Dry-burning metal coils: is it a good thing?

I havent a clue David, but I know that with a thick amount of residue caked on the coil, it mast taste disgusting. I come from the pipe culture, and we also there spend a lot of time polishing the pipes and cleaning the pipes even after one time use, to make sure that they always taste good, so what can I say ? It is your right to be lazy, and suffer the consequences.

 

It’s not as convenient as dry burning but cleaning with alcohol and a toothbrush might be worth a try.

 

Thanks for the share @-V- , it is very informative and a well explained article.

I usually dry burn the coil and run it under water, not because I want to save wire but because I take few to no pleasure in building so I tend to make the coil last as long as possible.

Reading this though, I am thinking if there any chance that this dry burn method could arm me, and knowing I start vaping also for my health, than I should consider stop dry burning my coils.

I should rebuild more often, after all it takes 10min max from a naked atty to a complete build for basics ones so..

Good article, made me open my eyes a bit more. Healthier way to vape, I like that. Thanks again.

 

No more dry burning - bit of water and a toothbrush - like we used to in the old days. And YES -it looks like temperature control is the way to go. May I add that it looks like we need to also take a step back in time and be looking at volts and not watts. IMO wattage is not meaningful in the search for a safer vape. Voltage IS. The total time Farsalinos was talking in the early part of the interview, I was thinking he needs to be talking about voltage here and not wattage. Wattage is only relevant if the ohm-age of the coil is mentioned and then you get the voltage - so why not take a step back and just talk about safe voltage which so far looks to be between 3.7 and 4.2 volts - better yet - let's all use temperature control ;-). Lastly, as I mentioned I now buy pre made coils - I am going to boil them (all at once) for 20 mins tomorrow to negate the need for a dry burn on start up.

 

It's really difficult to clean the coils without a dry burn I'm finding. Anyone having luck cleaning with a toothbrush?

 

@colind88 it seems. I have never tried this solution myself.

 

Ok here is my solution on RDAs. As long as the coil is not dry you cannot achieve the temperature needed to destabilize kanthal. My technique is to drip water from a dropper onto the coil as you are heating it up - you can do this with or without the old wick still in since you are going to change it anyway. If you want to be extra safe then lower your voltage when doing this to 3.7.

I have tested it out and it works pretty good. The toothbrush is only used on a warm or cold coil as you don't want melted plastic on your coil. Again the secret to this is to use 24 gauge or higher (lower) this is a much thicker sturdier coil and responds nicely to a brush up. This is very easy using pre made coils which by the way FT are also selling in Nickel now.

I believe that interview with Farsalinos was a Game Changer -so a few tweaks are most likely warranted for all of use that remain committed to reducing the risks.

 

I am really interested in a solution, this does make sense. I guess you could also (carefully!) let water drip slowly out of the sink onto the coil while firing?
Does this get off enough of the gunk, or are you saying you use a toothbrush after?

I'm wondering if maybe a pipe cleaner isn't a little better to get inside the coils as well, but I don't have one to try it with as of now.



So far I tried just washing the coil well and tried to just scratch off some of the gunk that was easy to take off. It definitely helped stretch it out a little (while not ruining the taste) but I'm pretty sure this method will not last as long and as well as if I were dry burning.

 

Should imagine a pipe cleaner is a good idea and yes - drip cleaning while firing (wet burn) -let the coil cool and a brush with the toothbrush. Inside of my coils don't seem to gunk up much so I never really attack that area.

 

What I might try is setting a very low wattage and heating up the coils to the point where they do not glow but can still heat up the gunk some to burn off or make easier to brush-off.

Spaced coils seem to hold up longer before gunking makes an impact on the vape but the downside is they aren't as easy to clean with a brush. Other plus, as i mentioned before, is that they tend to glow quite evenly after building so less need to pulse and make them glow to test out their performance. They almost always work really well for me.

 

Saw a video with Rip Trippers, he cleans his by heating the coil and putting it under running water. "works a treat"
coils look like new,and for the idiots among us, just the coils !! lol been doing it for months.

 

Ive been burning the coils under running water too, you cant get the heat to clean them. maybe dripping water might do the job but then you will going from hot to cold, very hard to control. I dry burn and rinse, possibly 10 times before the coil is clean. it doesn't take much longer to put in a new one.

 

I don't believe all the hype...you are continuously heating the coil to vape so a few short bursts to dry burn are not going to hurt you. The coil in my kayfun has been there for months. Cleaned it last night. A few bursts at 20 watts to burn off the gunk and a re-wick and everything is fine and dandy and just tastes superb.

The fact that this is even an issue while people are out there now vaping on titanium coils is a head scratcher.

**Updated**

"Dry-burning the coils means heating them to temperatures well above 700oC"

And here is another part to ponder. I know when I dry burn I am not coming close to these temps...most of you haven't either...I know this because most of the chips in most of the devices have a temp cut off that won't even allow you to get close to this temp.

 

I must admit that I was thinking along similar lines-regarding the heat range that we use to vape versus the 'supposedly' bad heating done for dry burns. Also, not convinced- but, I do have a lot of time for Drn Farsalinos and he was suggesting that it could be slightly problematic-how much, who knows.
I did a slow, gentle dry burn yesterday on one of my coils-it's,for me, the only way to get the coil clan enough.

 

I think that was supposed to be 700 C? If so then I am sure that is reached with dry burning.

I know it is not specifically say kanthal but here's something I found posted in a UK forum. For reference 1300 F is about 700 C:

Yeah, I thought titanium was an iffy material compared to kanthal and Ni200. I'd want to read more before I moved to it.