Cricket lighter for gas cooker.

Be interesting to know what they are using as fuel though. I thought most lighters war merely multiple sparks or hot wires. Obviously sophistication has set in since I last used gas! Tempted to say, that most gas devices these days have their own igniters in any case. Brian

Brian Gaff formulated the question :

The original kitchen hob lighters, were a large made for the job battery in the handle, with a shrouded hot wire element.

Modern ones are all Piezo spark ignition, many of which include gas a flame. In the past, I have found the flame is not essential, just putting the spark in the hob's own gas is enough. Piezo ignition systems do wear out/insulation breaks down and they are not worth attempting to repair.

Modern gas hobs and ovens usually include a transformer generated high voltage spark system, multiple sparks generated at the push of a button from the 240v mains supply.

The ones I remember, the battery *was* the handle!

Piezo ones are much less hassle than the refillable/disposable gas ones.

They also have a major advantage for us. One of our sons smokes (only in the garden). He used to 'borrow' the gas lighter and leave it in the garden. Was somewhat pissed off when I replaced it with a piezo one.

In message , Tim+ writes

Interesting listing. Pack of three or Special Offer, pack of three with a tin of Ronson Lighter Fluid. Why???

Remember those well. They couldn't light natural gas, which is why they all vanised.

It's a long time since I've seen one of these but I seem to remembere that the gas reservoir is simply a modified Cricket cigarette lighter which takes the normal lighter fuel.

Is it possible that you adjusting the spark gap before you realised it was gas operated might be the cause of the trouble?

Our last gas cooker had electric spark ignition operated by a single push button but only the ring which had the gas turned on sparked, suggesting the spark gap is too large to spark in air but this changes when gas is present.

I doubt there is a lot of difference between natural gas and lighter fuel, so perghaps opening the contacts up again might help.

But why bother?

I'm sure of seen these in pound shops so just buy another one!

I remembeer visiting France when they made it compulsory for bars and cafes to but up smoking and no smoking signs.

With typical French ingenuity, some of the locations of the non-smoking areas were a litte odd.

One place had two bars, one at the front and the other at the back, where it overlooked a river.

The corridoor between the two, which also conntained the toilets eas signed as the no smoking area.

I almost gave up looking in another place until I spotted the no smoking area sign hanging ... over the centre of the pool table!

I don't think it takes ordinary naptha lighter fuel because it relies on pressure to force the liquid fuel up to the jet. Also the website describes the refills as "gas".

I doubt that the presence or length of spark depends on the fuel. There was no spark at all until I narrowed the gap. I agree that the spark alone may well light the cooker, but I have not had a report yet from the owner. Your cooker's selective spark is probably achieved by electrical switching from the knobs.

I do agree that it's not worth spending time on a £2 product, but I wanted to satisfy my curiosity.

Modern ones, have a separate high voltage winding, for each spark gap. The spark might not be as obvious, where there is no gas presence at the gap.

Yes, gas - liquified butane gas under pressure which turns to gas when the pressure drops which, of course, is when it is released into the atmosphere at the outlet nozzle.

Also, the reservoir has to be filled at high pressure via the valve in the base. Can you spot a large removable cap to allow you to pour the fuel in?

I think it must be a long, long time since you last looked into the workings of a cigarette lighter!

As far as I know, the knobs only controlled the gas, although there was a sprung ignition position on the oven control beyond the maximum position.

Also, going back to the rings, if the hole in the burner that 'fired' the gas directly at the electrode got blocked for any reason, there would be no spark although the ring could still be lit by traditional methods.

In addition, if you were the manufacturer, would you prefer to switch the low voltage input to the igniter or install 4 highly insulated HV switches on the output?

Damn! I meant to look in Poundland earlier to see if they had any but I forgot!

I did try opening up the gap when the lighter had fuel in it, but no spark or ignition happened To fill the reservoir, you have to force the butane nozzle into a sprung valve in the base. There is no removable cap. I have never looked into the workings of a cigarette lighter, as I don't smoke, but I think you just pour the lighter fuel into a tank, and a wick sucks it up to the spark by capillary action. This is not a cigarette lighter - it's a device for lighting a cooker.

underneath a similar table at a BBC transmitting site was a "Danger - men working overhead" sign.

I'm well aware of that but the only Clipper gas lighters I've seen use exactly the same reservoir unit as in the cigarette lighters from the same manufacturer.

I used to smoke, but that was a long, long time ago.

However, I doubt the design of either device has changed much in that time.