Welders weld it, we cook with it, we have it in our bodies, etc. etc. It's safe, the only time it toxins are released are at it's melting point.
Don't stress about it, if you still are stressing about it do a few google searches.
Yeah, I forgot to state earlier that there's just over 20 pounds of SS & Titanium rods holding my lower spine together, and have been cooking with 304 Surgical grade SS with Titanium set for over 25 years, probably closer to 30. While the frying pans will smoke when heating, have eaten lots of food from these, would had been dead before the implants were installed in my spine in 2006.
Yet then again, I seriously doubt that the 304 SS & Titanium pans ever reached 500C. Although did deliberately burn off my best Lodge cast iron frying pan on the grill outdoors for 4 straight hours at close to 600C (temp measured by thermometer on grill), allowed to cool inside of grill naturally. Removed the next morning, scrubbed with the plastic side of a green ScotchBrite pad and hot water (no soap), all of that gunk from a couple of years of cooking popped right off.
Sprayed with cooking oil & performed as good as new again. As I recall it, my grandparents also threw their cast iron pans in the big pot bellied stove to essentially do the same (more often than I) & it worked. My guess is that many of us from the 60's or beyond wouldn't be here today if these practices were bad, although don't recall iron being used for coil wire, metal is still metal to a degree. And for home users, I'd say that these cast iron pans were as hot as it comes, one I seen glowing red. Yet I ate cornbread prepared in it the next day, many times over & have never had an adverse effect.
My guess is that if the welders can handle the fumes, although with some type of masks on, still doesn't catch all of the fumes & haven't heard of OSHA shutting down all of the operations where this work is performed. If so, the SS industry would have been out of business long ago in the US.
Therefore, I doubt that dry hitting SS (or whatever type of) coils in pulses or the wire before making these are unlikely to do any harm, it's not like most of us with sane minds are sniffing what few fumes are released.
I feel that we'll be OK with the dry burning of our coils, as long as we use common sense. Do it in pulses to protect not only the coil, also the assembly itself, the silicon washers or whatever other component on some tanks will melt by holding the button to see how far these can go.
We're likely going to be just fine with our dry burns in moderation.
Cat
