Leaking Rothenberger

[Red'n'Black]

This is a Superfire 2, I use it with two canisters, a full size Mapp one with this fitting



And a smaller butane/propane mix with this fitting and an adaptor



With the big canister, all works fine.

With the small canister, as soon as it's screwed in, gas starts venting from the hole below the trigger



Sealing faces all look clean. Anybody seen this before?

 

[Agroshield]

Is the adaptor "officially" sanctioned by the manufacturer (or discussed anywhere in a manual)? You can also look at Bernzomatic literature as the torches are made by them and a Rothenberger sticker added.

Is there any way through the power of Google to find the relative gas pressures in the two canisters? If the propane/butane is significantly higher than the MAPP, that could be an explanation.

 

[Red'n'Black]

Is the adaptor "officially" sanctioned by the manufacturer (or discussed anywhere in a manual)? You can also look at Bernzomatic literature as the torches are made by them and a Rothenberger sticker added.

Is there any way through the power of Google to find the relative gas pressures in the two canisters? If the propane/butane is significantly higher than the MAPP, that could be an explanation.

Yes it's a proper branded Rothenberger adaptor. I bought it at the same time as the torch, it only gets used occasionally, the same canister and adaptor have worked fine for years.

I always unscrew the canister when it's not in use in case of any slow leaks.

I'll look into the gas pressure thing.

 

[Maker]

How does the adapter seal against the stem on the torch?

 

[Red'n'Black]

How does the adapter seal against the stem on the torch?

There's a rubber sleeve in the adaptor that the stem fits into, and a rubber washer in the torch that the rim (of the adaptor or the full size canister) seats on. Both look OK to my untrained eye.

I'm struggling to work out what the path is from the canister to the vent hole, that only affects the smaller one?

 

[gaz1]

i have both blow lamps anyway and to be honest i wouldnt use the adapter

the map gas one goes on its own blowlamp and the other bottle gets connected to the other blow lamp comes in handy when you need both blowlamps

 

[julianf]

I went to the bother of calling Rothenberger once, as the sparker thing had failed on my torch.

They sent me out a service pack, FOC.

Im not saying you need anything, parts wise, just commenting on how helpful they were.

 

[brightspark]

i made my own adaptor for fitting the torch to a calor primus 2000 refillable bottle. wasnt going to spend 22 quid on one

 

[voipio]

I cannot see why the leak should occur with one cylinder, plus adaptor, and not the other cylinder.

There's a video here that may help:

 

[Kram]

Pressure will be higher in the MAPP subsitute - propene, than in any butane mix canister. That is, unless yours is empty and down to the last vapours, with no liquified gas remaining - in which case the pressure may still produce an adequate flame but be low enough not to leak.

Or liquified gas is getting into the torch regulator and venting, but not with the normal can. What is the small can from? Is it intended for upsidown use and have a pickup dip tube?

 

[Red'n'Black]

Both are about half full. The small one is actually branded Rothenberger as well, bought for use with an old Taymar torch that has since died. As far as I know they're both supposed to be used right-way-up.

I suspect I'm not going to find this one without swapping bits until it goes away. It gets used so infrequently I might as well ditch the butane and use Mapp for everything.

 

[MetalMonkey]

leaking from the vent hole is very common on these, there are three o rings which are often a problem - perhaps the adapter is just slightly different enough that causes the o rings to not quite seal.

 

[Red'n'Black]

leaking from the vent hole is very common on these, there are three o rings which are often a problem - perhaps the adapter is just slightly different enough that causes the o rings to not quite seal.

Ok. Looks like a service kit is on the shopping list.

 

[Haz87]

leaking from the vent hole is very common on these, there are three o rings which are often a problem - perhaps the adapter is just slightly different enough that causes the o rings to not quite seal.

This^, and a service kit won't include any of the internal bits so save your £


Remove the rubber washer at the base by the nipple (and remove the nipple - 10mm iirc). This then exposes a big chunk of brass which they will have kindly mashed into the threads in a couple of places.

Drill two shallow holes 180 degree from one another into this. Use long nose pliers in the holes and rotate the entire assembly to remove.
You've now got access to the internals.

Every single one of these all I've needed to do is clean up the o-rings and add a tiny amount of silicone grease and its solved the issue. They seem to bind up and cause the leak. I haven't actually had to replace anything ever to date, nor have I had to strip any back down since "repair".

Pee'd me off no end the first time my hand basically went up in flames, and I was adament to find a fix for something that has been sealed off and hidden away by design from us punters being able to fix easily.

 

[Haz87]

Demonstrates better than I explained