Used cartomizer batting as wick for RDAs... no, really, I'm serious

[State O' Flux]

Edit date 10-31. Below is, what has been decided to be a bad idea on my part. Read it for entertainment, but now that we've determined that "polyfill" may not be safe in or near the heat of a coil... I wouldn't recommend it for wicking material.

Just a little thing I tripped across - for rda (and perhaps kayfun et al) builders... are you a carto or carto tank user as well? If so, when a carto wears out, the rolled up wicking/batting material that's used to surround the coil sleeve is usually still in good to great condition (I have no idea exactly what it is...hell it may be fiberglass for all I know)... and it can be carefully removed, unrolled, washed out, dried and reused as wick for an RDA... or something.

It's wicking properties are excellent, it doesn't swell and it's a bit more heat tolerant than cotton. Being a bit stiff, it doesn't really "bend" all that well, so in a KFL I've used it as a wrap for the coil portion, with cotton "ears" dropping down into the juice well.

No... it's not ready (yet) to replace cotton as my go-to wick, but it certainly doesn't mute the taste one whit... so if you're a carto user, before you toss one in the trash because the coil is gunked and it's not hitting well... pull out the batting and give it a try. You might find that a bit of "recycling"... tastes pretty good. ;-)

 

[Jjshbetz11]

You basically are going and over engineering the cartomizer, think about it....,

 

[notawoman]

Is it safe to use polyfill as a wick? I thought its purpose was to deliver juice to the actual cartomizer wick and coil.

 

[State O' Flux]

Is it safe to use polyfill as a wick? I thought its purpose was to deliver juice to the actual cartomizer wick and coil.

Interesting... is that what you believe it is, polyfill? To be honest, I don't know what it is exactly, but I did a bit of research regarding your concern. "Polyfill" or "Polyester fiber filler"... is apparently, used in "toys, dolls, soft crafts, decorations, pillows, and more"... so I suspect we've all inhaled a bit of it - since birth probably.

"Polyester fibrefill are synthetic fibres gotten by either the recycling of waste polyethylene terephthalate (PET) i.e. plastic bottle recycling or by the forming of the melt of the PET. It is successfully processed in a mixture with natural fibres like cotton, linen, and wool as well as with viscose fibres and is the most inexpensive among all fibrefill stuffing."

I'm afraid I can't find any good, well informed reports on the safety, or dangers regarding the inhalation of polyfill fiber, or gasses that may result from the heating of polyfill. If you have concerns, then I certainly would not consider my suggestion to it's use as a direct wicking material.
I'm pushing 60... and have been "killed" twice now. One more time... no great loss. ;-)

Cheers

 

[Dougiestyle]

I would suggest not using this as a wick. Although quite a few synthetic wick materials are currently being used, these are heat tolerant materials. Poly-anything should not be inhaled AFAIK.

Run a test for us, would ya? Take the polyfill to a flame test. Hold a simple lighter under the corner. If it melts it's bad mkay.

*I turned 40, today. I've been "killed' a couple times, myself. That doesn't mean I'm tempting the next go-around.

 

[State O' Flux]

I would suggest not using this as a wick. Although quite a few synthetic wick materials are currently being used, these are heat tolerant materials. Poly-anything should not be inhaled AFAIK.

Run a test for us, would ya? Take the polyfill to a flame test. Hold a simple lighter under the corner. If it melts it's bad mkay.

Tried that Dougie... it burns, and leaves, ah... nothing actually. Perhaps a bit of "melt" on what's left of the edges, so certainly a plastic component to it.

Perhaps not such a great idea after all, ya' think?

 

[D. Waterhouse]

The main thing I'd be worried about is if you run dry or dry burn it will melt to the coil.

 

[State O' Flux]

The main thing I'd be worried about is if you run dry or dry burn it will melt to the coil.

I agree... it was a bad idea on my part. I've edited the OP to reflect this. I still may play with it as a "pre-wick" to a cotton coil wick, but I'll keep it well away from the coil.

Cheers to dougie and notawoman for considering the dangers that I (obviously) did not.