Friday, December 2, 2011

Will butane eventually evaporate out of a zippo lighter pad?

I found a zippo in my work's lost and found, and asked what you normally fill them with, two different people said butane (and knowing nothing about this stuff, I didn't bother to look it up, I just found a butane refill kit in the sporting goods section). Anyways, now there's butane gas eminating in the lighter, and I'm just now seeing on the zippo website that it only uses lighter fluid. If i open it up and let it sit for a day or two will all the butane evaporate, or is it too dangerous to put a second type of fuel into now? I don't know how the two combustables would react with each other, so I'm just trying to keep from blowing a hand off. Opinions?|||You fill them with a liquid, not a gas.


Butane is a gas at room temperature, so you need to put in lighter fluid. (available at all good tobaconists) I would think all the butane has gone by now. What you might try is lighting it (at arms length) and the chances are nothing will happen. Then fill it with lighter fluid. Not sure what they use. But dont use petrol, its explosive in many cases.





Just found out, Butane boils (ie becomes a gas) at -0.5c. So in other words, theres no butane left in your lighter. You are safe to proceed with lighter fluid.





Have also just found out: Lighter FLUID (not lighter GAS, which as you rightly say is butane) is normally Naptha, a petroleum distillate. Its not the same as napthalene. But basically you want to go and by a bottle of lighter fluid for wick type lighters.|||If you leave your lighter open for a couple of days, all the butane will evaporate and you can safely refill it with lighter fluid. There is no reaction that will occur between the two types of fuel, so you're safe on that front; I'd just worry about a minor explosion if you light the zippo that's under a blanket of combustible gas like butane.

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