So yea, I can testify that the saline is cleaning my ss wicks. They are shedding their oxidization and are starting the gleam in the
tank.
As 2cool suggests, this would not happen on a virgin setup, and therefore would serve to actually keep things from gunking up.
I'm still wondering if coil corrosion is being accelerated though...
'Way early in the thread (around #55-ish or after?), someone brought up the possibility of coil corrosion - and I think I remember at least one person saying they had no issues (and possibly someone explaining why there wouldn't be any issues). I seem to remember reading (somewhere along the last 50 years of life), that the corrosive nature of "
salt" could many times be partially accounted for by all the impurities and the reactions with impure air & water. We decided to 'wait & see'.
Kanthal is an alloy of iron, chromium & aluminum. Kanthal information on "corrosion" - taken from here:
https://www1.elfa.se/data1/wwwroot/assets/datasheets/06080303.pdf
Kanthal Appliance Alloys Handbook
Corrosion Resistance
Corrosive or potentially corrosive consti-
tuents can considerably shorten wire life.
Perspiring hands, mounting or supporting
materials or contamination can cause corro-
sion.
Steam
Steam shortens the wire life. This effect is
more pronounced on NIKROTHAL alloys
than on KANTHAL alloys.
Halogens
Halogens (fluorine, chlorine, bromine and
iodine) severely attack all high-temperature
alloys at fairly low temperatures.
Sulphur
In sulphurous atmospheres KANTHAL
alloys have considerably better durability
than nickel-base alloys. KANTHAL is
particularly stable in oxidising gases contain-
ing sulphur, while reducing gases with a
sulphur content diminish its service life.
NIKROTHAL alloys are sensitive to
sulphur.
Salts and oxides
The salts of alkaline metals, boron com-
pounds, etc. in high concentrations and are
harmful to heating alloys.
Metals
Some molten metals, such as zinc, brass,
aluminium and copper, react with the resist-
ance alloys. The elements should therefore
be protected from splashes of molten metals.
Ceramic support material
Special attention must be paid to the ceramic
supports that come in direct contact with the
heating wire. Firebricks for wire support
should have an alumina content of at least
45 %. In high-temperature applications, the
use of sillimanite and high-alumina firebricks
is often recommended. The free silica (un-
combined quartz) content should be held low.
Iron oxide lowers the melting point of the
ceramics. Water glass as a binder in cements
must be avoided.
Embedding compounds
Most embedding compounds including
ceramic fibres are suitable for KANTHAL
and NIKROTHAL if composed of alumina,
alumina-silicate, magnesia or zirconia
Our information & experiences:
We currently use BCCs (mini Davide Glassomizers, mostly) and we build our own coils for those. We use Cisco 306 atty's for testing. We have used: typical silica; german silica; and we're currently using kiln-cured Nextel...all with Kanthal 30, 32, 34, or .3/.5 Kanthal ribbon. We've played around with SS cable (7x19) - and SS mesh (and are getting ready to play with the 7x7 SS cable as soon as the vape mail arrives).
Our juice is VG nic; a premixed base of VG 80%; distilled water 9%; .9 saline solution 9%; pga 2% - plus flavors in the range of .5% to 12-15% (we rarely go over 10%).
We have never noticed any sign of corrosion or rust.
We clean & dry burn our coils/heads after vaping 2-6ml of juice...and they always
need to be cleaned & dry burned (evidenced by juices darkening somewhat; a lessening of vapor production/flavor; need to add a bit more voltage).
The .9% saline solution at 9% of our base does not 'keep our coils/wicks clean'. We clean them by a quick rinse/soak in ultra hot water; blow out; soak in pga; blow out; and then dry burn.
Of course, when we vape flavorless, the heads/coils need FAR less cleaning.
Now that we're a few weeks into using the Nextel, we've been skipping the alcohol soak, and just torching the wick/coil (taking care not to scorch/melt the grommet)...but that still doesn't eliminate the need for dry burning the coil, but cleans up the wick nicely (and saves time/money).
We've noticed no 'action' from the saline on the wicking.
Of course (as always), ymmv.
