Blowtorch trouble

[rp181]

I have a regular benzomatic blow torch that worked fine. Last time i tried to use it, i couldnt ignite it. The gas smells like propane, and sometimes the flame ignites but strikes back into the the torch head, then goes out.

I also tried a colman propane tank but no luck, so im assuming that its the torch head. I tried igniting it with a BBQ igniter, open flame, and a MOT arc (a bit extreme...) but no luck.

The head dosnt seem to be broken/obstructed,

Any ideas? ile post pics later.

[jrrdw]

Sounds like a clog to me.

[brogdenlaxmiddie]

you could be using too much propane... Mine is rather finiky about how much is needed for an ingnition.....

[jrrdw]

you could be using too much propane... Mine is rather finiky about how much is needed for an ingnition.....

If it blows out the flame, it's under jeted. Use a torch tip cleaner just a hair to big in every other hole.

[rp181]

i dont have a torch tip cleaner, and i tried very low propane flow, very high, and everything in between

Whats clogged? and can i use something else to unclog it?

[jrrdw]

You can try useing compressed air and hold the trigger wide open and blow back through from the tip to where it screws onto the bottle. Do you have a air compressor with a blow gun? You can also skin off a wire garbage bag tie, bread twisty some other kind of small stiff wire. Is there any carbon build up in the tip area that you can see? Soot build up? That would mean the air gas mix is out of adjustment.

[rp181]

there is some black stuff at the tip, and i dont have a compressor, ive been using a bike pump.

if the air/gas mix is wrong, how do i fix it?

EDIT: I just connected the blow torch head onto my pump. I can usually pump ~40psi, but the air is hardly going throght. A very very small amount of air is getting through, but you cant feel it, can only hear is slightly.

[jrrdw]

Some of these things have a sloted screw like tip in them, Use a small screw driver and turn the tip a little to the left, opens it up a little, no more then a quarter turn. Some of them don't, just depends on when it was made. You wont get much air through it, not much gas needs to get through to make the fire. Try poking the holes out with a piece of stiff wire, thats all torch tip cleaners basicly are, basicly.

[rp181]

i got it to work. Only lights at full blast on an open flame, but i can live with it.

[jrrdw]

What does the flame look like? The outer portion, the inner portion? A hint, they should both have points, not rounded and fluttering. Should be blue, not orange, clear inbetween the two cones of flame.

[rp181]

yes it is. The inside is pointed blue, the outside lighter blue. When im soldering, which is better, to have the inner flame just touching the copper, or the outer?

[jrrdw]

Hold the flame about 1/4 to 1/2 inch away from the pipe. It will heat quicker. Are you useing sauve?

[Jared Haehnel]

Hold the flame about 1/4 to 1/2 inch away from the pipe. It will heat quicker. Are you useing sauve?

Suave = Flux (I think) just in case you didn't know threw me off for a second there... some soldering wire has flux already in it....

[rp181]

sauve? if you mean flux, then yes =) The stuff you brush on.
i was using this for a hybrid metering, and related on that, will the pressure gauge be damaged from pressure spikes? I still put a ball valve before gauge and shrader,but is it necessary?

[jrrdw]

sauve? if you mean flux, then yes =) The stuff you brush on.
i was using this for a hybrid metering, and related on that, will the pressure gauge be damaged from pressure spikes? I still put a ball valve before gauge and shrader,but is it necessary?

Yes, I mean flux. Is what necessary?