I was trying to find the best type of wick for a Kanger Protank just for my personal benefit. I am still open to any feedback if people have some. I think there are plenty of threads regarding the matter so I have all the information I think I need but more can't hurt. What I was looking for is if I should stick with the silica wick or change to a stainless wick for flavor. I use a Reduced %PG mix because I like getting a lot of cloud vapor and flavor, but it seems to gum up the the tank fast and has a muted flavor with a silica wick. During research I discovered the potential of silicosis danger from silica wicks.
On Topic:
I did a little bit of digging though the forums about the possible dangers of silica wicks and read a post by an OSHA professional regarding the matter. I wanted to post a follow up that I researched but am still limited to the New Members forums. I consulted my father, who has since retired, after 50+ years in the health and safety industry (OSHA). He used to do follow up investigations for jobsite injuries and fatalities such as silicosis which is fatal from exposure to silica dust. According to him the possibility of getting the forms of damaging silica crystalline from silica wicks is nil. Reason being that when silica sand is heated, melted and changed to form the silica string (or wicks) it changes atomically and no longer carries the proper crystal size that cause silicosis, it is the same process to create glass. The type of crystals that cause silicosis have to be the right size for them to be lodged into the lung tissue to cause silicosis, these sizes are found in heavy industry such as mining operations where pure silica is present in blasting or cutting where there is a lot of silica dust, as brought up by the other OSHA person. If the silica crystals are too large the are trapped in the nasal mucus and if they are too small they are simply exhaled. I found another thread that showed a microscopic sample from someone that exhaled vapor smoke that contained trace amounts of silica crystals. This is a good thing! The fact that they are shown on a slide seen under a microscope means that they were too small and immediately exhaled therefore unable to lodge into the tissue of the lung which could cause silicosis. Everyone probably inhales trace amounts of this type of silica crystal everyday when exposed to wind and such.
Anyway I hope that helps, perhaps this post can be moved to the proper thread. Thanks
On Topic:
I did a little bit of digging though the forums about the possible dangers of silica wicks and read a post by an OSHA professional regarding the matter. I wanted to post a follow up that I researched but am still limited to the New Members forums. I consulted my father, who has since retired, after 50+ years in the health and safety industry (OSHA). He used to do follow up investigations for jobsite injuries and fatalities such as silicosis which is fatal from exposure to silica dust. According to him the possibility of getting the forms of damaging silica crystalline from silica wicks is nil. Reason being that when silica sand is heated, melted and changed to form the silica string (or wicks) it changes atomically and no longer carries the proper crystal size that cause silicosis, it is the same process to create glass. The type of crystals that cause silicosis have to be the right size for them to be lodged into the lung tissue to cause silicosis, these sizes are found in heavy industry such as mining operations where pure silica is present in blasting or cutting where there is a lot of silica dust, as brought up by the other OSHA person. If the silica crystals are too large the are trapped in the nasal mucus and if they are too small they are simply exhaled. I found another thread that showed a microscopic sample from someone that exhaled vapor smoke that contained trace amounts of silica crystals. This is a good thing! The fact that they are shown on a slide seen under a microscope means that they were too small and immediately exhaled therefore unable to lodge into the tissue of the lung which could cause silicosis. Everyone probably inhales trace amounts of this type of silica crystal everyday when exposed to wind and such.
Anyway I hope that helps, perhaps this post can be moved to the proper thread. Thanks
