Brass/Copper Tanks - Safe? Not Safe?

[rickyrickeric]

I may have brought this up somewhere else, but I am really trying hard to get a straight answer about this question, and so far, I have gotten nothing but conflicting views.

I recently discovered that Aspire makes the chimney of their Nautilus tank out of chromed brass, despite their advertisement of the tank being all SS. I emailed Aspire, and a sales rep confirmed this, saying that brass is easier to mill into the chimney as opposed to SS. She quickly added that all of their parts meet CE and RoHS standards.

Be that as it may, bad call by Aspire for not being totally honest in their description.

A little further digging revealed that some companies also use chromed copper parts.

So this all got me thinking about the leaching of toxics into e-liquid, and I started doing web research....and got the entire gambit of answers about brass and/or copper in tanks.

"Yes, it is perfectly safe", "No, it is dangerous", "The chrome plating is stronger than steel anyways", "e-liquid can quickly eat away the plating", "The brass will not come through anyways", "The threads are a common place where brass can leak into the liquid", "Brass can introduce lead poisoning", "Copper is safe, since it is what water pipes are made of", "Copper is dangerous if oxidized into e-liquid", etc., etc., etc.,........

In this day and age, is it really that hard to get a straight answer?

Does anyone here know the answers? Good or bad? And do you have any evidence either way? Please don't answer with speculation. I want facts from folks who know for certain either way. Thanks.

 

[Katmar]

Bump for an answer. I would like to know, too!!

 

[inter_ceptor00]

Brass Knowledge Base:What Is Brass ? Different Type Of Brass

Depends on the type of brass whether it has lead or not in it. I'd be more concerned with copper though since it can develop verdigris which contains poisonous copper compounds.

 

[rickyrickeric]

Thank you for the support, Katmar. Maybe we can get some real answers.

Brass Knowledge Base:What Is Brass ? Different Type Of Brass

Depends on the type of brass whether it has lead or not in it. I'd be more concerned with copper though since it can develop verdigris which contains poisonous copper compounds.

Ah, now this is exactly where I am heading with all of this. Inter_ceptor00, does this mean we need to be wary of copper tanks? I just won a Kanger Genitank Mega in a contest, and it is made from copper.

 

[Guzz]

Brass and chrome plated brass fixtures are used through out the food processing/preparation, pharmaceutical industry. Copper is also used widely (lord help me personally because I have copper water lines in my house!!!!) Heck even some surgical tools are chrome plated brass. With the price of copper going up, brass and chrome plated brass is being substituted for copper in quite a few parts (valves, lines, injectors, etc.) in the food processing and pharma industries.

I could probably win a bet in stating that all the essential flavors from the big manufacturers, and PG, VG have passed through some brass and chrome plated brass fittings during it's creation or bottling.

Personally, I'm not worried about brass and chrome plated brass being used in this application.

 

[BigEgo]

Brass and chrome plated brass fixtures are used through out the food processing/preparation, pharmaceutical industry. Copper is also used widely (lord help me personally because I have copper water lines in my house!!!!) Heck even some surgical tools are chrome plated brass. With the price of copper going up, brass and chrome plated brass is being substituted for copper in quite a few parts (valves, lines, injectors, etc.) in the food processing and pharma industries.

Difference is that we are not running water (and drinking) from our tanks. If that were the case there wouldn't be a lot of concern. We are heating up the tank, running PG and VG through it and INHALING the vapor. It's a different animal from drinking water.

I wouldn't panic over this, but I do think it is shady that Aspire lies and says the tank is 100% SS in their advertisements.

 

[rickyrickeric]

Guzz, I also thought about the water pipe thing, but as BigEgo observed, there is probably a difference between drinking water from a copper pipe, and vaping heated PG/VG from a tank of copper and/or brass.

This is exactly why I started this thread. There are some who say it should be perfectly OK, but there are also others who express concern over it. I would really like to know for certain. Of course, I guess I could just simply invest in products that I know are pure SS, but with Aspire pulling their bit with not disclosing the copper chimney in the Nautilus tank, how are we to know for certain?

 

[Guzz]

Again, do you realize how much vaporized "stuff" is run through brass and chrome plated brass in various food and pharmacological manufacturing?

The temperatures of the vapor running through these chimneys is well BELOW what is used in food and drug processing. They run steam (>212F or >100C) through brass and chrome stuff. The even pressurize stuff to get super heated steam, which is well beyond what our little devices could even do (if you did, you would be cause 2nd and 3rd degree burns to the inside of your mouth).

I hate to say this, but this whole brass, chromed plated brass is really a non issue.

Now, it was an issue, WAY BACK in the 60's. There were a bunch of pipes and various smoking paraphernalia that were made of the wrong brass alloy for it's intended use. Basically you had a red hot coal on bad brass, that caused issues (and it did). The same thing happened with chrome, or should I say bad chrome plating done in someone's basement (yes, you can chrome plate at home).

Think stupid, stoned hippies. I believe this where all this originates.

 

[rickyrickeric]

Excellent points, Guzz. I hadn't considered that the old Proto pipes were basically cheap, solid brass. I think I feel better about it now.

So since chrome is as durable as it is, you'd feel equally safe with copper?

 

[Guzz]

For our intended uses. Yes.

With a caveat, that the chrome plating is done properly. There are various hardness of chrome plating. So much so, I got lost when I stopped at a plating facility to get something re-chromed. The engineer was intrigued at the part that I had and the issues with (long story). He examined the part, took it back to their lab and ran tests. He was really surprise the original chrome was at such a hardness for that particular part (basically the original was over engineered for it's intended use) and that I had actually removed the chrome. That's when he went on for over an hour explaining the process of chrome plating, and the various levels that can be achieved, what base metals can or can not be chromed, etc.

My eyes glazed over after 30 minutes or so (which is really hard to do to me since I really like to understand new things).

 

[BigEgo]

Pbusardo released his review of the Atlantis today. He said he contacted Aspire about this issue and they plan on releasing a solid SS "bell" or "chimney" pretty soon. So, if this is a major issue for you, then hold off until the revision tank comes out.