Question about Kanthal

[cocacola31173]

Does Kanthal lose power over time? I have been using the same coil for a month and even though I dry burn it ..it kinda lost that oomph.. So I am just wondering does it gradually lose power or just use it till it dies? I have never had a Protank die on me I would just swap it out every couple of weeks for a fresh one.

Oh and I am using it on a kayfun Lite Plus.

Thanks!

 

[Myk]

In gennies I have the ohms increase. Seems to be a weakening of the wire.
I've never noticed the same thing going on with drippers, although I don't give them as much use. It could be the nature of gennies to have a hot leg at least while dry burning, it could be that I use ribbon and need a twist in the wire.

So, are your ohms increasing?

 

[State O' Flux]

Kanthal wears out. When heated, Kanthal wire (iron-chromium-aluminum) builds up an aluminum oxide thermally conductive coating on it's outside surface that protects the individual coils from shorting, one to another. This is called alumina (Al2O3).

Once the aluminum content diminishes to the point where that oxidation resistant, electrically resistive alumina layer isn't produced... all that remains is iron and chromium oxide.
Exposure & contamination degradation, inconsistent heating, increased resistance and ultimate wire failure aren't far behind. Chances are, you'll see the blackened, pitted wire or perhaps even taste the iron, long before that failure occurs.

 

[Dissonance]

Another thing to check would be your terminal connections on the wire. The rapid heating & cooling causes expansion/contraction that can loosen the screws. If the screws are loose and not making good contact with the wire, then that'll greatly decrease the performance.

Honestly tho... A new coil costs like $0.10 to make, I'd say you got your monies worth from that month old coil Surprising you've never had a protank coil die, I had a few do that and only used protanks for like 2 months. Seems like the NR-R-NR welding was bad in a few and popped loose after a few hours of use. Maybe I just got a bad batch tho.

 

[cocacola31173]

I think Im just gonna start making me a schedule of just recoiling every friday. I have 3 Kayfuns so it shouldn't take that much time.

 

[MrPlink]

Even with heavy use that seems like a bit of an overkill to me for a KF.