Hothead and propane setup

[glansin]

Hello, I am new to beadmaking and have been working with a Hothead torch on a MAPP canister. After getting fed up with the gas 'running out' so quickly I decided to upgrade to a propane setup. I bought the adapter from Tuffnell Glass to connect the torch to the hose, then bought hose and regulator and rented a 3.9kg tank of propane from my local gas supplier. The man there wasn't sure what regulator I'd need and the one he gave me says this on the top: (ingoing pressure) 2.6-16bar, (outgoing pressure) 0.35-2bar. When I got it home and tried it out, the gas wouldn't light. The regulator is turned up, the gas tank is turned on and the hothead is turned on but it sounds like there's not much gas coming out. I took the whole lot back to the gas supplier but the assistant there had no idea. When we took the hothead off there was lots of gas coming out so we know the gas is getting that far. After looking at this forum I tried blocking off the holes round the torch and we got the flame to light, but when I uncovered the holes it would go out again. Please can somebody tell me where I'm going wrong??!!

[Billie]

Hmmmm.... I'm sure the regulator I had from Martin on my HH was a 4 bar and I had it opened 3/4's to full so it could be if you have a 2 bar it's not enough.  Might be best to talk to Martin 

[hollergrafik]

mine is 4 bar, just looked.

[glansin]

Hello, thanks for the swift responses, I really appreciate it. I have emailed Martin but he didn't know what the problem could be. The man in the shop didn't think the regulator was the problem.

[sarah t]

my hot head does that when the gas gets low ....have you managed to use it at all or is it a new full bottle ?.......i dont know if there is a way of getting more out of the bottle cus i can hear it sloshing about .......but hh just goes phut phut out ......i  have bought one of those stick on the side indicators for the next bottle........i just want to turn the bottle upside down like ketchup but im sure it does not work like that lol


sorrry that does help you much ...

[glansin]

It's a new tank, and it feels heavy so I'm assuming it's full.

When looking through the posts I noticed a photo of someone's set up and it showed that they put tin foil around the holes on the HH. Is that a common thing?

[lampworklover]

I think the foil thing is only for reducing glass...and I haven't got around to that yet. Have only lit my torch 4 times so far!

I reckon it's either the regulator not allowing enough gas through (mine is from Martin and is 4 bar), or possibly that you don't have the gas turned up enough. I say this because I had mine 'partially on' one day, and after about 5 minutes the gas went out, making me think I had run out of gas. Hubby then came home and turned it up...and I was able to light it again.

There is a knack to getting the thing to light to start with, and covering the holes with your hand can  help (but never do it when the torch is hot  ), but once you are off, turn the gas up to 3/4 and you should be okay.

Hope this helps?

[glansin]

I really don't understand it. The torch works on MAPP so surely the torch is ok. Then the propane and hose appears to put through plenty gas until the hh is attached. AARRGGHHH!! I'm going round in circles and getting nowhere fast!

[Magpie]

I'd go for a bigger tank, 3.9Kg sounds quite small, mine's 13Kg. The pressure thing that everyone has mentioned sounds like it could be the problem. Can you swap tanks and pay the difference, or would you have to pay as though you'd used all the gas? Do the larger tanks run at a higher pressure?

and covering the holes with your hand can  help (but never do it when the torch is hot  )

No, don't do it while it's hot, don't turn the torch off to answer your daughter's question then 20 seconds later assume it's cold enough to touch, this will induce much swearing!

[Shirley]

Nothing wrong with a 3.9kg tank. One of mine is and it's fine.

Have you tried opening the regulator different amounts? I remember a couple of times I had to adjust the regulator, especially when I went to a new tank. Worth a try.

[Mary]

I know some regulators open the "wrong" way, you could try turning it the other way just in case.

[glansin]

Thanks everyone for the help and advice. After reading your comments my husband and I have been trying different things with the torch. We tried the regulator at different settings and also the torch open different amounts. We found that if we had them both open flatout and then covered the holes on the hh we could get the flame to light. Before that the gas was blowing out the match. Once we get the torch lit we could slowly uncover the holes and it would stay lit but then if it was moved it would sometimes blow itself out. Does this sound like we need a bigger regulator? The guy in the shop reckoned the 2bar regulator we had would run a really big torch, but then he (and us!) knew nothing about beadmaking torches.

[glansin]

Hello, I just wanted to let you know that I tried a 4-bar regulator and could actually get a flame coming out of my hh!! The regulator still has to be quite far up for it to work, but it's obviously where the problem lay. Thanks to all who offered advice. Now I can get on with making beads......