# Why doesn't my refillable butane lighter work when it's cold?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-my-refillable-butane-lighter-work-when-its-cold/655035>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 6, 2013, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-my-refillable-butane-lighter-work-when-its-cold/655035 "2013-04-06T19:48:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![King\_Friday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@King\_Friday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_Friday)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2013, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-my-refillable-butane-lighter-work-when-its-cold/655035/1 "2013-04-06T19:48:14Z")

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I generally only smoke my cigars while driving, and during the winter months my refillable butane torch lighter just won’t light unless I stick it in the heater vent for 30 seconds to warm it up. It sparks, and I can hear the fuel hissing, but it won’t light. I’ll see a blue flame for a split second, and that’s it. I have several and it’s the same with all of them. Does the fuel need to be a minimum temperature to ignite? Or is there some other phenomenon happening here?

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**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2013, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-my-refillable-butane-lighter-work-when-its-cold/655035/2 "2013-04-06T20:02:04Z")

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> [@King\_Friday](#):
>
> Does the fuel need to be a minimum temperature to ignite?

Yes. That’s why you should keep it in your pocket in the winter. Holding it tightly in your hands for a few minutes usually works, too.

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**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2013, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-my-refillable-butane-lighter-work-when-its-cold/655035/3 "2013-04-06T20:14:35Z")

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It’s not the minimum temperature to ignite that’s the problem or you wouldn’t even get the short lived blue flame. Butane’s boiling point is around the freezing point of water (or 272-274 K according to Wikipedia), so if the lighter is colder than that there will be very little butane gas in the lighter, and the liquid butane won’t vaporize quickly enough to feed the flame.

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**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-my-refillable-butane-lighter-work-when-its-cold/655035/4 "2013-04-07T12:59:26Z")

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Right. It’s the vapor pressure of the butane, not the flash point. I’m sure the flash point is well below 0.

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**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-my-refillable-butane-lighter-work-when-its-cold/655035/5 "2013-04-07T15:49:02Z")

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Does it have platinum wires over the nozzle? Those catalyze the butane to create a cleaner flame, but at low temperatures where the pressure is reduced they’ll glow red from the catalytic reaction and starve the flame of fuel.