I've been lurking for a little while, but just signed up. I can't post this to Health & Safety where it belongs because I don't have permission. So maybe a mod can move it there.
I have some concerns that I want to share about the safety of glycerin (VG) based e-liquids when used with the cart-less dripping method. First, take a look at my crude diagram of the atomizer inside the e-cig:
[Well, I couldn't post the diagram because the forum won't let me. Because I'm new. I understand spam control, but this is getting kind of irritating.]
What many people think of as the "atomizer" is what you see when you look into the tube - you see the mesh bridge. This is not the thing that does the actual heating. It is a semicircular bridge made of metal wool that is arranged over the heating element, with the heating element at its center. There is also a circle of metal wool that encompasses the atomizer which is flat inside the atomizer.
What happens when you use a cartridge is that the filler material inside the cartridge -which is soaked with e-liquid - comes into contact with the semicircular bridge. The metal wool then wicks up some e-liquid, and the heating element causes that liquid to vaporize.
You can tell subjectively by looking at the heating element that it reaches temperatures in excess of 730C, judging by its black body radiation wavelength (the color it reaches when heated). However, the temperature to which the metal wool is heated in the few seconds of draw is much lower. How much lower I cannot say without measuring it, but that is not the purpose of this post.
The problem is this: when you drip directly onto the atomizer, you will inevitably get some e-juice directly on the heating element. Therefore, if you drip glycerin-based juice, you will likely be generating some dangerous quantities of acrolein - because the heating element reaches a temperature far in excess of that necessary to degrade the glycerol.
In short - if you drip, don't use VG. If you use VG, use it only in cartridges. I have no hard evidence to back this up, but I did drip VG for the first time today, and I noticed a really rancid smell after a couple of puffs. I didn't inhale them, thankfully. Personally, I'll be sticking to CaSH juice until I get some carts (I only have 901 carts and my 901 just died)
I have some concerns that I want to share about the safety of glycerin (VG) based e-liquids when used with the cart-less dripping method. First, take a look at my crude diagram of the atomizer inside the e-cig:
[Well, I couldn't post the diagram because the forum won't let me. Because I'm new. I understand spam control, but this is getting kind of irritating.]
What many people think of as the "atomizer" is what you see when you look into the tube - you see the mesh bridge. This is not the thing that does the actual heating. It is a semicircular bridge made of metal wool that is arranged over the heating element, with the heating element at its center. There is also a circle of metal wool that encompasses the atomizer which is flat inside the atomizer.
What happens when you use a cartridge is that the filler material inside the cartridge -which is soaked with e-liquid - comes into contact with the semicircular bridge. The metal wool then wicks up some e-liquid, and the heating element causes that liquid to vaporize.
You can tell subjectively by looking at the heating element that it reaches temperatures in excess of 730C, judging by its black body radiation wavelength (the color it reaches when heated). However, the temperature to which the metal wool is heated in the few seconds of draw is much lower. How much lower I cannot say without measuring it, but that is not the purpose of this post.
The problem is this: when you drip directly onto the atomizer, you will inevitably get some e-juice directly on the heating element. Therefore, if you drip glycerin-based juice, you will likely be generating some dangerous quantities of acrolein - because the heating element reaches a temperature far in excess of that necessary to degrade the glycerol.
In short - if you drip, don't use VG. If you use VG, use it only in cartridges. I have no hard evidence to back this up, but I did drip VG for the first time today, and I noticed a really rancid smell after a couple of puffs. I didn't inhale them, thankfully. Personally, I'll be sticking to CaSH juice until I get some carts (I only have 901 carts and my 901 just died)
