“Bang!” On July 25, an accident occurred at Yangzhou Taizhou Airport. When a female security inspector was sorting out the lighters handed in by passengers, the lighter exploded. The thumb, index finger and middle finger of the female security inspector’s left hand were blown off on the spot. Coincidentally. Not long ago, at a highway intersection in Yancheng, Jiangsu, a moving car suddenly smoked and caught fire and burned rapidly. When the firefighters arrived at the scene, the car had been burned to an empty shell. It turned out that a disposable lighter was placed in the car, which suddenly exploded in high temperature weather and caused a fire. Fortunately, there were no casualties.
Lighters are common items in people’s daily lives, but a small lighter can explode and cause fires, and even harm lives. In the hot summer, the lighter you carry with you may be a “time bomb”. So, what is the quality of lighters sold on the market? How should consumers choose lighters of qualified quality?
The national standard makes mandatory provisions for 16 safety features
The reporter consulted the first national standard for lighters in my country, “Lighter Safety and Quality” (GB 25722-2010), which was implemented in 2011. This national standard is equivalent to the international standard ISO9994:2005, indicating that China’s safety standards for lighters have been aligned with international standards.
The person in charge of the Intellectual Property Department of Ningbo Xinhai Electric Co., Ltd., the main drafting unit of the standard, who participated in the drafting of the standard, introduced that the standard clearly stipulates 16 safety features of lighters, including flame generation, flame height, combustion performance, fuel filling capacity, high temperature resistance, drop resistance, continuous combustion, appearance, safety warning slogans, etc., to protect consumers’ safety, and lists clear testing instruments and testing steps for factories and laboratories to conduct testing.
According to the standard requirements, in terms of anti-spatter, explosion or sparking: the flame of the lighter should be stable after it is ignited, without continuous sparking and flame splashing, and the maximum flame shall not exceed 120mm; in terms of volume displacement: the proportion of the liquid part of the lighter fuel should not exceed 85% of the total volume of the fuel tank; the lighter must undergo a drop test, falling 3 times from a height of 1.5 meters (bottom down, bottom up, horizontal), and must not affect subsequent safe use. If the body is broken or the fuel leak exceeds 15mg/min, it will be judged as unqualified; the lighter must also withstand high temperature resistance test, and the lighter must withstand 65℃ 4 hours of oven testing. If the body bursts or the fuel leaks more than 15mg/min, it will be judged as unqualified.
Substandard inferior lighters are still on sale
Street stalls and tobacco and alcohol stores, two-yuan lighters sell well; free lighters with restaurant phone numbers printed on them given by restaurants are also very popular. However, what is the quality of these lighters widely used by consumers?
In March 2014, the Zhejiang Provincial Quality Supervision Bureau organized a province-wide supervision and random inspection of lighter products, spot-checking 31 batches of lighter products from 31 companies in Ningbo, Wenzhou and other regions. Seven batches of products failed, with a pass rate of only 77%.
Substandard lighters may have unstable flames, which may cause sparks and flame splashes when used by consumers, burning consumers’ hair or faces; or they may have unreasonable structural design or cutting corners, resulting in failure to meet safety standards for high temperature resistance or drop resistance, leakage or explosion at slightly higher temperatures, or leakage or parts falling apart and unusable after falling.
Shi Senglan, chairman of the China Hardware Products Association, told China Quality News that 80% of the lighters currently sold on the market are disposable lighters. “Some small companies use inferior plastics to produce lighter shells, and have no quality inspection methods, so they cannot guarantee the quality and safety of lighters. Coupled with the influence of temperature and environment, safety hazards cannot be ignored.” Shi Senglan suggested that relevant departments strengthen quality supervision and spot checks on lighter products, and urge companies to strictly follow standards in the selection of materials, processing, production, transportation and other links.
In contrast to the lack of measures for quality and safety by small companies, large companies strictly follow standards when designing and producing lighters to ensure product safety and quality. Take Ningbo Xinhai Electric Co., Ltd. as an example. They have improved product R&D design and testing standards based on national standards for key safety indicators. In addition, Ningbo Xinhai has purchased Swiss high-precision mold processing and testing equipment, and hired a team of senior engineers at home and abroad to develop lighter automation and testing equipment to ensure that every component and every production process is strictly tested.
● Check whether the lighter is smooth and burr-free, and whether the parts are finely crafted and tightly matched. For transparent lighters, the volume of the fuel should not exceed 85% of the total volume of the fuel tank, otherwise there may be safety hazards.
● Try to light the fire several times when purchasing to check whether the flame is too large and whether the flame is stable. If there is a flash or jump, the quality is unstable and it is easy to be dangerous.
● After using the lighter, you should also observe whether the flame can be extinguished in time. Generally, after ignition for 5 to 10 seconds, the flame is required to be extinguished within two seconds. Wait until the flame is completely extinguished before putting it back in your pocket.
● Some countries have implemented certification for lighter products. Certified lighter products will be marked with certification marks, which can facilitate consumers to buy lighters of qualified quality.
● Don’t buy huge lighters with strange shapes. This kind of lighter usually has an unreasonable structure and too much gas volume, and its safety hazards are several times that of ordinary lighters.
● Consumers must follow the warning signs when using it. Especially in hot summer, do not leave lighters in the car and do not expose them to the sun. The temperature inside the car will rise rapidly under high temperatures and exceed the safety standards that the lighter can withstand.
