# To clean coils by dry burning or not to dry burn?



## Waine

This may have been asked dozens of times here before. 

When your RDA or RTA's cotton wicks starts getting dark and gummed up, do any of you remove the cotton and dry burn the coil?

No doubt, you may have read the varying opinions on the web as to whether this is safe or not. Some say doing this alters the atomic structure of the coil resulting in minuscule particles of metal being absorbed into the juice and lungs. Others say it is no problem.

I saw a trick where a chap dry burns the coil, then carefully dips it into a cup of water, dry burns again, dips and repeats. I tried this. You can see little black particles from the coil sinking to the bottom of the cup.

Is this good or bad?

I just change the coil and wick if the cotton turns brown and the coil gets gummed up. But perhaps I can get away with dry burning to save on wire.

Any thoughts?


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## YeOldeOke

The black particles you see in the water is the residue of the gunking, if that makes sense.

I have always dry burned my coils.

Reactions: Agree 2


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## Glytch

Waine said:


> This may have been asked dozens of times here before.
> 
> When your RDA or RTA's cotton wicks starts getting dark and gummed up, do any of you remove the cotton and dry burn the coil?
> 
> No doubt, you may have read the varying opinions on the web as to whether this is safe or not. Some say doing this alters the atomic structure of the coil resulting in minuscule particles of metal being absorbed into the juice and lungs. Others say it is no problem.
> 
> I saw a trick where a chap dry burns the coil, then carefully dips it into a cup of water, dry burns again, dips and repeats. I tried this. You can see little black particles from the coil sinking to the bottom of the cup.
> 
> Is this good or bad?
> 
> I just change the coil and wick if the cotton turns brown and the coil gets gummed up. But perhaps I can get away with dry burning to save on wire.
> 
> Any thoughts?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Rewicking without dry burning hasn't yielded great results for me. I dry burn and dip in water. Cleans the coil up nicely. I also saw the article you mentioned about changing the atomic structure. I'm choosing to remain blissfully ignorant of the health effects :/


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## incredible_hullk

I dry burn for abit and then pop into ultrasonic for abt 20 to 30 mins which then makes everything nice and shiny

Reactions: Like 1


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## Caveman

incredible_hullk said:


> I dry burn for abit and then pop into ultrasonic for abt 20 to 30 mins which then makes everything nice and shiny


I really need to get me one of those ultrasonic cleaners. 

I use a bowl of water (cold). Dry burn and dunk. Repeat until shiny


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## incredible_hullk

Caveman said:


> I really need to get me one of those ultrasonic cleaners.
> 
> I use a bowl of water (cold). Dry burn and dunk. Repeat until shiny



@Caveman ...its brilliant...get one..I paid R580 so its not a monster one...even clean my watches and spectacles in there


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## Caveman

incredible_hullk said:


> @Caveman ...its brilliant...get one..I paid R580 so its not a monster one...even clean my watches and spectacles in there



Friday is payday so might just do it  .


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## Feliks Karp

You saw black particles coming off of something you were cleaning because it had black particles on it? I fail to see the issue.

You dry fire coils to look for hot spots after installing so whats the difference here? 

I would worry about heating up nickel or titanium. The other common wires are all strong alloys that are used day to day in heating applications, you need very high temperatures and a solvent to break them down. 

Does this article talking about "atomic structure" provide any kind of scans, analysis or the like, or is it the useless internet nonsense?

Reactions: Like 2


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## KimVapeDashian

Waine said:


> Some say doing this alters the atomic structure of the coil resulting in minuscule particles of metal being absorbed into the juice and lungs. Others say it is no problem.
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



Oxidization will always be a risk when heating coils. Kanthal and SS at the dry fire temp, are not a risk - where as nickle and titanium you need to watch out for. The person describing these metal particles is a little incorrect on the analogy, but in summary - Dont dry burn nickle and titanium

Reactions: Agree 1


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## zadiac

There you go



Rip is a tool, but his advice in this vid is rightf. I do it all the time.

Reactions: Agree 1 | Thanks 1


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## Akash

Is nichrome fine for dry burning? Since its an alloy contaning nickel

Reactions: Like 1


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## Waine

@zadiac Thanks for that clip. Very informative. I never thought of rinsing it under a tap after a dry burn. Brilliant! I will try it. Less tedious than dipping it in a cup of water.


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## incredible_hullk

Waine said:


> @zadiac Thanks for that clip. Very informative. I never thought of rinsing it under a tap after a dry burn. Brilliant! I will try it. Less tedious than dipping it in a cup of water.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



@Waine....lesson I learnt...open the tap just a tad...not a full blast or you gonna have a mod going for a bath...

Reactions: Like 1


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## Feliks Karp

Akash said:


> Is nichrome fine for dry burning? Since its an alloy contaning nickel


Yes its fine, even with kanthal you just pulse for dry burning, as long as you don't try turn your mod in to a portable camping stove you will fine.


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## Akash

thanks @Feliks Karp. I pulse at low wattage till it works its way up.


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## Igno

I dry burn my coils all the time, the particles that you get is just some of the gunk coming of. Like others have said, DO NOT dry burn Titanium or Nickel. Tried that before without knowing the effects of Titanium and popped a coil, I was blind for half an hour after that... Kanthal, SS and Nichrome will be fine for dry burning, just pulse it and rinse with water.


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## Kalashnikov

32Gauge wire is best dry burned at 200watts. Once the coil has dissapeared into dust you can easily put in a new one

Reactions: Like 1 | Funny 8


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## Zak1

I burn my coils with a small butane gas torch... comes clean as whistle... with no rinsing.
Take it from the head first and hold it in the flame with a needle nosed pliers.


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## SAVaper

I have never bothered with dry burning.
Wire is so cheap that I just put fresh coils in every weekend.


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## Zak1

Hi SAVaper, I agree but I have a one tricky deck on my Anyvape RDA coil and it is much easier and quicker to burn... as you can see here below the one is burned and a dirty one.


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## SAVaper

Zak1 said:


> Hi SAVaper, I agree but I have a one tricky deck on my Anyvape RDA coil and it is much easier and quicker to burn... as you can see here below the one is burned and a dirty one.
> View attachment 68454



I see.
Nice coiling

Reactions: Thanks 1


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## Waine

When I use the running tap method, I will place a cloth around the neck of the mod and base of the atty fastened with elastic bands to avoid getting water in the mod. From the clip it looks like the tap must be on relatively fast.


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## Waine

Been using this trick lately. Works like a bomb. The tap can even run fast, as long as I take care not to get water on the mod. I also use my oldest mod, just in case there is a cock up.


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## Random_Sheep

I've been dry burning coils when changing the cotton.
Never tried running it under the tap but will try next time.


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## blujeenz

You dont really need the running tap its a bit OTT, I literally use a teaspoon to dunk the coil in after a cherry red heating.
The steam cleaning effect blasts gunk off in the form of small black ash flakes and the metal of the coil gets a nice wash to remove any nasties.

According to Dr Farsalinos research its not a good thing to dry burn coils, its not seen as bad as smoking, but its a risk which can be mitigated.
http://www.ecigarette-research.org/research/index.php/research/research-2015/212-db



> How much is metal exposure elevated by dry-burning the coils? Probably not very much. That is why we think the vapers have over-reacted to my statement on RY4radio. However, we do not see a reason why the exposure to metals should be elevated by doing something which can be avoided.
> 
> We will repeat our honest opinion that dry-burning the coils will not make vaping similar or worse than smoking. This is clear and there is no need for over-reactions. However, we should reach to a point that e-cigarettes should not just be compared to smoking (which is an extremely bad comparator) but should be evaluated on absolute terms. If something can be avoided, vapers should be aware of it so that they can avoid it if they want to.

Reactions: Like 1 | Disagree 1


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## SAVaper

blujeenz said:


> You dont really need the running tap its a bit OTT, I literally use a teaspoon to dunk the coil in after a cherry red heating.
> The steam cleaning effect blasts gunk off in the form of small black ash flakes and the metal of the coil gets a nice wash to remove any nasties.
> 
> According to Dr Farsalinos research its not a good thing to dry burn coils, its not seen as bad as smoking, but its a risk which can be mitigated.
> http://www.ecigarette-research.org/research/index.php/research/research-2015/212-db



There is a lot of "we think" in there but I agree in principle. If we can avoid exposure to as many harmful substances as possible, that is the aim.
I recoil because wire is cheap and it does not take me hours to do 2 or 3 coils for the week.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Waine

When I do the tap cleaning method, I don't heat the coils to "cherry hot". I pulse until they just start to turn red. So I'm trying to not change the properties of the wire too much.


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## kev mac

SAVaper said:


> I have never bothered with dry burning.
> Wire is so cheap that I just put fresh coils in every weekend.


Do you heat the coils to get them to fire evenly? I do this but lately I've been hearing about the danger of dry burning


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## SAVaper

kev mac said:


> Do you heat the coils to get them to fire evenly? I do this but lately I've been hearing about the danger of dry burning


Yes I "pulse" new coils and strum them to get them to burn evenly. I don't think there is any other way.

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Reactions: Agree 2


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## Highlander

SAVaper said:


> Yes I "pulse" new coils and strum them to get them to burn evenly. I don't think there is any other way.
> 
> Sent from my SM-A510F using Tapatalk


Hi...might be a stupid question, but can someone tell me how will you know that your coil must be replaced?


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## SAVaper

Highlander said:


> Hi...might be a stupid question, but can someone tell me how will you know that your coil must be replaced?


I can taste when the flavour starts to change. When you start experiencing a burnt taste then it is really due.

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Reactions: Agree 1


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## Highlander

SAVaper said:


> I can taste when the flavour starts to change. When you start experiencing a burnt taste then it is really due.
> 
> Sent from my SM-A510F using Tapatalk


Thx Sa..appreciate

Reactions: Like 1


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## Highlander

Glytch said:


> Rewicking without dry burning hasn't yielded great results for me. I dry burn and dip in water. Cleans the coil up nicely. I also saw the article you mentioned about changing the atomic structure. I'm choosing to remain blissfully ignorant of the health effects :/


Glytch , could you advice me in regard to the difference in the following coils 0.3 ohm SS, 0.2 ohm Ni200, 0.5 ohm Kanthal. Is there a difference in using it... don't know...


Glytch said:


> Rewicking without dry burning hasn't yielded great results for me. I dry burn and dip in water. Cleans the coil up nicely. I also saw the article you mentioned about changing the atomic structure. I'm choosing to remain blissfully ignorant of the health effects :/


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## Alex

Get them bright orange and then ice them under the tap a few times... good as new

Reactions: Like 3 | Agree 1


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## kev mac

Alex said:


> Get them bright orange and then ice them under the tap a few times... good as new


I can't argue with your cleaning method however I came across an article on the danger of dry burning and it got me thinking cause how in hell can you get even firing coils with out glowing them? I am just going to keep doing what I've been doing. If I remember correctly the danger is when the coils reach over 700 degrees and I try to slowly glow them at lower wattages. I must have even firing coils dag nab it!

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 1


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## Hardtail1969

soooo... when you guys braai....

do you burn the grid clean?

i mean atomic structure and all that...

dont want to get metal particles on my chops.

Reactions: Like 1 | Funny 1


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## Caveman

Hardtail1969 said:


> soooo... when you guys braai....
> 
> do you burn the grid clean?
> 
> i mean atomic structure and all that...
> 
> dont want to get metal particles on my chops.


No, I triple twist kanthal 15awg into a new grill every time.  

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Reactions: Funny 2


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