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Is dry burning really necessary?

kirr45

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I really wanna get into RTAs but the only thing putting me off is the dry burning. What's wrong with making a coil without dry burning? And I just found out about spaced coils. Why do the majority of people compress their coils together?

Can I get away without dry burning? If so, what RTA tank gives a lot of flavor? I've been looking at the Geekvape Zeus. What do you think?

If it makes a difference, I use the Voopoo DRAG.
 

fozzy71

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If you space them (I always do) you can generally get away without dry burning your coil. DJLSB always spaces and rarely dry burns in his videos before he wicks. I always space, usually SS material coils, but I still dry burn (10 - 20 watts) just to be sure I don't have a hot spot, etc then I also put the cap on before I wick and give it a test on a regulated mod to make sure I don't have a short with the cap/barrel.
 

CactusFanaticus

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I agree with fozzy, spaced you can get away with SS and kanthal, Personal preference If using Nichrome and I don’t pulse enough to build up a decent protective oxide coating I can taste metal.

I like my coils fairly close and use SS, so pulsing is a must, 90% of my coils have have hot spots to work out at first being close and SS.

So spaced you can definitely get away with it (look at prebuilt factory coil heads for example) but it’s a good idea to. Don’t want to burn nichrome and SS as hot as kanthal when pulsing (I shoot for a dull dark orange glow) coils end up looking dark blue after.
 

kirr45

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My whole intention with this is to avoid too much junk being inhaled. I was up until recently using nichrome which I don't think is "safe". Or as safe as ss or kanthal. I also noticed that premade coils always looked clean. So that's why I was curious to know if its actually required. And how much of that oxidation layer gets vaped
 

Blargh23

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Dry burning checks for hot spots and burns off any contamination from the manufacturing process, though that second point is covered when I torch my coils.
 

Hype

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All wire goes through a process of manufacturing . No matter what , machinery is always involved . Machinery that has different kinds of lubes to help them produce the end product , in this case being our beloved wire . It is a good bet some of those lubes will get on the wire we use . from time to time take a wiff of wires that you are wrapping coils with , that stink on the wire and your hands is machine oil , as subtle as it may be it is there . a dry burn will get rid of that
 

SteveS45

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All wire goes through a process of manufacturing . No matter what , machinery is always involved . Machinery that has different kinds of lubes to help them produce the end product , in this case being our beloved wire . It is a good bet some of those lubes will get on the wire we use . from time to time take a wiff of wires that you are wrapping coils with , that stink on the wire and your hands is machine oil , as subtle as it may be it is there . a dry burn will get rid of that

I always test fire my builds to get rid of any left over machine oil or hot spots and other contaminants that could get on the wire including skin oils. Just my personal opinion from 1st hand experience.
 
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r055co

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wow ...I always wash the length of wire I use to wrap a coil or wipe it with alcohol
I run mine through the ultrasonic and pulse to get the hot spots out. If you lightly pulse it's fine dry burning.
I always test fire my builds to get rid of any left over machine or hot spots and other contaminants that could get on the wire including skin oils. Just my personal opinion from 1st hand experience.
Yep, people are way too paranoid, hell toxins are released at the melting point.

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lucifah

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I really wanna get into RTAs but the only thing putting me off is the dry burning. What's wrong with making a coil without dry burning? And I just found out about spaced coils. Why do the majority of people compress their coils together?

Can I get away without dry burning? If so, what RTA tank gives a lot of flavor? I've been looking at the Geekvape Zeus. What do you think?

If it makes a difference, I use the Voopoo DRAG.


I think spaced vs compact and dry burning vs not dry burning is an almost religious subject. Some people strongly believe one is better than the other. I haven't seen any scientific evidence (which doesn't mean that there isn't any) that dry burning is harmful, unless you get close to melting point, which won't happen when you dry fire at a wattage that's lower than what you use later anyway. There's a lot of speculation and mostly unfounded beliefs out there, however.

Personally, spaced vs compact is a decision based on the tank/rda's airflow. If it's in line like a Siren 2, or a grid like the Ares, I tend to space coils. If it's a small hole like on a Doggystyle, it's a compact coil for me. I believe that this makes best use of the airflow options available. I dry fire briefly to make sure no hot spots exist regardless whether or not they're spaced, because if the spacing is very narrow, wraps might touch. It's just a safe guard to make sure the setup is fine - hot spots ruin the taste. Only when the wraps are relatively far apart in a spaced coil, I don't bother with dry firing.
This works for me. Everybody has their own preferences.
 

r055co

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So why quote me? As I said I never mentioned toxins and listed the reasons for why I dry burn.
Besides I was agreeing with you and it fell into the context.
What's wrong, did we wake up this morning with a not so fresh feeling? ;)
 

Vape Fan

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So does it matter what temp to dry burn at and if a pulse or constant method makes a diff?
I'm not old hat like some. I dry burn everything to make sure it's firing ok etc, and starting at very low wattage to first get color change [more important with ss] to see where if any hotspots are trying to show up. I increase the wattage a little at a time a few times, till I see it's firing as it should. With the ss I been using I start at about 12 watts and go up.
 

UncleRJ

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I not only dry burn but I also season the coils before installing the wick.

Call me old school.
 

SteveS45

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I prefer ATF. That Ford Mercon

When I was a smoker working in the Auto Trade I tasted many of the fluids in vehicles but I think the Dexron III tastes better than the Mercon but the Type F tranny fluid had an interesting taste and smell. I think it was from the friction enhancers.
 

Blargh23

Member For 1 Year
When I was a smoker working in the Auto Trade I tasted many of the fluids in vehicles but I think the Dexron III tastes better than the Mercon but the Type F tranny fluid had an interesting taste and smell. I think it was from the friction enhancers.

Gear oil was about the worst. Not sure how it managed to be so much more rancid than motor oil.
 

Mattp169

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I not only dry burn but I also season the coils before installing the wick.

Call me old school.
ok are you being serious or sarcastic with seasoning your coils?
if you are serious what is seasoning and how do you do it.
 

MrMeowgi

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I thought dry burning was cleaning Gunk of the coils and pre wick burning as in a fresh build was called working out the hotspots. Without dry burning how do you clean the junk off the coils? Or does it not build up with a spaced coil.

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MrMeowgi

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All wire goes through a process of manufacturing . No matter what , machinery is always involved . Machinery that has different kinds of lubes to help them produce the end product , in this case being our beloved wire . It is a good bet some of those lubes will get on the wire we use . from time to time take a wiff of wires that you are wrapping coils with , that stink on the wire and your hands is machine oil , as subtle as it may be it is there . a dry burn will get rid of that
Yea there's always a sizzle of something burning when you first heat them. I figure machine oil or something. Probably safer to burn that off.

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MrMeowgi

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So does it matter what temp to dry burn at and if a pulse or constant method makes a diff?
I always go back into power mod if I'm running tc. Dna never seem to work the crud off in Tc. So I burn the crud then switch back to tc

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The Cromwell

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I use spaced SS coils and lightly dry burn to remove any contaminants on the wire.
If it smokes you are burning off contaminants.
 

The Cromwell

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I do same but sometimes people make the mistake of dry burning with SS at too high of a wattage. I only use 15 watts as opposed to when I used to dry burn claptons nichrome at 25
Yep I use 15-16 watts and pulse the coil. In low light conditions I may get just a bit of a dull red glow.
the coils I am speaking of I usually vape at 25-30 watts when wicked and wet..
 

SkoldVape

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Yep I use 15-16 watts and pulse the coil. In low light conditions I may get just a bit of a dull red glow.
the coils I am speaking of I usually vape at 25-30 watts when wicked and wet..
You vape exactly the same as me except I use an isub apex too. It matches the Subtank mini for me
 

The Cromwell

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You vape exactly the same as me except I use an isub apex too. It matches the Subtank mini for me
Actually that was for my Wasp nano.
My Subtank minis I use the RBA and vape at 16-18W.
And I pulse those coils much more gently.
I normally vape those on a Kanger Kbox Mini.

I think the key is to pulse and at most get a dull red glow for spaced coils.
honkin big gargoyle hoof claptons will require more wattage for pulsing I would think.

I have only used spaced coils for well over a year now.
And have not used any factory coils in over 2 years.
 

SkoldVape

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Actually that was for my Wasp nano.
My Subtank minis I use the RBA and vape at 16-18W.
And I pulse those coils much more gently.
I normally vape those on a Kanger Kbox Mini.

I think the key is to pulse and at most get a dull red glow for spaced coils.
honkin big gargoyle hoof claptons will require more wattage for pulsing I would think.

I have only used spaced coils for well over a year now.
And have not used any factory coils in over 2 years.
For the SS coils I was referring too my wasp nano but yeah I vape at 20 watts on my subtank mini and I also use an RBA for my isub, not alot are aware of the isub RBA but it's underrated
 

The Cromwell

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For the SS coils I was referring too my wasp nano but yeah I vape at 20 watts on my subtank mini and I also use an RBA for my isub, not alot are aware of the isub RBA but it's underrated
I was not aware that they had an RBA for the Isub.
 

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