worst consumer product

I use a paint stripper and a few sheets of newspaper to get the BBQ going. I recon it will also work for a fire place. Keep the paintstripper at arms length though. Once the paper catches fire its an instant inferno!

--
Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply 
indicates you are not using the right tools... 
nico@nctdevpuntnl (punt=.) 
--------------------------------------------------------------

What are you trying to immolate?

I've never tried any of those. The one's that look like hand grenades, handguns, flame throwers,

What I use for starting the propane torch for starting my wood burning stove is a barbecue lighter. Something like this: Piezo ignition gets it burning the first time the trigger is pulled. They're throw away and probably will last longer than a refillable.

--
Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com 
150 Felker St #D    http://www.LearnByDestroying.com 
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com 
Skype: JeffLiebermann     AE6KS    831-336-2558

Unfortunately, the ones I can find around here have the same problems John was referring to.

They all seem to be of a "child-proof" design these days. This means that at least one of two things is always true:

(1) Their piezo "triggers" require a very strong "pull force" before they will release the gas and go CLICK and ignite it, or (2) They have a gentle-pull piezo trigger, but a physically-separate gas valve or safety release (usually a thumbwheel) which requires very firm pressure and pushing in order to turn on the gas. I have no trouble with either type.

My wife has terrible trouble with both, due to arthritis in her hands (due in part to side effects of cancer chemotherapy, we believe). She just can't generate enough of a grip or push to activate them, without suffering severe pain.

A few years ago I'd buy the second type (with a separate spring-loaded safety thumbwheel), force it open, and epoxy it that way... she could operate the gas-and-piezo trigger easily enough. Even those seem to have become harder to find. The local stores all seem to be carrying only the single-stiff-trigger variety, which she simply cannot operate.

--
Dave Platt                                    AE6EO 
Friends of Jade Warrior home page:  http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior 
  I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will 
     boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

Do you know of one that's reliable? The ones that we get at Safeway are consistently awful.

--

John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 

jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com 
http://www.highlandtechnology.com 

Precision electronic instrumentation 
Picosecond-resolution Digital Delay and Pulse generators 
Custom laser drivers and controllers 
Photonics and fiberoptic TTL data links 
VME thermocouple, LVDT, synchro   acquisition and simulation

You'd think you'd stop buying there. It feels so good when you do.

This will do it:

;)

Or just get this:

Jon

Forgot to add:

;)

As well.

Jon

This is what you need:

This lighter.

Use

with

I've run it in subzero weather at 8kft, and over 10kft in cool weather. The lighter has a platinum wire to keep the flame from going out due to the wind.

You get them out of the UK on ebay.

I finally arrived home and checked my lighter. No manufacturers name. It does say "Made in Mexico" which does make it rather unusual. I probably bought it at the local Ace Hardware store. I searched all over Google Images looking for something similar and didn't find a source. It does look like this photo:

However, it's nothing special. It's a straight handle barbeque lighter with a square barrel instead of the usual round barrel. Looking at the starting spark produced, it's quite hot, which might be the problem you're having. I'll give the local hardware store a visit and see if I can find another, but the way Ace rotates its suppliers, I doubt if I will find anything identical.

I'm not sure what you mean reliable. These types always start on the

2nd strike. The first gets some gas into the spark gap area. The 2nd strike ignites the gas. Since no gas flows without first depressing the trigger, it's impossible to get it to ignite on the first strike (without a gas leak).

What I like about this style of it gets my hand away from whatever I'm trying to ignite. I've burned the hair off the back of my knuckles lighting a camp stove and again lightning a barbeque. No more mini cigarette lighters or matches for me.

The child proof features are fairly simple. The trigger is about the same as any of the similar previous barbeque lighters I've used for maybe 20+ years. It requires only as much force as needed to hammer the piezo crystal into producing a spark. No brute force required. There's also a thumb safety I could do without. There's probably some specification as to the minimum force required, so unless you take it apart and disarm the monster, it's going to be a problem.

--
Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com 
150 Felker St #D    http://www.LearnByDestroying.com 
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com 
Skype: JeffLiebermann     AE6KS    831-336-2558

I found it. It's a Scripto Aim-n-Flame utility lighter: Mine is the original, not the version II. Note that they sell six different utility lighters.

Tear down of a similar model: in 7 pages.

Here's the recall notice (oops).

--
Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com 
150 Felker St #D    http://www.LearnByDestroying.com 
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com 
Skype: JeffLiebermann     AE6KS    831-336-2558

What is wrong with laying the fire properly with some paper and a match?

Why does ever minor problem require another insanely complicated gadget!

My nomination for worst consumer product in the UK at the moment would be certain models of Panasonic TV that in the new high power digital terrestrial TV era can see several transmitters along line of sight.

It is an unfortunate combination of an excellent low noise front end and tuner coupled with dire software that does incredibly stupid things!

The upshot of their crass first found algorithm for mapping detected channels onto actual slots (numbers you punch on the remote) means that if any distant useless SNR channels found first displace the good local ones. And in particular large chunks of Manchester now get Welsh TV splatered across primary channels unless they have a tame computer or electronics bod to unplug the aerial at the right moments and/or do a complete manual tuning on the correct local transmitter!

It wouldn't be too bad if the Welsh Tv was watchable but it is QOS=2 and S=1 which translates to watching Picasso on a bad acid trip with extra clicks pops and bangs on the soundtrack. Sometimes you can even see enough of the picture to work out what channel it is.

Evidently they didn't think to make the set always but the channel with the best signal to noise in the primary slot (or even to store it). If the slot is already occupied then better stations are not stored :(

It wasn't a problem until they upped the output power in late September and since then I have heard plenty of complaints. Mostly it triggers the "found new channels" logic in decent sets but then finds nothing. The Panasonics however get blinded by the low channel dross and nothing short of brutal aerial unplugging can resolve it.

Regards, Martin Brown

Nico Coesel schrieb:

Hello,

you like some remains of the paint stripper on your meat fresh from the BBQ?

Bye

On a sunny day (Fri, 07 Dec 2012 10:49:18 +0100) it happened Uwe Hercksen wrote in :

You do not need a barbi cue if you have a paint stripper. I have even used mine to solder water pipes...

Sure makes your first name real funny sounding over here.

BTW, do you actually believe the guy? I think he is pulling your leg.

What he calls a 'paint stripper' is just a blowtorch.

Jeroen Belleman

We have a propane gas bbq, with a piezo lighter. It sits out in the fog and rain all the time, and it starts right up every time. The piezo button is easy to push. But the kitchen-type fire starters are hard to operate and usually don't work.

A propane blowtorch helps to get a wood fire going. The best way to light the torch is with matches.

--

John Larkin                  Highland Technology Inc 
www.highlandtechnology.com   jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com    

Precision electronic instrumentation 
Picosecond-resolution Digital Delay and Pulse generators 
Custom timing and laser controllers 
Photonics and fiberoptic TTL data links 
VME  analog, thermocouple, LVDT, synchro, tachometer 
Multichannel arbitrary waveform generators

Nope. I'm serious. In my experience its the easiest and fastest way to get a BBQ going. I have an older model but its similar to this one:

--
Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply 
indicates you are not using the right tools... 
nico@nctdevpuntnl (punt=.) 
--------------------------------------------------------------

rain

Many years ago I bought a friction lighter for lighting a blowtorch. Much easier than matches.

--
Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply 
indicates you are not using the right tools... 
nico@nctdevpuntnl (punt=.) 
--------------------------------------------------------------

rain

My propane (MAPP, really) torch has a built-in piezo igniter. Like the above propane BBQ, it's *much* easier than fooling with matches or a separate lighter.