The two most common causes of torch and tip overheating are:

• Incorrect flame adjustments

• Insufficient gas supply to the torch

An incorrectly adjusted flame is among the most common causes of overheating. If the torch and valves do not have enough gas flowing through them, the flame will lack the velocity necessary to push and burn away from the tip. As a result, the flame recedes and starves into the tip resulting in overheating.
Using the appropriate amount of oxygen can also help prevent overheating, as oxygen has a cooling effect on the tip as it passes through the torch and tips.

Tools such as flashback arrestors or check valves, while necessary for safety, can restrict the flow of gas and oxygen to the torch and cause overheating. Standard sized flashback arrestors will work well with tips up to a certain size, but a high-flow flashback arrestor should be used with larger tips.

When using acetylene, the most common fuel gas, you must first purge the system by opening the fuel valve and allowing it to run for approximately 3 seconds for every 25 feet of hose length. Close the torch fuel valve and purge the oxygen hose by using the same process. Once you have purged the system, you are ready to light the torch.

When using a combination style torch with a cutting assembly, keep the torch handle oxygen valve fully open to prevent restricted flow during the cutting process. Next, open the fuel valve slightly and ignite the gas with a friction style lighter. Continue opening the fuel gas valve until there is sufficient gas flow to prevent the tip from starving. Open the fuel valve until the soot, which is discharged from the flame, disappears or until the preheat flames just begin separating from the tip. Next, open the oxygen valve until what are known as acetylene feathers (long white flames) are reduced in length to where they just disappear in the small bright luminous cones, that is a neutral flame.