I have to agree with Bill on this one. I have a bunch of refillable Jet-type lighters that all stopped working about the time of the first re-fill. These were all mostly low-end models, the only expensive one I had I lost about a week after I started carrying it.

So it's Bic Lighters for me, lots of them.

I often use a lighter to thaw out frozen padlocks by heating the key up or the lock itself. Bic's are not that great for this because the wind blows the flame out or the Butane is too cold. So I keep a 1 lb Propane Torch in my vehicle, I light it with the Bic and the lock is unfrozen in no-time. I tried small butane pencil torches for this but they had the same "cold butane" problem as with lighters.

This is way off topic but in the past I have had the entire 4 foot tall swivel post of an access control gate frozen tight. To thaw this out we build a bonfire around it just long enough to thaw it out, then quickly put the fire out with snow as it is really hard on the paint!

Mike

+1

I've owned several refillable butane lighters over the years (although I have never tried the Brunton Helios) and not one of them was worth a damn after the first refill. Perhaps I'll give the Helios a try.

I once put one of my lighters in the freezer for a few hours and then heated the butane refill canister with hot water from the faucet just before refilling, and while this helped considerably, I still only got about half the use I did originally when it was new.

I've yet to have a mini Bic fail to light for me except for once up in Wisconsin in the dead of winter. A few moments next to my skin and shaking it briefly got it working again.

Jim

I agree that the refillable Butane lighters are throwaway items, in spite of their higher price. They seem prone to failure within a month of use. Also I have had a lot of piezo (sp?) lighters fail to spark or spark enough to light the gas.

The Bic with a striker wheel is simple and reliable. It also can be used to light tinder with the spark. Drier lint or cotton lights very easily with it.

i went abit over the top with the lighters





still have to sort some bulletproof lighters

I stash mini bic lighters all over for emergency purposes at home, in the car, and in my gear...my wife smokes so they tend to go missing if I don't. I also litter my kits with Coghlan's waterproof match containers full of strike anywhere matches or wind proof storm matches. The only fancy lighters I own, I carry. A Ronson JetLite in my pocket (or a Zippo on windy days) and a peanut lighter on my lanyard.

Yes, it seems that a lot of refillable lighters out there have a rather high failure rate upon refill, even after just the first refill. I think it has something to do with either the quality of the butane being used, which is unlikely in my opinion, or more likely some sort of vapor lock or mechanical problem maybe. I too have suffered unrecoverable lighter failure in this way. It is usually instantaneous failure, meaning the next immediate attempt at use results in a failure to ignite, making me think it is usually of the latter category of failure types. I have a few refillables that have not failed afer repeated refills using the same butane supplies that other refillables did fail on, so unless some types a lot more finnicky about the quality of the fuel, I gotta think it is a design problem more than a fuel quality control issue.

If anyone else out there has a more definitive explanation for the reason why refillables fail so much, the input would be welcome.

Until I can figure out what is going wrong, I will just continue with my trial and error method and keep those that don't seem so prone to refill failure. I will also carry at least one other source for ignition with me when necessary.

The best butane lighter I had was a Blazer. I had it for years (8 at least) and it just failed recently. It wasn't very windproof, though, so I guess that makes it no candidate. I keep a lot of little Bics in my kits and a Zippo for daily use.

I have had a number of windproof lighters and they seemed to not work after a while. At the tobacco shop I mentioned this and they said the quality of butane is important. Colibri and other good quality butane (such as found at a tobacconist) will not cause your lighter to fail. I think there was a thread not terribly long ago about the quality of butane. The tobacconist said that there is a way of filling and purging a lighter that sometimes loosens up whatever is causing the blockage.

I use a Windmill lighter which Doug had mentioned a long time ago. They come in a number of colors including glow-in-the-dark light green. The only problem with the lighter is if the lighter is in a trouser pocket with a lot of other stuff the button releasing the cap gets pushed and the cap opens.

I don’t buy the idea that run of the mill (inexpensive) butane is inferior. I have a Butane soldering iron, I bought it from Radio Shack in 1979. I refill it with whatever is the least expensive sold at stores, it’s still working like new. I have also used the same butane in lighters over the years and had the lighters fail. If it’s the butane that is the problem, why does it work in my soldering and also a small Harbor Tools torch I have had for years?

Deductive reasoning and my experience says it’s the lighters and not the butane.

Pete_Kenney
Journeyman


Registered: 07/12/04
Posts: 53
Loc: Sylvania, OH

Hey we are neighbors, I live in Oregon on the other side of Toledo…