Gas Wands Are A Pain In The *rs*

[AndiFlatland]

I'm sick to death of buying gas wands to light the oven. They work fine for as long as the factory-filled gas lasts - but every time it runs out, I try to refill the damn things with gas from one of the standard cans, and can NEVER get a glimmer of a flame out of it again. I know the gas is going in, and there is a spark when the button is pressed - but never a flame. I've tried using all the adaptors, but nothing works. I've just thrown the 5th or 6th one in the bin. Are they using a special kind of gas at the factory which is not available to the public?
Any ideas?

[Tilly2]

Use a match.

[daffy654]

I've had the same one for years now, it fills fine every time. It was only a cheap thing from the local bargain shop.

[Psybbo]

http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=255284157
try rhese

[sandyRoe]

Do they still sell the ones that used a battery to make a spark?

[jomifl]

It seems as if the gas isn't going into the wand. Are you hodling the refiller upside down so that the liguid gas can get in?

[sandyRoe]

They do.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=battery+operated+gas+lighter&tag=googhydr-21&index=aps&hvadid=23265097609&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9322136761019429806&hvpone=&hvptwo=&;hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_9gre0kc41p_b

[heathfield]

I don't think the gas is actually getting into the lighter. There's a technique to doing it that some folk don't get. The tip of the refill canister should fit onto the outside of the lighter's inlet valve and no more. Keep the refill inverted and vertical. Press down hard - there shouldn't be any hissing, which would mean gas is escaping and not going into the lighter. Done correctly, the gas from the refill will flow into the lighter in the same way as if it were water. I learned this from trying to refill those transparent electronic cigarette lighters, where I could see what was actually happening. (By the way, I now use a 'Cricket' gas lighter. It has outlasted every other make I've had. Available in most supermarkets).

[woofgang]

I know have the knack of filling them, but it is a knack!

[AndiFlatland]

Update and responses:
Late last night, I decided to give the one I'd just chucked in the bin one more try (it was quite an expensive one by comparison to all the others that I'd binned, so finances dictated a reprieve, if at all possible). Pressed the button and, hey presto! a flame!! And yet, I'd tried it again and again and again over about half an hour before, and nothing. So the thing's back on the worktop for the time being.
To the various respondents:
Matches, even the extra long ones, are never a good idea, when you're reaching to the limit of your stretch, into a dark corner at the back of the oven. The cooker has a fairly narrow space in front of it, which limits how far down on my knees I can get. A long-nozzled gas wand sorts that problem out.
SandyRoe, the suggestion of the battery-operated lighters is, on first sight, a good one - but a lot of reviews of the various types sold on Amazon are rather negative about the spark's unreliability to actually light the gas. And if I went for one which operated a spark to light gas from it's own reservoir, then we're going round in circles, and back to the same problem.
And yes, Heathfield, I do know how to fill gas lighters from the canisters sold in newsagents, etc. I used to smoke for many years (thankfully managed to kick the dreadful habit in 2007), and regularly refilled my transparent lighters with those canisters, so I could always see the level of the gas rising. I think a lot of the trouble with gas wands is that the gas reservoir is buried quite deep within the body of the wand, and the valve is barely accessible through the tiny aperture at the bottom end. So you're never quite sure if the end of the nozzle or adapter is making proper contact with the valve. Without taking the thing apart, it's pretty much down to trial and error. And although there is usually a long, narrow plastic window through which you can ostensibly view the level of gas, in reality it's almost impossible to see it. I'll bear in mind your suggestion of the Cricket lighter, as the brand is quite well-known, and has been around for decades.