Common Zippo Problems
I've been using my Zippo lighter for about year but not as my primary lighter -I'm a 'light' smoker, with a pack lasting anywhere from 10-14 days. As much as I'd like to use the Zippo more often, the fact that it doesn't light up on the first few strikes bothers me. I have a coworker with a much older Zippo and his lights up usually on the first strike, if not by the second he's got a light going. Is there anything wrong with my Zippo? I refuel it often, the stone (what's it called?) has been changed recently and yet, no good lights -unless I keep striking it half a dozen times or more.
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- One of the most common problems associated with any type of lighter is a failure to ignite, accompanied by a hissing sound. When the igniter of the lighter is pressed down, no flame appears but the lighter hisses, as if the fuel in the lighter is escaping.
You need to air it out a little when you open it. There is no oxygen in it when you first open it.
Swoosh your hand either up a little or down a little to get the fumes away from the windscreen, and then flick the flint. Should light on the first try then. Tried that too. I noticed that on the lucky chance it would light up at first try, I'd get a nice flare up around the cover -it scared the shit out me when it first happened.
Reading the manual it did mention to move the lighter around in order to dissipate the fumes from the cover (windscreen?). Sounds like either the wick is routed wrong or not all the way through, its too far from the flint or in bad shape.
Take the lighter apart, pull all the cotton out, make sure the wick goes through the center of the cotton and to the bottom of the lighter. I have seen newer ones where the wick is coiled around in the top of the lighter, you want it to go all the way through so it always has access to the fluid in the cotton. Make sure the visible part of the wick is in good shape, it shoul be charred but not crispy, trim the end off anyway just in case. Make sure the wick is close enough to the flint, the spark only travels so far, the closer it is the strongerthe spark is. Fill it up, keep filling until you see fluid pool on top of the cotton (yes you will end up with it on your hands, you can be cool and just burn it off!) then put the lighter back in the outer case, close, open, light. It may take a couple tries after the over haul, once it lights let it burn a few seconds before closing it, let it sit a few minutes and try it, should fire right up.
I'm betting it's one of the following, in order of liklihood: 1) Wick is corroded, worn out, frayed. $1 gets you a new one. 2) Cotton balls on the inside have old fuel stuck to them and no longer absorb like they used to. $2 gets you about a pound.
I've bought lots of vintage zippos and in several cases I've found a reddish stain from the wick that has spread to the cotton on the inside. I'd pull the wick and the cotton, buy a zippo wick and put it in (can be a little hard to thread but a pair of needle nose will help) then stuff in some new cotton balls. Fill 'er up and light it up. As long as you're getting a good spark this should be all you need to do. The zippo is a very simple device and so from what it sounds like replacing the cotton and wick should fix it.
Also, make sure the wick is trimmed to just below the top of the chimney (thing with the holes). If the flame size is not to your liking, bending the wick closer to the wheel will make the flame smaller.
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Bending it farther will make the flame bigger, within limits. Take a pair of needlenose pliars and pull the wick out until you see white wick and no black on it.
Clip the wick off with some wire cutters just slightly below the top of the flame guard. The problem is not your wheel or flint or refueling it. Your wick has too much carbon and charred fuel on it and therefore isn't lighting right.
I had this happen with mine a few months ago. Basically you should trim it about every 6 months to a year depending on how often you use it. The wick should be changed every 1.5 years if possible, the flints should just be changed out when they go blank, and you should not refuel your lighter any more than once every 3 days. I've had about 20 or so of these and once again starting to build my collection up.:edit: Damn you jidai & Jetta. Originally posted by Searchy: You need to air it out a little when you open it. There is no oxygen in it when you first open it.
Common Zippo Problems For Women
Swoosh your hand either up a little or down a little to get the fumes away from the windscreen, and then flick the flint. Should light on the first try then.
I was having this problem myself. Open it, and either swoosh your hand by it, or just open the top, sort of flick it back and forth a little bit and then strike.
You should have no problems then. And yes, if you let it sit, all the fuel will evaporate.
Also, don't over-fill it. Just soak the cotton lightly and that is it. Putting more in won't make it last longer, it'll just give you nasty chemical burns when you put it in your pocket.
(done that too.) -T. I used to sell Zippos, and can vouch for the awesomeness of their lighters AND the company itself. Where I worked, we used to sell them by the boatload to foreigners, apparently in Europe (or at least in the early 90s), they were very popular. Zippo will do damn near anything for a customer. We had a customer claim he ran over his with a motorcycle, and they still replaced it free of charge.
Common Zippo Problems For Men
I called Zippo to ask if this was true. They said, 'Sure, why not?' The markup on these is pretty high. My cost was 10% of the retail sticker, so I can imagine that they are cheap to replace for good vibes. The markup on these is pretty high.
My cost was 10% of the retail sticker, so I can imagine that they are cheap to replace for good vibes. This is one of those things that puzzles me. I mean, as with most everything else, there're cheap Chinese knock-offs to be had at a fraction of the price of the name brand. However, it's not like Zippo-branded lighters are manufactured to some devastatingly narrow tolerance.
They probably cost all of two dollars to make in any sort of volume. And yet, the knock-offs still manage to suck. Zippo will do damn near anything for a customer. We had a customer claim he ran over his with a motorcycle, and they still replaced it free of charge. I called Zippo to ask if this was true.
They said, 'Sure, why not?' After my motorcycle accident mine was so bent it wouldnt close completely. I sent it back, with pictures of the pants I had on in the accident, where you could see how the lighter had saved me a lot of skin loss, and asked if they could fix that lighter and not replace it, as it meant a lot to me after that incident.
They fixed it, it still has dents and marks, but works and seals fine now. They also replaced/cleaned the internal workings since it was due for an overhaul. They did this all free of charge of course.