are lead and copper safe to vape?

[FatherTime]

i see a lot of attys coming out with brass and copper versions. not just an airflow ring but the whole thing. is that safe? i know brass CAN have small amounts of lead in it which i know is not healthy, pretty poisonous actually. but even if brass didnt have lead in it, isnt brass made of copper and zinc? are zinc or copper bad to vape out of? i dont know much about copper but something tells me you dont want to be inhaling out of a heated copper chamber with liquid inside of it

 

[crxess]

A lot of people seem to think they know more about lead and leaching than they actually do.
The Numbers for lead content under new guidelines include 8.0% in piping. These numbers also are in consideration of Exposure over a lifetime of exposure.
Drinking water, cooking, laundry transfer, Bathing and on.........

Commonly Asked Questions: Section 1417 of the Safe Drinking Water Act and the NSF Standard | Lead & Copper Rule | US EPA

While I would suggest staying away from Raw Brass around wicks/coils, most other parts will have next to no risk of exposure. Certianly much less than drinking from your faucet in that 20yr old home.

Also remember, you cannot(No way, No how) be exposed to any lead which is contained(bonded) WITHIN another material such as brass. Only that which is exposed on the surface.

I keep my Brass tips clean between use. All look like new with no signs of Patina. i.e. no oxidation or corrosion.

*note - Those that enjoy Acidic flavors might want to stick to SS and avoid Bare Brass.

 

[jp_cfc09]

another thing to think about for you, protanks are made from chromed plated brass. unsure if they are still to date but for many years they have been without much talk about it.

 

[Tinkiegrrl]

I tend to stick with stainless steel, glass, or a combination of the two for my toppers. For drip tips, I stick with the same. I do have a Vortex, with a copper center pin, however the copper seems to be plated by the time it reaches the top.

 

[Tom Fuller]

The answer would be found in determining at what temp those metals vent gasses.


Live Long and vape!

 

[Tom Servo]

A lot of commercial brass is about 2% lead, which melts more quickly. I'd be very leery of that. Silicon is sometimes substituted, but I'd want to be sure.

There's pretty much no "acceptable" amount of lead for the body, and the symptoms of chronic lead poisoning can take a while to make themselves apparent.

 

[zapped]

If its not naval brass stay away from it.

 

[crxess]

I have no Lead or Copper E-liquids.
I also never Vape anything so hot it will burn my lips.

Seriously, think about it.

 

[edyle]

i see a lot of attys coming out with brass and copper versions. not just an airflow ring but the whole thing. is that safe? i know brass CAN have small amounts of lead in it which i know is not healthy, pretty poisonous actually. but even if brass didnt have lead in it, isnt brass made of copper and zinc? are zinc or copper bad to vape out of? i dont know much about copper but something tells me you dont want to be inhaling out of a heated copper chamber with liquid inside of it

Rule of thumb: avoid heavy metals.

 

[Susan W.]

Copper doesn't contain lead and there are tons of different kinds of brass, some are lead free.

 

[edyle]

Copper doesn't contain lead and there are tons of different kinds of brass, some are lead free.

When it comes to the heavier metals, there's usually some percentage of other heavy metals.

A mine will have gold, silver, copper and lead; after extracting the raw materials, the stuff is melted down to try to separate the metals.

The more refining for purity you do the higher the cost..

{
Iron is the abundant metal in the universe. It's the stable nucleus of all the elements; the stars fuse the lighter nucleii to make bigger ones; one the earth and other planets, the heavy nuclei decay spontaneously to form smaller nuclei, and right in between the heavy and the light is the stable point - iron
}

Iron is special; your blood is red from the iron.

I'm sleepy and appear to be rambling

So anyway the point is: copper/brass if fine for a tube mod
but on the topper, and especially on a driipper - go for surgical grade steel- or at least stainless steel,
steel is basically iron.

 

[Chiku]

Disclaimer, I sell wholesale waterworks products (underground water mains etc), the following is what I know about brass fitting containing small amounts of lead and water. I am not sure how this would apply to vaping, since there are a lot of different factors, but I figured I would share what I know.

Studies have shown that lead can leach into water from fittings (and old solder which contained lead, newer product does not) when there is corrosion. As of July 2012 in the US, January 2014 in most of Canada, NSF 61 standards (potable water) changed to lower the amount of lead in brass fitting from 15 parts per billion to 5 ppb (annex F).

Brass called by the manufacturer "lead free" is not always lead free, Cambridge Brass - No-Lead Announcement



Exposure on Tap: Drinking Water as an Overlooked Source of Lead
Lead in Drinking Water and Human Blood Lead Levels in the United States

 

[MorpheusPA]

{
Iron is the abundant metal in the universe. It's the stable nucleus of all the elements; the stars fuse the lighter nucleii to make bigger ones; one the earth and other planets, the heavy nuclei decay spontaneously to form smaller nuclei, and right in between the heavy and the light is the stable point - iron
}

Iron is special; your blood is red from the iron.

Even enough iron is toxic to you, it's just a pretty big amount.

I tend to favor non-degradable plastic or steel for a drip tip, however, for just this reason. Not much is going to leach off of either.

Any lead is too much lead, particularly if the brain isn't completely mature. For adults, tolerance is a bit higher but it's still not a good idea.

Copper doesn't bother me (if it were pure, which it never really is). US-RDA is 2 mg, and there's no way you're going to get that off your drip tip or you rapidly wouldn't have a drip tip any longer.

 

[Tom Servo]

Iron is special; your blood is red from the iron.

It also kills stars and causes supernovas.

I've had lead poisoning, though from a different source. Trust me, it's not fun. I wouldn't take the chances of inhaling it.

 

[ClintS]

I would not trust brass to be lead free, even naval brass - based on experience around foundries and machine shops. It does not take much for lead to leech from the brass.

 

[catilley1092]

I'd say no to the lead & thanks to the OP for bringing this to my attention. It would seem that there would be an industry standard for tanks & mods to be lead free, especially the tanks & coil wire.

If the coil wire were to contain lead, there would be no way to avoid breathing it.

Cat

 

[FatherTime]

ok so the conclusion i am getting from the many different answers to my post is that i should never use a brass dripper or tank, but a bare copper one is ok. for some reason something just tells me to just stay away from brass and copper RDAs. copper can poison a person too so why are more people not saying to not vape out of copper? is there anything that would prove to me that copper is ok? even if i have to use a delrin drip tip to avoid getting burnt lips meaning my rda gets pretty dang hot?

 

[skoony]

the question is what if any lead or other metals will leech into the juice.then it has to pass through the wicks
to get into the vapor.how much if any would that be.(note:dripping and other less common forms of vaping i am not all that familiar with)
my impression is unless something in the juice reacts with the metal,(fruit flavors?)there should be very little if any
problem if a good grade of metal is used.
an above poster suggested that unless there is corrosion of the metal there should be no problem.
regards
mike

 

[edyle]

ok so the conclusion i am getting from the many different answers to my post is that i should never use a brass dripper or tank, but a bare copper one is ok. for some reason something just tells me to just stay away from brass and copper RDAs. copper can poison a person too so why are more people not saying to not vape out of copper? is there anything that would prove to me that copper is ok? even if i have to use a delrin drip tip to avoid getting burnt lips meaning my rda gets pretty dang hot?

Have you ever seen a copper dripper or tank?

The choice is usually
- brass
- steel.

The reason for the brass is it is cheaper to make stuff out of brass than to make it out of steel.

Why be concerned about brass? - because brass (which is mainly copper) is likely to have a higher lead content than iron. It's the LEAD that is the major concern

 

[WattWick]

If its not naval brass stay away from it.

Sorry for nitpicking and bezzerwizzering... just thought it was worth noting;

Naval brass may or may not contain lead.