My ancient torch seems to have finally turned up its toes, and it hardly seems worthwhile to try to fix it, so I'm looking for a new one. I know the MAP ones come highly recommended but for the amount of use I have for it, they seem rather extravagant. I was hoping to find something for less than around 30 quid, but all the ones in that bracket from the regular places (SFX etc) seem to get very poor reviews.
Does anyone have any recommendations?
Cheers
I think for £30, you're only going to get a propane torch, the Bernzomatic or Rothenberger torches which take MAP are twice the price, though the gas itself (I know it's no longer real MAPP) seems to cost only a minimal premium over propane.
I haven't managed to justify a MAP torch to myself yet, and am happy enough with for 15mm and 22mm, it does have piezo ignition, but needs a little warm-up time otherwise it flares when you tilt it.
Do more plumbing to justify a better one! I struggled along with a crappy one for years and finally, with a rush of blood to the head and a boiler to fit, stumped up for a Rothenberger Super-Fire II and it's brilliant. I rashly bought it while I was in Plumb Centre - but I'd been looking on eBay and, had I had the time, could have got one for about £50 (IIRC) rather than £70/£80.
I'd got caught in the same trap as you of not wanting to spend too much but finding almost all of the cheaper ones got bad reviews and put off doing it for far longer than I ought to have.
Scott M used his keyboard to write :
+1I have two, paid full price for first, then saw a second one new for £20 in a car boot, so bought it. The gas lasts a very long time.
I saw that one but was a bit put off by the reviews. Maybe it's a matter of how you use it though, and I notice that one of the reviews says that the issues seem to have been fixed. Looks worth a punt, cheers.
I got a cheap Chinese one off ebay. I can't criticise them, they do the job ok. About $4-6 IIRC. Just as good as my previous well regarded brand one. MAPP is only useful when you need the extra temperature.
NT
I have two of them (the oldest without built-in ignition). They were under a tenner, including a gas canister when I bought them (some years ago), but even so, £24 for that is ridiculous.
Works fine up to 22mm, certainly.
Car boot sales.
I don't understand the bad reviews. I've replumbed a whole house, including installing central heating from scratch with it, with pipe sizes up to 28mm copper, and it worked flawlessly.
Only thing I can guess is the users used wrong gas (e.g. not a propane butane mix), or turned it upside down before the burner is hot enough to vaporise the gas mix.
Me neither, I've had mine for ages, and no problems with it, but more than one of the reviewers seem ham-fisted enough to have cross-threaded the cylinder when changing it ... maybe B&Q reviews should be ignored like YouTube comments?
You must go to better car boots than I do!!
I bought one of these:
There is even cheaper:
and even cheaper
NT
I bought one of these as well and it emptied the attached canister over the period of a few hours.
Probably more sensible to disconnect the canister when not using it.
That is why I like burners where you can detach the cannister.
I had a Silverline torch of the type with piercable can. That did leak, albeit slowly.
I couldn't agree more, but ended up buying one anyway. I haven't used it in anger yet, but it seems fine: Starts well and doesn't flare if you give it a bit to warm up before turning it upside down. As pointed out by others, I never leave the gas connected, so can't comment on whether it might leak ( I guess they all do, a bit).
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