When inserting your refill valve, slight agitation around its circumference may be needed with a razor so as not to damage any wiring present in the interior area of your Bic lighter. Fill the lighter with butane while keeping it upside down. A classic-size Bic lighter takes about 30 seconds to fill. Although, if this is your first time, I recommend you put less, as you will see in step 5. Step 5: There is something about lighting a Zippo that is immensely satisfying and any other lighter on this list will not come close to it. If you want to enjoy your cigar at the end of your hike, lighting up around a campfire or just want to light a stove. A Zippo will give you the feeling you need. If you use lighters excessively and need to replace them, you should consider purchasing a refillable lighter.

Unless you need a highly weather-resistant lighter such as the UCO Stormproof Torch, I’d recommend you go with a flint lighter. This way, too much fuel won’t escape the chamber once filled, as an airtight seal is necessary for this purpose. Step 3: And of course, a word of warning, you are playing with fire here, so please refill the butane lighter at your own risk. 1. The Pin What You Need What is your favorite lighter for on trail use or day to day life? Let me know down in the comments. To do this, simply unscrew and remove the screw from the lighter base itself – some fluid may come out while doing so that must be discarded before refilling with new gas later on.If your butane lighter is not working after being refilled with fuel, there are a few potential causes. Another option you can go for is the Classic BIC lighter which is a size up from the mini BIC. They can last for a good long time and will run out of fuel before running out of flint. Number 2, the ever reliable Ferro Rod. When poking into this opening, be careful not to make puncture any further than needed as doing so could cause an unwanted fuel leak once filled and could also put the lighter into a state of disrepair. Step 2: At the base of your Bic lighter’s fuel chamber, there is a rubber divider typically kept in place to keep it isolated and separated from other chambers for extra safety.

When you reload, there are no irritating push pins, no pressing your thumb over the hole, and no liquid fuel spurting anywhere. What is a big upside for the Zippo is that you can pretty much put every gas fuel in there and it will still burn. You hear stories and read about GI’s dunking their Zippo’s in gas tanks from cars and tanks to light up. This shows the versatility of the Zippo lighter fuel types. Place a refill valve at the bottom of the lighter using this process. This encourages you to reload the Bic lighter several times.Pre-filled lighters are less hassle and cheaper upfront. You don’t have to buy fuel or fill the lighter yourself. So from an emotional standpoint the Zippo lighter trumps all the other lighters. However it has quite a few downsides. Upsides In the bottom of your Bic lighter, you will locate a small hole. This is where you need to push with something like a pin or drill bit before it lands within the interior area of the lighter. Zippo Matte Lighter: 20+ minutes when submerged with lid closed; didn’t bother testing with lid open While I would generally recommend you go with a Mini BIC or Mini Clipper for the weight and cost savings, there are some situations where a highly weather-resistant lighter might be preferable — such as emergency or survival scenarios. Also, if you aren’t concerned with the extra weight and bulk it’s hard to put a price on peace of mind. Pre-Filled vs. Empty

While neither truly windproof nor waterproof like UCO’s incredible stormproof matches, this lighter was the most wind- and water-resistant that we tested. Now, I don’t mean this lighter doesn’t light consistently. It does. The Zippo was the third most reliable lighter in that regard, lighting 175 out of 200 times. The Mini BIC is also decently water-resistant. After performing 3 “Soak Tests” with it — submerging the lighter in water, shaking it out, and then trying to light it in 1-minute intervals — it took an average of 2 minutes before it started lighting again consistently. After gaining access to this hole, you will need to widen it so your refill valve can fit correctly inside. When deciding what size drill bit is needed, ensure that whatever diameter tool used should not exceed more than slightly wider than the width measurement taken from previous steps when noting down measurements before drilling begins. Once you have gathered all these essential items, you’re ready to refill your BIC lighter. Why You Should Do ThisMaking a full on fire with a Ferro rod requires a bit more time and skill than other lighters in this article. But they can withstand everything and more you can throw at it. Dunk it in water and it will still throw sparks even when soaking wet. Upsides The most important thing to carry with you in a ZipLoc bag is tinder material. Tinder comes in a whole lot of forms but most common are strips of birch bark, cotton pads soaked in lip balm or dryer lint. Tinder will capture the spark and ideally light up and burn for a few minutes. This will give you the time to keep adding small fuel to eventually a big fire. H/T to this reddit thread for giving me the idea for this test, as well as the idea to test a Clipper lighter in the first place.) Reliability Test

Butane is both lighter and less dense than air, meaning that it will float in the atmosphere. This can make detecting a butane leak more difficult because it won’t sink to the floor like other fuel vapors.Thank you for taking the time to read this article on how to refill bic lighters in its entirety. I really hope that was of use to you. If it was, please forward it to your friends or post it on social media. This is very useful to us in terms of spreading the message, and we greatly appreciate it when our readers do so. Jet or butane lighters are known for working in some pretty awful weather. Windproof and waterproof they can be excellent for hiking and a good option to carry in an emergency. But should you truly need a weather-resistant lighter, the UCO Stormproof Torch is your best option. Butane would spill everywhere if you simply pressed the butane canister valve into the hole you created. As a result, you’ll need to add something to the valve to provide a proper seal.