How do you fill a lighter?

No, I haven't taken up smoking. Having got thoroughly peeved by the crappy gas matches you buy in supermarkets, I bought a refillable one when I bought my new gas bottle for the barbie - it's even shaped like a huge match :D

Come time for the first refil though. Butane gas bottle sitting on the bench. Appropriate tit slipped onto the nozzle. Lower refilling point of the match onto the bottle. Press down and hold.

Some gas went in but not much, enough for about three lights.
Tried again for an loooooonnnnnggggg time - long enough to start feeling stupid. Enough for about six lights. :~

So, what am I doing wrong?

Richard
see, I shouldn't have given up smoking when I was a kid :U

Tip the lighter upside down. LPG is a liquid and it wont run up hill :wink:

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Originally Posted by silentC

Tip the lighter upside down. LPG is a liquid and it wont run up hill :wink:

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I failed physics too (got 15% in my first physics exam at Uni :-).

Grrr.

Thanks mate. This probably explains why I could never get my butane gas torch to work either. :doh:

Richard

Quote:

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Originally Posted by silentC

Tip the lighter upside down. LPG is a liquid and it wont run up hill :wink:

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Is that right? I would have thought that it was under pressure. No wonder I can never get the rotten things to fill.

I don't really understand the physics of it all. LPG evaporates at normal pressure but is a liquid under pressure. I gather that it is heavier than air. I guess the pressure in the container is not enough to displace the air in the chamber of the lighter, although I could be speaking out my ####.

Anyway, I've always filled them upside down and I just went and had a look at a refill I've got in the shed and that's the way it says to do it. So if it works, it's good enough for me :wink:

Ah... reading the instructions!


CODE VIOLATION... Beep...Beep.... Beep

But in my defence, I only did it to confirm that I was doing it right, after I'd already done it a hundred times and only because Daddles asked. Those must be mitigating circumstances, surely to God. Please, have mercy!!

Just remember when you are filling that any little leaks can cause burns, same as for normal LPG, or I guess any gas expanding rooly quick.

The reason that you fill them holding it upside down is that this places the liquid over the top of the nozzle and when you push down the gas (which is now above the liquid), pushes the liquid into the container.
Attachment 39392

This way more is transferred into the lighter before the pressures of the two vessels is equalised at which point the transfer will automatically stop.

Like I said:

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LPG is a liquid and it wont run up hill

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:D

It must be something we're supposed to know because it's not in the instructions on my bottle of gas ... the wee lighter came with none of course.

Ah well. It works, that's the important thing.

Richard

Does this mean that I now have to suspend my gas bottle above my BBQ like some enormous medical drip?
Might as well get one of those defibrillators for the steaks.

Only if you want liquid LPG spilling out all over your marinated chicken skewers...

Does this mean that I now have to suspend my gas bottle above my BBQ like some enormous medical drip?
Might as well get one of those defibrillators for the steaks.


I think you might end up freezing your steaks instead of cooking them!

Pete

Thats what the defibrillators for.....Stand Back....Clear.....ZAP...

I dunno about this upside down thing. I had the exact same problem. Even bought a second lighter. Tried it both ways up and still no fill with either lighter. I gave up at this point and got an old fashioned scratchy sparky thingy. I'll try to find them, but I seem to remember I tied it all ways up. Just didn't seem to be opening the valve in the gas bottle.

I dunno whats going opn with replies above but when filling a lighter you employ dockers or steevedoors, pull the lighter alongside of the wharf and crack the whip.

Hope that helps with the above problem.

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Originally Posted by jow104

I dunno whats going opn with replies above but when filling a lighter you employ dockers or steevedoors, pull the lighter alongside of the wharf and crack the whip.

Hope that helps with the above problem.

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That sort of explains the Barmy Army bod trying to light his pipe by rubbing two cricket stumps together :D

Richard

Did you fully disperse the gas before filling?

Daddles, there are two type's of gas bottles for your BBQ, one for the BBQ it's self, and one for refilling. The one for refilling is marked with a black or blue stripe top to bottom, this indicates an internal tube. The gas expands when the valve is opened and pushes the liquidfied gas up the tube and into the empty bottle. This is the reason why you have to invert the refill can, as it does not have an internal tube.

A gas ligter on the otherhand has an induction tube as it is required for the correct air/gas ratio for ignition to take place, as for your lighter inverting places the liquid at the valve, pushing down opens the valve and the liquid expands and pushes the liquid into the lighter. Hope this helps you understand what is actually going on. Also as already mentioned, take care with your skin being exposed to the liqufied gas as it will leave a nasty burn.:)