Temco "annealed" wire is funny tasting

[Cjax]

So i ordered some 30awg kanthal a-1 and some 28awg (on back order). The 30 came and i noticed the spool said annealed, but i didn't think much of it, just that it was already pre heat treated. I spun a 3/4 wrap coil that metered out about 1.1 ohms. At first it tasted a little off, and kind of made my tongue tingle a little, but i just blamed it on the cotton wick not being broken in yet. I let it sit a couple days and threw it back on and i swear it tasted like rust! I pulled the wick out, rinsed the atty out, burned till the coil glowed for about 30 seconds 4 or 5 times, tossed in a new wick, vaped for an hour or so till the cotton wick broke in, and i still get a metal/rust flavor.

Let me just say, I'm no noob to rba's, I've been rebuilding for almost 2 years now and know what to look for a far as hot spots and stuff go. I was using an A7 for what it's worth. Anyone else experience anything like this, or any way to pre treat this wire to get rid of this taste? The last stuff i had got from steammonkey was great, but it's almost gone and pretty soon I'll be left with a lifetime supply of nasty tasting wire!

Edit: Just to add, this is the same atty, wick, and juice I've been using daily for the last 4 months. Nothing in the equation is new except the wire, so I'm assuming that's what's giving me the bad taste. It's not quite a metallic hot spot taste and it's not a burnt taste either, it's much more like a rusty taste.

 

[txredxj]

i built up my agat2 with some 32 kanthol i got from temco today and it tastes fine.

 

[CloudZ]

Did you try torching the wire before using it? It may need to be cleaned.

\*_* Posted from my humanoid robot phone *_*/

 

[Cjax]

Does your spool say annealed as well?

 

[darkzero]

Have you tried a coil in another RBA? Kanthal A1 comes in either annealed or oxidized. Most everyone that sells it for vaping is annealed, most will just not say so. The annealed will have a bright finish as opposed to the oxidized. I wouldn't be surprised if many vaping vendors get it from TEMCO & resell.

Torching for 30 seconds at a time 4-5 times seems excessive to me. It's already annealed so torching to try to anneal it further is not really necessary unless for some reason you are torching it then quenching. I only torch till it glows & run along the wire at a slow place. Sometimes I will only repeat once. The section of the wire glowing is not glowing for more than a few seconds. And I only do this to burn off any contaminants that might be on the wire.

Then I coil & fire it to take care of any hotspots, wick if not already (depending on what wick I am using). Add juice & fire a few times to start oxidizing. On LR-SLR builds (all I build anyways), the coil will give some good pops when first fired. As the coil oxidizes the strong pops will disappear & pretty quickly. This is when I get the best vapor & at this point I get a constant or series of small popping & sizzling.

Not sure if any of this helps but that's my experience with Kanthal. I have 100 ft spools ea of 26, 28, 30, & 32 awg. I never got any bad tastes from any of the spools I have, all are from TEMCO.

 

[pdib]

I'm with darkzero on the "maybe its oils or contaminants" thing. OP, you're not the first person to ask this question as of late.

 

[Cjax]

The reason i did it for so long was in the hopes that it might fix the taste i was getting from the first wick. But like i said, this was on the second day of vaping, so i knew it was in excess, as the coil had already been fired several times, but i was (and am) still getting an off flavor. I'll try it in another atty and see if i get the same results tomorrow.

 

[txredxj]

i just torched it before wrapping then pulsed/poked till it glowed even with no hot spots. on the website temco says its all annealed.

 

[SupplyDaddy]

I've been rebuilding T3S, T3 and CE4+ coils using 32 Gage Kanthal A-1 Annealed from Temco and I have had no taste issues what so ever. I do ensure I torch the coils after I wrap them.

 

[txredxj]

did you re-use the wick? might have some kind of funk in it if its re-used or if it was new and you didnt wash it good

 

[Cjax]

No, it was a new wick, 100% cotton cheesecloth. I've been using the same stuff for over a year, so i know how that's supposed to taste before and after break in.

 

[pdib]

Well, did y'all see the post about the uranium238 vat spilling over at the Temco warehouse?

 

[Cjax]

I really hope that's a joke. Why the heck would they need that, lol! Btw, nice to see some fellow Reonauts hanging out!

 

[txredxj]

they were making a heating element for a nuclear dryer.

 

[Cjax]

I just googled it. I didn't know they were also a mining company as well. They digg up their own ores, process it themselves, and spin the metal into wire. No wonder they can sell it so cheap!

Could be wrong though, but the search results all said Temco mining Co.

 

[pdib]

I really hope that's a joke. Why the heck would they need that, lol! Btw, nice to see some fellow Reonauts hanging out!

Indeed 'tis. Although, something tells me Rob's gonna have to hire some more manpower soon, or buy another CNC (or however it is he makes em)



EDIT: OH! yeah, indeed 'tis on the other thing too

 

[darkzero]

I just googled it. I didn't know they were also a mining company as well. They digg up their own ores, process it themselves, and spin the metal into wire. No wonder they can sell it so cheap!

I could be wrong but as far as I remember TEMCO is just a distributor for Kanthal. Kanthal is made by Kanthal and is now owned by Sandvik. Those familiar with machining, knifemaking, & metalurgy should be very familiar with Sandvik. Sandvik OTH does all that as they make their own alloys.

Indeed 'tis. Although, something tells me Rob's gonna have to hire some more manpower soon, or buy another CNC (or however it is he makes em)

If I lived close by I'd work for him for free. I just want to play with his new toy!

 

[Thrasher]

Temco is an industrial power supply company, wire is just one of the many things they sell. pumps, heaters, switches, motors etc.

much like Granger (product wise) but a more defined range of products. but they do service and installation as well as tech support for some seriously big companies.

 

[Cjax]

Well, i did a full rebuild this a.m. This time i torched the wire till it glowed a few seconds before building the coil, installed it, and did a few burns on the atty before i threaded the wick. I vaped it for an hour or so to get rid of the cotton taste. So now it's all broken in. I'm still getting a very subtle metallic taste, but definitely not as bad as a "rust" flavor I had before. Not happy about it, but i can at least live with it. Hopefully in a few days the coil will be well seasoned enough not to taste it anymore.

 

[CloudZ]

Since you are already using cotton and 30 gauge kanthal, have you tried a microcoil yet? Not sure it will solve the weird taste problem, but it might help the mental aspect of subtle undesired flavors. Also, it may vape better than what you are used to.

It sounds like you have been building the same way with the same materials and the same juice for a long time, and just switching to a slightly different wire is causing your brain to pick out something it normally shouldn't. Disregard if you know this isn't the case, but I am just recommending mixing things up a bit to "trick" your brain into ignoring the strange subtle taste.

\*_* Posted from my humanoid robot phone *_*/