Depends how bad ... it is! = D Id say my limit $200 but if I can get a great deal for $50 why not.
What I dont get is the lower the wire gauge the lower the resistance, you would think that thicker wire would give it higher resistance hence taking longer to heat up (bigger mass of metal) just common sense, or do I have this all wrong?
electricity is the "flow of electrons"
the larger the wire, the more atoms it has to exchange electrons. the more atoms that can freely exchange electrons the lower the electrical resistance is.
here is the real head head scratcher..
pretty much all of the electronics flow on the surface layer of the wire.
now the goal of most wires is to deliver the flow of electrons to a desired component or "load" as its known with as little loss of energy as possible. the load is the part that utilizes the electrical energy. the best example of a load is light bulb or LED or a heating coil.
Kanthal is a "resistance wire". its what we use for our coils. there are a few other types of resistance wire but kanthal is one of the most common.
Kanthal does a great job of converting electrical energy into heat. any time you have the transfer of energy some of it will be lost to heat.
electrical resistance (measured in ohms) is the friction in the wire. kanthal has a high resistance when compared to other conductors. the reason for this is that kanthal is mostly iron. well iron is conductive its not a really good conductor. what makes something a good conductor is the materials ability to freely exchange electrons. the electrons on one end are being traded through the atoms all the way on the other end even with its not being supplied with electrical energy. its important that i note that only the electrons in the valiance orbit (outer most orbit) are being traded.
An atom absorbs energy in the form of heat, light, or electricity. Electrons may move from a lower-energy orbit to a higher-energy orbit. basically the orbit becomes larger. the enlargement of the orbit causes the atoms to move around rapidly (or "wiggle"). this kinetic energy is then transferred to other atoms in the kanthal wire or the wick and e-liquid, heating them. this process is occurring all around you right now. the only way it could not be, is if the material is at "absolute 0". absolute 0 is a theoretical temperature.
at this temperature atoms would hold completely still.
Once an electron moves to a higher-energy orbit, it eventually wants to return to the ground state. When it does, it releases its energy as a photon, a particle of light. (this is why things glow if you get them hot enough)
iron does not exchange its electrons as quickly as say copper. this means that the electron orbit enlarges for a longer period of time when compared to a more conductive metal.
after the conductive atom has lost its energy it the orbit will become smaller or contract. until more electrical energy is supplied from the battery then it will enlarge again.
this expansion and contraction is essentially like a vibration. occurring over and over again.
this is why things expand when they get hot (do to the enlargement of the orbit). materials that expand when they are heated are labeled as having a positive "Coefficient Of thermal Expansion".
kanthal has a positvie Coefficient Of thermal Expansion.
some materials have "Negative coefficient of thermal expansion" meaning they contract as you heat them up. for example Amorphous Silica (the same stuff we use for wick) has a Negative coefficient of thermal expansion.
so now that you know more about the process involved, here is your answer.
because you have more atoms (in a larger wire) to freely exchange the flow of electrons, the larger wire will carry more electrical energy and the more electrical energy involved the more that process of expanding and contracting will occur.
(kanthal is an alloy of iron-chromium-aluminium, alloys change things up a bit but the idea is the same none of these elements or the alloy are great conductors when compared with copper)
