Can't light torch after moving to bulk setup.

Carrie-Jane · October 28, 2007, 04:00:41 PM

Hi all.
DH and I have set up my HH for bulk propane.
We have the tank of gas, the regulator and flashback arrestor all screwed together. But we are having trouble lighting the torch! It is so annoying.

I have read through the previous thread on this subject and we have fiddled with turning down the regulator etc and DH managed to light it once but it went out.
We are not sure what we are doing wrong? We can hear gas comin through, and I have a cooker type spark lighter and a flame one but to no avail.
We got our setup from the welding shop and I have a 2 bar regulator. Have I bought something wrong?
DH is working away all next week and I don't want to be without my torch for beading - HELP!

slight edit
DH can get a flame if he sets the regulator to minimum (around 10 on the label) and has the hot head set to almost closed - this gives a 4 mm (yes 1/2 cm) flame - as soon as he turns up the hot head the flame goes out..

Help

♥♥Tan♥♥ · October 28, 2007, 04:16:26 PM

Can you post a pic of your settings on your regulator, that may help a bit?

Carrie-Jane · October 28, 2007, 04:19:31 PM

Hang on then.....
off through the rain back to the garage.........

Carrie-Jane · October 28, 2007, 04:49:55 PM

Right here we go....

Carrie-Jane · October 28, 2007, 04:52:17 PM

Here is the top:

It is a weldabilty 2.0bar regulator with three settings on the side 30, 20, 10.

Any help appreciated as I am starting to get really cross now!

Sal · October 28, 2007, 06:04:07 PM

I had real trouble lighting mine to start with and eventually found out that I had to open the torch to fully on before it would light (actually DH found that out fo me-I was to scared to try and light it when it was fully on

). I think we just set the regulator to about the middle but I had DH fiddle with it for me but didn't seem to change the flame all that much! Hope this helps a little.
Sal

Carrie-Jane · October 28, 2007, 07:00:44 PM

Well we tried the torch on full and with different settings on regulator to no avail! Even with a cooker lighter flame directly into the torch head the torch will not ignite. The gas glows blue like a flame shape so there must be gas there.

Then strangely DH tried covering the holes on the HH when trying to light and it lit, but as soon as he took his fingers off (it got hot) the flame went out. He only covered 2 holes at one stage.
What is going on? Is too much air getting in? or not enough gas?

We are completely stumped.

Lush! · October 28, 2007, 07:01:19 PM

Top tip for lighting a Hot Head (passed on to me by Sally Carver).

Cover the air-intake holes and it will light like a dream. Simply wrap your hand round the base of the torch, or make a tin foil collar and pull it up as you need it.

(don't use your hand if you're re-lighting though, cos it will be hot, and that would hurt ...)

Lush! · October 28, 2007, 07:02:14 PM

Ah - sorry, cross post.

Yep, that's it - use the tin foil and cover all the holes. It will work, every time, honest!

Carrie-Jane · October 28, 2007, 07:14:51 PM

Is that it?
A piece of tin foil to cover the holes!!!
ooooooo.!!!

You should have seen red haired grumpy DH chucking lighters across the garage!

I am off to the kitchen to get tin foil.
Will it stay lit if I take the foil off?
Or do I leave the foil on whilst I am working?

After all the connecting up and regulators and flashback arrestors etc. It seem so odd that I need to use tin foil to help the damn thing light.

I'll have a go and report back.
Thanks for your help.

Fingers crossed! or I am back to MAPP again.

Lush! · October 28, 2007, 07:20:10 PM

You drop it down again once the torch is lit, and it will stay lit.

You can use the foil for reducing as well, cos you're cutting off the oxygen.

Wrap the foil round the airhole part of the torch a few times to make a collar, then make a good twist with the ends so you've got a kind of handle. You can then slide the collar up and down whenever you need it without burning your fingers. You may need to replace it after a little while, cos it gets a bit raggedy and sort of brittle.

Maikki · October 28, 2007, 07:48:24 PM

In a beadmaking courses I am teaching we are using HH torches nobody uses between courses. Especially after long break (several months in summer time) they usually need to lit many times before they work correctly. After they are warmed up they are OK and lit properly. Maybe it is same with your torch now. By the way I hate those first moments of the first course in September... I start to think and stress of it a few days before the course. They are not my torches (except one and it works fine every time), so I can not help it.

Carrie-Jane · October 28, 2007, 07:56:49 PM

Well a HUGE thankyou.
You have saved our sanity in this house this evening!
I made the little collar and whosh it lit first time.

The flame seems hotter than with the MAPP and I quickly made one bead before dashing back in to put dinner in the oven.

Thanks again, I am so happy I am up and running on bulk fuel. DH got the 13KG tank refill as they didn't have any smaller ones left at calor gas so I should have many happy hours torching.

Also today I did a 2 hour jewellery workshop on using tigertail bead wire and made a lovely necklace (with shop bought beads). But now I am up and running and ready to make my beads into jewellery.

Redhotsal · October 28, 2007, 07:59:35 PM

Julie is right - cover up the holes and allow the "cowl" - i.e. the big tubey bit of the torch to heat up before you uncover the holes again. It should stay lit after that - but turn the torch up gradually once it is lit or it will blow out again.

The holes around the torch are a sort of venturi - that is, they pull in air through the holes to mix with the propane - that's what stops your glass from discolouring, so unless you want to reduce the glass (i.e. make it metallic looking) you will have to uncover the holes for normal use.

A lot of HHs work well with Mapp canisters and then get a bit temperamental when you switch to bulk propane. They're not really designed to work with just propane, but once you've used it this way and got it to stay lit it should work without too much hassle afterwards. I can never get my hothead lit with just a spark lighter though - so you will need one of those long nozzled gas lighters that you can get for gas cookers, you'll struggle with the usual disposable lighters.

Redhotsal · October 28, 2007, 08:02:46 PM

ooops Carrie-Jane - I posted the above at the same time - glad you got it working now - enjoy making the beads - should be able to melt a lot of glass with 13kg! The reason it feels hotter is not actually because thepropane burning temperature is hotter, it's actually slightly cooler than with the Mapp, but you've got a hell of a lot more pressure to play with.
Melt that glass!