Posted by Thomas F. on Jan 7th 2021
Vape Coil Safety
Coils, we all use them but how much do we understand about them. Here we break down what everyone should know to vape safely.
5 June, 2020
A HELPFUL GUIDE FOR VAPE COILS
Author: Thomas F.
Coils, we all use them but how much do we understand about them? How do they work? What is an Ohm? Why do they burn out? When should we change them?
These are all great questions, and I’m hoping to give you some insight into what exactly is going on inside of our tanks/pods.
What You Need to Know About Ohms
In its basic function a coil is the way we convert the energy from our devices battery into heat to vaporize e-liquid. It Is the core function of all vape devices, and there should be some common understanding on how this process occurs. Vape coils are made from select metals. The most common are stainless steel, kanthal, and nichrome, with some made from titanium or nickel. They are made in thin wire or mesh strips that are created to have a resistance or Ohm to produce the desired heat as electricity flows through them. The metal wire or mesh is then surrounded with a wicking material, most commonly organic cotton. The wick is what suspends the e-juice and ensures it encounters the heat in order to vaporize the e-juice.
Ohms law is a basic mathematical formula usually depicted in a triangle. It consists of voltage, current, and resistance. Majority of store-bought coils already have the ohms registered and printed on the side of the side of the coils head or on the package that they come in. Ohms are important to fully understand if you are building your own coils or running a mech mod. For the most of us the coils that are produced for the device you are vaping on are all built with the correct resistance for that device and are safe to use in a plug and play manner. Coils get very technical when it comes to planning what is the best ohm based on the batteries that you are running and that will be saved for a later blog post.
NOTE for RDA/RDTA users: the metal in the coils themselves will not last forever, corrosion, oxidization, as well as constant heating and cooling will eventually degrade the coil itself so keep a close eye for signs that it is time to replace the coils themselves.
Coils Don't Last Forever
When you are starting to get a burnt taste, or you are noticing that the flavor of your favorite e-juice is changing there are a few things that are causing this to occur. Burning taste is caused by two things, first is that the e-juice you are using is starting to leave residue on the coils and in the wick. This is usually easily identified by the juice in the tanks starting to become darker, as that left-over residue is being reabsorbed by the e-juice. Or by physically looking at the coil (if you can) and seeing a black build up on the coil itself. If you are using store bought coils heads for your tank this is the time to replace that coil.
If you are using and RDA/RDTA you can correct this by pulling out all of the wicking material, heating up the coils by firing your device till they are glowing orange, releasing the firing button and scrubbing the coil with a wire scrub brush to clean that residue off the coil, and re-wicking with new organic cotton.
Secondly the burnt taste can also be a result of not having enough e-juice in the wick, we call this a dry hit. Dry hits are when the coil is burning the wicking material itself instead of vaporizing the e-juice. This can be avoided by correctly priming your coils prior to use, and always making sure there is enough e-juice in your tank/pod/atomizer.
What You Need to Know About Ohms
Coils that are starting to taste burnt or the flavor is not as good as when you first put in your new coil is the ideal time to replace the coil, or re-wick your coils. It is not good to be breathing in any kind of material that is burning. Combustion is what leads to carcinogens, and carcinogens are what leads to cancer.
The main reason most of us have switched from cigarettes to vaping tis to lower the risk of cancer, so we don’t want to undue that by not simply replacing a coil when it should be replaced. So it is not advised to push that threshold to the limit as the health side effects will be much greater than the price of a new coil.
I hope this article has given you some insight into what is going on inside of your atomizer/tank/pod. And the measures that are needed to take to ensure safe and healthy vaping for years to come. Vape with confidence at Vapor Empire.