine hot jet of fire. After a while though, they simply won’t fire anymore, even though the little window shows that there’s plenty of gas inside.
Are these also using the normal propane/butane as regular lighters?
The ones they sell at smoke shops and gas stations, in my experience, are total crap. I spent the money on a good kitchen torch specifically for dabbing, but it also comes in handy as a kitchen torch for when I crave creme brulee. It hasn’t failed me in 5+ years.
If you want something smaller, perhaps a good, fancy cigar lighter would be worthwhile. Something a real tobocabnist would sell; not the head shops or vape and cigarette stores.
Usually problems with refillable butane lighters are because they have air trapped in them, and they need to be bled, lots of guides with pictures and such for that online but basically just take a small screwdriver and press the little fill valve until it stops hissing then refill it, do it in a well ventilated place away from sparks and open flames of course
Sometimes that valve is also slotted to make some adjustments and you can try fiddling with that
Yes, they use the same butane as other lighters, it’s not the same thing as lighter fluid in case that’s what you have in mind, it comes in sort of a little aerosol can with a skinny tube sticking out the top instead of a spray nozzle. I’m not aware of any propane lighters out there
Also, in my personal experience, torch lighters just tend to go bad after a while and no amount of fiddling with them will make them reliable again. To be fair I’ve always had cheap torch lighters so maybe that’s just a case of getting what you pay for, maybe nicer lighters are more reliable.
Thank you for the tip about bleeding the air out, I will look into that.
Yes, the gaseous version, not fluid. Cans here in Europe are typically marked as “propane/butane” so maybe it’s some mix of those gases.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the lighter gas we get here in the states is also a mix of gases, I’d be lying if I said I ever read the whole can so maybe it even says so somewhere in the fine print, but I’ve only ever seen it marked as butane here, so I figured I’d throw it out there in case someone reading it tried to refill their lighter from their grill tank
Is there a spark where it should be? I’ve seen some that just melt the spark wire insulation, making it spark outside of where it’s supposed to.
Yet there’s a spark but I should check whether that is firing in the proper spot. Thanks for idea.
Maybe the pressurised devices just lose pressure with use - not enough to be completely useless, but enough for no more jet.
As long as the stored gas is in liquid form, the pressure will be sufficient, and when there’s some kind of window to peer into the container, that’s easy to confirm.
The gas stays liquid over a wide range of pressures - you wouldnt see any difference visually. On the higher pressure side, the gas comes out at higher pressure and therefore more mass is ejected per unit time. At lower pressure the gas comes out, sure, but perhaps not fast enough to give that jet effect.
Had the same problem and mine had a little thing at the bottom you could turn with a screwdrive to open or close the gauge a bit. I think I fiddled with it and when I closed it a bit it got stable again.
I don’t smoke either but I use jet lighters for all sorts of things from gear maintenance to soldering, they’re super handy!
As long as it’s not clogged, try completely purging your lighter, then refilling it. The pressure is probably off. I usually do this by holding the plunger down with a rubber band and letting it off gas until it’s empty.
If it is clogged, consider using higher quality butane: This can eliminate clogs in the future.
Check it the tip is clogged?
