Everybody knows Zippo Lighters and I, personally, love them. Since there might actually be a non-smoker among my 5 – 7 frequent readers and I’m un-motivated to work at the moment, here’s a simple tutorial on Zippo lighters. I have to refill mine anyway.
They’re simple, yet very convenient tools that are pretty self-explanatory, but perhaps there’s someone out there who can learn something new. I assume everything here is already widely available on YouTube or on Zippo.com, and I have no clue if Zippo company approves of my Tips. They just work for me.
Preliminaries:
Refilling:
Just pull out the inner container from the casing and insert it back upside down. In case yours doesn’t have a refilling hole, lift the felt pad up a little. Now you can add your gasoline. Most lighter fuel containers come with a foldable nozzle that allows for a mess-free refill. Give everything a moment to soak through thoroughly and try to watch for the moment when your wick looks wet. Stop refilling now, since too much lighter fluid will spill and/or ignite the whole lighter the next time you use it (see below).
Not recommended: I’ve seen a serviceman just dip the innards into a bowl of gasoline and putting it back into the casing. Not so good.
Maintenance:
You can purchase any spare parts for your Zippo lighter online, for example on eBay, Amazon or on Zippo.com
Wick: Try to keep your wick on level with the upper edge of the wick housing. Just pull it out cautiously with some pliers if needed.
If you have to, you can also change it: Make sure your lighter is dry. Remove the felt pad followed by the cotton filling and pull out your old wick with pliers, discard the old wick. Insert the new wick into the chimney hole using a nail or the like until it protrudes on the other side (original wicks have a wire wound around them to ease installation). Pull it out using pliers again and bring it to level with the wick housing. Add the cotton filling back in and seal everything with the felt pad. Assemble everything again.
Flint: Open the screw on the lower end of the inner housing, take out the spring and insert a new flint, put everything together again in reverse order. My lighter doesn’t receive more than one flint at a time.
Annotations:
- Especially when freshly refilled, lighters tend to have difficulties igniting when striking the flint. In this case, make a slight upward move with your hand when striking and it’ll light up without problems.
- Overfilled lighters tend to spill a little, resulting in flames burning all over the casing and inside the cap. This is not dangerous as long as you dont’t drop it and close the lighter right away. Excess lighter fluid will evaporate quickly.
- Do try to use lighter fluid because this is refined gasoline. It burns with much less soot and smell.
- Zippos don’t self-extinct (like gas-lighters), they have to be closed manually. Please keep that in mind.
- Unless you’re some kind of marine or the like and regularly brush your teeth with petrol, don’t carry your Zippo in your pocket. The gasoline vapors will give you a nice and burning red irritated spot on your thigh.
