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Prior to refilling my lighter I recapped with the video Cheap Humidors posted some time back.
Initially I thought it silly to watch a video on how to refill a butane lighter as I've done this for years as a cigarettes smoker, but figured why not.
Come to find out lighters should be purged, which I had never heard or read before. But I'm lost as to why one ought to turn the gas down to the lowest setting. Anyone?
Don't know for sure, but I recently put my Xikar back in service. Always seemed to have trouble with it and just tossed it in a drawer and forgot about it (like a few other torches through the years). Anyhow, I decided to send it back and was reading where to send it back to and seen something about remedies to try before sending it back. I purged it and hit it with some compressed air and refilled it. So far, so good....Quote:
Originally Posted by rodwha
Don't ask me, I've never 'purged' a lighter in my life. As far as I'm concerned, it's a practice for people who don't understand gas laws.
Pull my finger!Quote:
Originally Posted by Emperor Zurg
I don't purge mine but I do put them in the freezer for about 20 minutes before I fill them. Something about it lowers the pressure in the lighter to allow for a better fill. The only thing I can think with closing the gas valve is that maybe there will be less chance of fluid leaking by the valve?
I'd assume a little air may well get in as there's air in the nozzle I suppose. Maybe over time it effects it. Dunno. I've also had issues with them no longer working right. Hard to say what the problem was, and I'm not going to claim it was the air.
Anyone on why you'd turn the gas to the lowest setting? Seems a waste of time and effort despite what little you'd put into it.
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Hmmmm... Being an A/C guy the temperature certainly effects the pressures. I've had to do that to a container to accept freon. After it begins to get near capacity it slows down to a trickle so cooling it down will speed it up.Quote:
Originally Posted by FireTom
From a how-to on Famous' website:
Next, turn*the flame adjustment to the lighter’s lowest (-) setting. This keeps the opening tight for a more efficient filling, and helps limit the amount of air that could get in by keeping the adjustment dial open to full bore.
Quote:
Originally Posted by FireTom
Now that I'm thinking about it I noticed my lighter quit filling at a point (it has a window to view the fluid, which totally charges me with negligence for having a dry lighter). Maybe an equilibrium was reached that could have been fixed by chilling mine. Hmmmm...
I have a cheapy with a clear reservoir that I noticed after I started chilling them I could get it much fuller.Quote:
Originally Posted by rodwha
i have a "cheapy" as well with a clear tank and when it dose not fill the whole way i will purge it some and than top it off and all is fine. my input on turning the flame adjustment down was to minimize air getting into the tank like the famous quote says. i seem to get a better fill with the dial down and closer to a full fillQuote:
Originally Posted by FireTom
I think it's to get rid of the inert impurities that got in there the last time you filled it. Anyway, I get better results when I purge before reloading.Quote:
Originally Posted by Emperor Zurg
It also cools the lighter in the same effect as putting it in refrigerators, allowing you to fill more butane. It's called Joules-Thompson effect that also happens to can of butane when you are filling up the lighter.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruck