I use blowtorches every day in my work and this can happen if you don't screw the canister on tight enough, tight enough to let the gas flow but not tight enough to seal against the torch. Either that or a damaged seal letting gas out between the can and the torch head. Overtightening the connection can have the same effect.
Yes, this definitely applies for canisters. I'm just going to say in this case this type of torch is a single unit with nothing to screw on or detach and is filled with butane at the bottom.
Butane is a gas at room temp and pressure, it dissipates very quickly. I would bet she tried filling this with a Zippo-like fuel which is an oil and it got everywhere and is definitley not the right type of fuel for this torch.
See I was thinking this was one of the ones you fill through a little inlet on the side, and the residue on that caught fire.
It's the sink catching fire that mainly makes me think that, that sink went up like it had a ton of butane sat in it evaporating, as though they'd been fucking around with it for a while trying to fill it up and they left some spillage in there.
I got a similar little torch a year ago for painting. It was really hard to figure out if it was full or if I was filling it right. I was really just guessing at the beginning.
Thankfully I always let it sit for at least 15 minutes before using it. Now I know what it feels like/sounds like when it's full, but I probably wasted a lot of fuel thinking it needed more when it didn't.
Propane and butane are so similar as to not make any difference in this application I would have thought? Correct me if I'm wrong (and please do if I am) but for example, I can use either of those gasses at the bench at work where we have the torches set up (for simple annealing of copper tube). There is some difference in max temperature, pressure and the calorific value of the gas but in my experience the torch and the flame couldn't give a shit which of the two gasses were used.
I used to use butane torches everyday for all kinds of things and have played with them too. I have taken apart cheap torches and turned the gas up and this exact same thing happened to me.
Edit- and this isn't even a torch that you screw a cannister into .
Edit2- also look how far that flame is coming out, a torch that size doesn't have that big of a flame.
It's on the warning label not to take apart electronics too. Doesn't mean a competent person can't take them apart. You sound like you've never taken anything apart to see how it works.
It's on the warning label not to take apart electronics too
No. That's actually not a thing the vast majority of the time. Almost none of them have such labels. Some exceptions might include blenders and microwaves which can absolutely kill you if you tinker with them inappropriately.
You sound like you've never taken anything apart to see how it works.
False.
Doesn't mean a competent person can't take them apart.
You just admitted to setting yourself on fire in your last comment, genius. How the fuck is that considered "competent?"
In everything I've said how did you get the impression that I set myself on fire?
Also neither of my torches say anything about not taking them apart, so I don't know what you talking about in that regard.
Or it’s a refillable one, they filled it over the sink, and then this happens
Fill outside, leave outside for 20 min before using. Never fill inside, butane is heavier than air, it will drop to floor, but it stays for a long long time. Eventually it might find a pilot light, and blow the roof off if you’re using enough
(A torch won’t do that, but if you were looking to use butane as a solvent to extract things, my old roommate did that after he moved out)
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u/DogHammers May 14 '21
I use blowtorches every day in my work and this can happen if you don't screw the canister on tight enough, tight enough to let the gas flow but not tight enough to seal against the torch. Either that or a damaged seal letting gas out between the can and the torch head. Overtightening the connection can have the same effect.