RDAs catching fire?

[SaraP]

I was using my Igo-W and the flavor was kind of funny from using several different juices in a row, so I took the cap off and fired it for a few seconds at a time maybe 3 times to burn off the old juice. I waited a little bit between firing so it wouldn't get too hot. The last time I fired it all the silica caught on fire just like it would if I'd torched it. I blew it out and everything was fine but it freaked me out. The silica wasn't completely dry or anything and the coils had barely started to glow when it happened. Has anyone had this happen before? I'm just worried now that it might happen again when I'm just hitting it or something.

 

[John_]

I use cotton to wick my coils. I pulled out the cotton because I put a nasty juice in it and it wouldn't go away. I was dry firing with just the coils (no wick as I had just taken it out), to burn off the crud that had built up on the coils and sometimes I would get some flame going. I immediately would let go of the fire button when a flame popped up and blow it out. There was no wick, so my juice was what was flaming up.
If you were getting flame with the wick still in there, I wouldn't use that wick anymore as it is probably damaged if the flame got to it. If it were me I wouldn't use it, maybe somebody will come along and explain if it's safe to use anymore.

 

[patrao_n]

If it is silica wick there is no way for you to burn it like that. I suspect that it iant a true silica wick. With the silica wick I have I can sit it under a torch. It will turn back to white. Its more likely the stuff on your coil went up in flames. It is ok to use. However if you stopped the cleaning process there you will likely have a nasty burnt taste with whatever juice you are using. Try soaking the coil in vodka for an hour or overnight. Rinse in water and dry. After cleaning dry fire it again. If the flames come back then buy some actual silica wick. Right now I am using cotton. So no dry burning with the wick in. But it doesnt matter. As I just toss the wick dry fire and clean the coil then put in a fresh wick.

sent from my Provari with a mini rda!

 

[notawoman]

This happens all the time on my genesis's, but only when I'm glowing the coils and it gets really hot. I've never seen this happen but I just use cotton now. It doesn't sound like it got very hot and it being a dripper seems really weird. The only thing I can think is that there was a short somewhere making a coil get seriously hot and catching the juice on fire. Or you might have an exposed part of coil not touching the wick maybe. You can check by firing for 5 seconds or more and look for any glowing.

 

[dr g]

Heated PG and VG are flammable! This is very common, and it happens when you've vaporized most of the juice off of the wicks, so the remainder can heat sufficiently to produce flammable vapors. They are both classified as flammability level 1: Flammability - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Some people say it's a way to clean off the coil and wicks. Personally I blow it out.

 

[Richard75]

Heated PG and VG are flammable!

Bingo! If you ever oxidized a mesh wick by doing the juice burn, you'll notice that e-liquid burns off quite violently. Some people I know torch their silica while it's still connected to the RDA for a total cleaning (I personally wouldn't do this for fear of ruining the atomizer itself). But for as violently as the e-liquid burns, it does so very quickly, so there's no need for alarm. And if you're worried about it catching fire while actually vaping, the airflow will make sure it doesn't happen.

 

[BuzzKilla]

perfectly normal.... you just dont want it to happen for long periods of time, as the flame may melt/deform any o-rings or plastic insulators in your atty.

this wont happen when the cap is on, as there isnt enough air space to feed the flame.

c'mon... has no one payed attention in chemistry?
heat + oxygen + fuel = fire
cap on not enough enough oxygen
cap on while inhaling keeps heat down
fuel = e-liquid

unless your dealing with cotton or other wicks such as bamboo, a flame will do nothing but clean everything.

silica, ceramic & SS aren't negatively affected by a flame. It is actually my preferred cleaning method... lol

 

[Richard75]

perfectly normal.... you just dont want it to happen for long periods of time, as the flame may melt/deform any o-rings or plastic insulators in your atty.

A lot of higher end dripping attys have high temp plastic, and can withstand some serious heat. At least, I know the Helios can.

this wont happen when the cap is on, as there isnt enough air space to feed the flame.

c'mon... has no one payed attention in chemistry?
heat + oxygen + fuel = fire
cap on not enough enough oxygen
cap on while inhaling keeps heat down
fuel = e-liquid

Actually, I've got a Bachelors degree in Chemistry.

It's not as simple as saying "low oxygen means no fire", there's some physics involved. As in, an atty with a small amount of airflow compared to an atty with huge airholes and a wide chambered drip tip, not to mention multiple vents such as dual airholes. Then you get into pressure differentials... what you wrote works perfectly on paper, but in the real world there's many more variables.

 

[BuzzKilla]

while you are right... for the sake of argument, its simplified for this purpose. as well as keeping it on topic

 

[dr g]

It's not obvious that PG or VG is fuel.