I have a Smith Little Torch which I used extensively when making
jewelry and doing repair work.
I quit doing it for a while but recently set up my shop again and
made my first piece last week.
My problem is that the handle of my torch is getting very hot and I
don’t remember that ever happening before. I’m using the same tip
size I usually use which is #6 and I’m using about 6 lbs pressure on
both the Oxy and acetylene.
Can anyone give me any ideas as to why the handle is getting so hot.
It got so hot I couldn’t even hold it anymore.
just for fun and safety’s sake, get a new torch. a hot handle just
doesn’t sound like a good thing; ie, how do you know that the parts
you aren’t holding (hoses, regulators, tanks) aren’t getting hot
themselves?
Can anyone give me any ideas as to why the handle is getting so
hot. It got so hot I couldn't even hold it anymore.
I don’t have an answer as to why this is happening. I have been
using the Smith Little Torch for many years with no problems. I would
call Smiths and ask them about it.
Eeek! Replace that torch immediately! Has to be a leak or a crack.
Don’t risk a shop disaster or an injury. Warm perhaps, but torch
handles should not ever get hot,much less too hot to handle!
Lisa, (My son came to me the other night and told me that he hated
the courses that he was taking for criminology, and had found
something instead that he really loved. I braced myself for,
“underwater basketweaving”, or acting, when instead he tells me that
he is smitten with quantum physics and wants to be a physicist.
SIgh…ya never know do you?) Topanga, CA USA
Can anyone give me any ideas as to why the handle is getting so
hot. It got so hot I couldn't even hold it anymore.
Based on your description of the problem, if I were you, I’d
disconnect the torch from the hoses & quit using it until a
definitive answer is found. Probably the best source for that answer
is the Smith Little Torch Co. (littletorch.com).
Sounds like you may be getting a fire in the body, take your torch
apart and check it very carefully. You might try blowing it out using
a can of compressed air, like the computer cans, it would not have
any by products which could mix with the oxygen.
Check for bugs, spider webs, lint balls, and blow your hoses out. If
it continues to do it, buy a new one or send it in for repair, mine
does not get hot.
You have a fuel gas leak in the handle and it is burning… Don’t use
it. Replace the hoses and check it out or have it checked out if you
don’t know how.
The most common cause for any torch handle to heat up is what’s
called “back burn”. This happens when you try to use a large tip for
a small flame. There’s simply not enough pressure or volume so the
flame actually burns back into the handle. Every torch will do this.
Use a smaller tip and I’ll bet you won’t get the handle heating up,
however if you do then please call the supplier or Smith. By the way,
I use 8psi or more when using a Little Torch tip of 6 or 7.