Old Coils, rust, bad flavor, easier to gunk?

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Rumi

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Phone Guy

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That is a Strange Looking coil!

If I didn't know that the Coil was made out of Kanthal A1, I would say that it had a Layer of Iron Oxide on it. But the problem is that Kanthal A1 has 20.5 ~ 23.5 % Chromium in it.

MatWeb - The Online Materials Information Resource

And that high amount of Chromium (Higher than all but the Highest Chromium Stainless Steels) will inhibited the formation of Iron Oxides. So my Next guess would be that the Tan Colored "Stuff" is Residual Burnt e-liquid.

Does it flake off Easily when Poked with something Metal?
My coil wire is from lightning Vapes. It's kanthal a1 wire. The "rust" does not easily come off.. I've tried dry burn, burn and quench under running water, this is pretty common for me which is why I asked the question and started the thread.

And once the coil gets like this, which happens quickly, the gunk happens faster and faster. Sometime as soon as a 1/2 or a 1/3 of the tank. When the coils get really gunked up you can taste that nasty burn taste.
 

zoiDman

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My coil wire is from lightning Vapes. It's kanthal a1 wire. The "rust" does not easily come off.. I've tried dry burn, burn and quench under running water, this is pretty common for me which is why I asked the question and started the thread.

And once the coil gets like this, which happens quickly, the gunk happens faster and faster. Sometime as soon as a 1/2 or a 1/3 of the tank. When the Coils get really gunked up you can taste that nasty burn taste.

The Gunk I understand. Because for Years I used Highly Sweetened, Highly Flavored e-Liquid. And they Gunk Up a coil very Fast.

Gunk isn't a Bad Thing as long as the Taste of the Hit isn't effected by it. The Coil in RTA I'm using right now Looks Pretty Bad. But the Taste of the Hit is Fine.

But when I Dry Burned, everything turns to White Ash. And maybe a Black Lump of Coal of coil on the Coil. I have Never seen a color like that on a Dry Burned Coil.

Is your e-Liquid a Very Bright Color. Maybe there is Added Colorants in you e-Liquid?

BTW - Does this Coil Wire do this on All your e-liquids? Or just on this e-Liquid?
 

Lord Vaako

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I appreciate all help since my first assumption is that I am doing something incorrectly. I did not do any modifications to the mod. It was bought as a sqounker/ bottom feeder and I paid that price because it was the only regulated sqounker available in the past 3 months, pre made and made in USA. Vapor Flask Squonk DNA 40 2.1S (Black Top) The evolve dna instructions are short and I've only figured out how to adjust the watts which seems to automatically adjust the volts for you. I did not consider that 20 watts was too high as many devices can go much higher . Build on my ohm reader was 1.89, is this too low ohms? I see people building .3 ohms and lower. My Peko came pre made and is mechanical and is running the .51 ohms. The attys made for sqounkers have smaller airflow than my dripping attys so maybe I am frying the juice.

Sorry I had you confused with Phoneguy. For Rumi - Adjustable wattage and voltage are two different things. Only the older devices let you adjust voltage, so I was trying to get to the same - or close to the same - stats you had. I would seek someone out that has the same device at this point as I don't know what else to tell you. Personally I would switch to something else. It could be that you're not feeding juice from the bottom feeder but it's hard to see why unless I have it.
 

Lord Vaako

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My coil wire is from lightning Vapes. It's kanthal a1 wire. The "rust" does not easily come off.. I've tried dry burn, burn and quench under running water, this is pretty common for me which is why I asked the question and started the thread.

And once the coil gets like this, which happens quickly, the gunk happens faster and faster. Sometime as soon as a 1/2 or a 1/3 of the tank. When the Coils get really gunked up you can taste that nasty burn taste.

I've bought wire from them before when I used to use kanthal A1 and never had that problem. They're a good supplier, but I would contact them about this. It could be a bad batch.

Does it happen only after you dry burn under running water? It could be something in your water that is accelerating the oxidation. You don't need to dry burn under water btw. It might work well, but I don't think it helps the life of the coil. Try using bottled water next time or no water and let us know what happens.
 
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Lord Vaako

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That is a Strange Looking coil!

If I didn't know that the Coil was made out of Kanthal A1, I would say that it had a Layer of Iron Oxide on it. But the problem is that Kanthal A1 has 20.5 ~ 23.5 % Chromium in it.

MatWeb - The Online Materials Information Resource

And that high amount of Chromium (Higher than all but the Highest Chromium Stainless Steels) will inhibited the formation of Iron Oxides. So my Next guess would be that the Tan Colored "Stuff" is Residual Burnt e-Liquid.

Does it flake off Easily when Poked with something Metal?

Something could be causing the external layer to break down faster than normal. That's where the alluminum oxide external layer of the wire is the primary anti-corrosive and heat conducting component. Read this.

Scientific discovery: Why aluminum doesn't rust: 5/00

The core is iron and chromium and that will breakdown under normal wear and tear during the life of a coil. Phoneguy's coil doesn't look like normal wear on a coil. Something is either in the water or he could have a bad batch of wire that does not have aluminum oxide as the external layer.
 

zoiDman

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Something could be causing the external layer to break down faster than normal. That's where the alluminum oxide external layer of the wire is the primary anti-corrosive and heat conducting component. Read this.

Scientific discovery: Why aluminum doesn't rust: 5/00

The core is iron and chromium and that will breakdown under normal wear and tear during the life of a coil. Phoneguy's coil doesn't look like normal wear on a coil. Something is either in the water or he could have a bad batch of wire that does not have aluminum oxide as the external layer.

Does Kanthal A-1 have an Iron and Chromium "Core" surrounded by Aluminum? Or is it a Homogeneous Alloy of all the Elements?

BTW - Aluminum Can't "Rust" because it doesn't contain Iron to form Iron Oxides. LOL
 
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Phone Guy

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I hardly ever dry burn and quench under water, I started that as an experiment to see if I could potentially wash off the bad stuff. 99.9% of the time I just dry burn a few pulse, but the coils pretty much immediately get looking like that.

The discoloration of the coil happens with all the juices I vape, which admittedly I'm kind of an older guy stuck in my ways, so I vape the same juices (flavors) over and over... I only rotate thru a handful, 1 DIY juice (a castle long clone), real castle long, gentlemens reserve, etc... so yeah what I vape is sweet and absolutely has a brown sugar in it. BUT: bottom line is even with that being said, any given coil (im my mind) should last more than a few tanks? As my taste buds have improved over this last year, I can really start to tell when the hit (puff) taste burnt or off, and once these coils get black and discolored - the taste gets funky FAST..and gets progressively faster the longer I continue to use them, I have started recoiling every couple of days.

I guess my next wire purchase will be from TemCo (not lightning vapes), just as a test.
 

BadTrainDriver

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After a tank or two (8ml of juice), a soak overnight in a little Simple Green and water, and a dry burn, my coil looks similar to yours Phone Guy. A while back, I had the idea to "brush" the coil after cleaning and dry burning. Old toothbrush, give it a gentle brushing in all directions. Made my coil look like new.

I can take pictures next time if you'd like.
 
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zoiDman

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After a tank or two (8ml of juice), a soak overnight in a little Simple Green and water, and a dry burn, my coil looks similar to yours Phone Guy. A while back, I had the idea to "brush" the coil after cleaning and dry burning. Old toothbrush, give it a gentle brushing in all directions. Made my coil look like new.

I can take pictures next time if you'd like.

Not say'n that your Tech isn't good. Or that if it Works for you that you shouldn't do it.

But Wouldn't it just be Easier to put a New Coil in verses all that?
 

zoiDman

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How could taking ten seconds to brush a coil be harder than winding and attaching a new coil?

Is was referring more to this "After a tank or two (8ml of juice), a soak overnight in a little Simple Green and water, and a dry burn, my coil looks similar to yours Phone Guy" than the Brushing.
 

BadTrainDriver

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Is was referring more to this "After a tank or two (8ml of juice), a soak overnight in a little Simple Green and water, and a dry burn, my coil looks similar to yours Phone Guy" than the Brushing.

I do the soak/rinse/dry burn/brush/re-dry burn after every wick/type of juice change. My coils tend to last a month or better. I have four KFL+s and two Erlkonigins in rotation, and only ever use one or two at a time. When I clean them, I clean them. Am I slightly OCD, absolutely. I've seen some crap people put together with a wick and some juice, and it's f'ing disgusting. I've got the time, I'll make mine clean, thank you. You can do as you please as well.
 

zoiDman

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I do the soak/rinse/dry burn/brush/re-dry burn after every wick/type of juice change. My coils tend to last a month or better. I have four KFL+s and two Erlkonigins in rotation, and only ever use one or two at a time. When I clean them, I clean them. Am I slightly OCD, absolutely. I've seen some crap people put together with a wick and some juice, and it's f'ing disgusting. I've got the time, I'll make mine clean, thank you. You can do as you please as well.

Whatever works for you is the Best Technique.

And if read what I posted, I tried to make it Clear that wasn't trying to put you down.

:)
 

Phone Guy

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I do the soak/rinse/dry burn/brush/re-dry burn after every wick/type of juice change. My coils tend to last a month or better. I have four KFL+s and two Erlkonigins in rotation, and only ever use one or two at a time. When I clean them, I clean them. Am I slightly OCD, absolutely. I've seen some crap people put together with a wick and some juice, and it's f'ing disgusting. I've got the time, I'll make mine clean, thank you. You can do as you please as well.

I routinely clean my tanks too. Pretty rare to go more than 1 refill without a cleaning. And sometimes I'll clean after every tank. I've got 3x lifetime supplies of cotton, and 50x lifetimes supply of Rayon. So I rewick after a tank and occasionally after 2 tanks. (usually every tank gets a new wick)

I always hear about people saying they run a coil for a week, or a wick for a week... I go thru 10ml a day. I always have 2x tanks ready to go... I couldn't use a wick for a week. No way.
 

Froth

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I always hear about people saying they run a coil for a week, or a wick for a week... I go thru 10ml a day. I always have 2x tanks ready to go... I couldn't use a wick for a week. No way.
You're going through 10ml a day, that should at least somewhat answer your own question IMO. 70ml in a week through ONE single coil/wick is asking your relatively small coil with a small surface area to do an awful lot. Plus you have to take in to account that unlike a dripper your wick and coil are constantly saturated, and even while the coil is cooling down from a hit it is still saturated until empty. Many of the people claiming they've got coils lasting weeks and weeks are likely not only using a larger wire than you but probably also vaping less AND using a dripper with dual coils(each coil only has to vaporize 5ml in a dual setup to get 10ml/day), 10ml/day is in the upper range of vapers and most people that go through that much juice are using drippers at lower resistances, the coils in those devices are MUCH larger with a lot more surface area so they will inherently last longer.

My only question is, do you have to use Kanthal? There's lots of other wires with differing compositions out there right now to experiment with, I kicked Kanthal to the curb long ago for many of the issues you're experiencing.
 
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