SS Mesh Dangerous?

[Jay929]

While surfing around the net for different wicking options I came across this thread (http://www.calivapers .com/showthread.php?190-SS-Mesh-Scare) in another forum. Should I steer away from SS wicks? Thanks for any input

 

[Turbo]

While surfing around the net for different wicking options I came across this thread (http://www.calivapers .com/showthread.php?190-SS-Mesh-Scare) in another forum. Should I steer away from SS wicks? Thanks for any input

Here are my thoughts; I always take these vaping health scares w/ a pretty big grain of salt. They're often founded by non health care professionals and are based on internet research. I'm not saying we shouldn't study vaping, I believe we should, but we use to smoke cigarettes w/ hundreds of known carcinogen's and vaping has proven to be much, much safer from current/past studies.

I'll have been vaping four years next week and using ss wicks for about two of those years, and have no plans of ditching mine. There are alternatives; non oxidized ss wicks, not over oxidizing, ceramic, silica, cotton, hemp, etc. And of course the ultimate choice is not to vape. You'll have to make an educated guess yourself and decide which route to take.

 

[tmcase]

Your link didn't work for me but I can imagine what it said. People have been using SS mesh for a couple years now and I haven't read on this forum or any of the other ecig forums about it being dangerous. I would imagine that if you get hot spots and continue to vape that terrible burnt taste, which I can't imagine you would, then it could be dangerous. I wouldn't let the fear mongers scare you away from trying it.

 

[Ryedan]

Yup tmcase, that link didn't work for me either, but it bugged me for a while so I came back to it and figured it out. It's here: "http:_/_/_www.calivapers .com/showthread.php?190-SS-Mesh-Scare". Just take out the underscores. The issue is hexavalent chromium.

There was a discussion about it on ECF a while back Jay929. It's here: Stainless Steel mesh, Oxide discussion.

I read that thread months ago. I don't remember all the details (you can read it yourself, but it's a long one) but after that I changed the way I work with SS mesh. The issue is that hexavalent chromium could be produced if the SS gets red hot. I don't heat it that hot anymore. It had been a while since I oxidized mesh anyway, preferring to pulse out shorts on un-oxidized mesh. That can still heat up the mesh to red hot, so I just take my time, or dunk the coil and wick in water occasionally to cool it down while I deal with shorts.

I also wrap coils around a drill bit and make the wick so it fits into the coil easily. This way I can take the wick out, dry burn just the coil, clean the mesh and put it back.

This works for me. HTH a bit.

 

[steved5600]

I read the same thing that Ryedan did. If it gets red hot Chromium can be released. It's a metal. Just make sure you wrapping a vapor coil and not a light bulb coil LOL should reduce any risk. I use a different trick to get a degree of separation from my wick and coil. I wrap at least one layer of cigarette paper around the wick where the coil is going. Prevents shorts and you get a bit of separation between the wick and coil. If your really concerned you may want to use Ekowool or unbleached organic cotton.

 

[DaveP]

I got it to work by copying the entire link and pasting it into the browser. There was a space in the link and it didn't resolve properly.

This link should work. They are talking about Chromium molecules being oxidized and ending up in the vapor. I don't think they mentioned Acrolein, but they talked about hot spots in the mesh creating noxious gases. Acrolein forms around 500 degrees, I think. It does permanent damage to lung tissue.

http://www.calivapers.com/showthread.php?190-SS-Mesh-Scare)

This is the first post.

SS Mesh Scare?

Anyone hear/read anything about it, or more familiar with it than me?


For those that don't know, I don't have a good handle on it yet, but oxidization of SS mesh creates chromium deposits on the surface that can, and often dislodge when rolling it into a wick and can make its way into the juice to be inhaled. It's the same type of stuff or fumes that are released when welding. I guess there are certain TYPES/levels/grades/whatever that aren't so bad, but they all form at different heat levels. When you torch an SS mesh wick, you're usually heating it to a level where it forms Chromium IV/VI -- apparently Chromium VI is toxic and a carcinogen:


"Hexavalent chromium can also be formed when performing "hot work" such as welding on stainless steel or melting chromium metal. In these situations the chromium is not originally hexavalent, but the high temperatures involved in the process result in oxidation that converts the chromium to a hexavalent state."
"Hexavalent chromium compounds are genotoxic carcinogens. Excessive chronic inhalation of hexavalent chromium compounds increases risk of lung cancer (lungs are especially vulnerable, followed by fine capillaries in kidneys and intestines)"
"The carcinogenity of chromate dust is known for a long time, and in 1890 the first publication described the elevated cancer risk of workers in a chromate dye company"




and the temps at which we oxidize SS mesh for wicks usually far exceeds the temps where Chromium VI is formed. Someone sent off samples and said there were good amounts of Chromium IV/VI deposits coming off the oxidized SS mesh wicks, so that's why there's a scare right now.

there's no really conclusive evidence right now, though. No one really understands it yet, AFAIK, and the only real danger is if those deposits make it into the juice you vape. I guess if you oxidized it and scrubbed it/rolled it/unrolled it really good and rinsed it a million times, it's probably safe.

to get around it, a lot of people are just baking their SS mesh sheets in an oven at really high temps (like 550-600F, if they go that high) for an hour or two to oxidize it. It seems like it oxidizes it enough to where it's not as conductive as it could be (shorts and all that), but doesnt get to a high enough temp to form the dangerous Chromium VI. Other people are just not oxidizing their wicks at all, but I don't know how that works.

Kanthal is an iron-chromium-aluminium (FeCrAl) alloy, so we will probably hear some flack about it. I guess the cure is to keep your wick wet ...