Are my coils rusting after only 1 day?

[N41L]

Hello,

First time building coils with Stainless Steel. I purchased 30 feet of SS 316L clapton wire (26g, 30g wrap) and made my first two SS coils. After one day of use, they look completely rusted but taste fine as far as I can tell. The wicking is also turning this color around the coils. Is this normal, or should I be concerned? I'm at work right now, so I can't dry-fire the coils because I have no wicking with me here to replace at the moment.

Here is what I'm using, and the settings I had it running at for a day.
Aspire Cleito
.21 Ohm
3.20 voltage
48.9 watts
Vapor Trails NW juice 70vg/30pg (a very light yellow colored juice called Mana Potion)

Image of coils:

 

[N41L]

And not that it should matter, but this is on an RX200S mod

 

[Jimi D]

Weird.. I'll just stick to kanthal and nichrome then.

 

[skt239]

Not sure about what's going on with your coils but the cotton color is normal, especially if you are using a sweet juice.

 

[david.daoust]

That is pretty strange behavior for a 316L grade stainless steel to me. I would try another brand or just a different spool of the same grade and see if you can duplicate these results.

Can the coil be wiped clean fairly easily to present a bright finish again?

 

[skt239]

Where did you get the spool?

 

[N41L]

I got it here: www.advancedvapesupply.com

I will try cleaning the coils when I get home later tonight.

 

[SteveS45]

Did you happen to heat those coils until they were red?

 

[N41L]

Yes, probably heated them up too hot then right? *sigh* Like I said, first time stainless steel coil maker

 

[Jimi D]

Check to see if a magnet sticks to the wire. Curious.

 

[Razia]

Also interested in the outcome of the cleaning.

 

[VapeVillian]

This is completely normal. There's a few things I want to point out. Starting with pulsing your coils. With SS you don't want to hold that fire button, just tap tap tap. Next, the juice you're using has both sucralose (sweetener) and the same Honeydew that Naked Fish uses that Gunk's up faster than anything I've seen. With Claptons, or any wrapped coils for that matter, your core gets hot faster than the outside wraps, especially true with SS Claptons. Therefore, core wire is vaporizing and by the time your done with your hit, the wraps are right around that temperature to start sizzling. Since there's no more power, it cools down "burning" the juice a bit. There could also be a bit to much/little cotton. Not really a big deal IMO.

All of that combined is what's causing your situation I do believe. Just dry burn and rewick and good as new.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

[raymo2u]

Ive never had wire that bad before (the degradation in that time period) but I also use AVS wire myself.....Make sure your washing your hands before touching the wire and wash the wire before actually using it...if your hands have oils or other contaminates it can cause the degradation to happen faster.

The juice and cotton does tend to get dark, especially with sweeter juices, the wicking and juice looks fine in the picture

 

[HondaDavidson]

Shit, thats a day??? My coils look like that after 1 hour and are pitch black and starting to gunk over by mid day #2. The color is the result of carmelization. It's what happens when you cook sugars.

 

[r055co]

Shit, thats a day??? My coils look like that after 1 hour and are pitch black and starting to gunk over by mid day #2. The color is the result of carmelization. It's what happens when you cook sugars.

Yep, all depends on the juice. Some juice I've used may taste good but gunk up my coils so bad I no longer use it, cinnamon heavy juices will blacken my coils in an hour.

 

[HondaDavidson]

Yep, all depends on the juice. Some juice I've used may taste good but gunk up my coils so bad I no longer use it, cinnamon heavy juices will blacken my coils in an hour.

Most of my juices are have at least some NET Flavoring. Most of which are typically mixed at 25%. At that flavor ratio I am lucky to get a full day on a wick....... Lately I have been vaping Unflavored a lot. Almost every other tank. This Cleansing has allowed me to reduce the flavor percentages when I vape. To somewhere in the 5-10% flavoring ranges. Since I started Diluting my NET juices I'm getting 2 days and sometime 3 or 4 days on a wick. I originally started diluting my juices to adjust the nic down.. But I was finding with some of my juices, I am able to get more and better flavor from the diluted vapes... Some of this might be more attributable to switch my ADV mod to a regulated mod about a month ago. The ability to tweak the mod output and have it run at same consistent power levels, might be contributing to both the coil longevity and flavor. The ability to build for a wattage range without really needing to consider ohm rate might also be helping.

 

[Debbiej]

I've thought of vaping unflavored. Everything is starting to taste the same. Sad time. Vaper tongue maybe? How does it taste? VG is pretty sweet by itself

 

[saytar]

Ive never had wire that bad before (the degradation in that time period) but I also use AVS wire myself.....Make sure your washing your hands before touching the wire and wash the wire before actually using it...if your hands have oils or other contaminates it can cause the degradation to happen faster.

The juice and cotton does tend to get dark, especially with sweeter juices, the wicking and juice looks fine in the picture

All wire will do this..eventually...I use the same wire and I have one RTA (Griffin 25 and Boreas), I just pull the cotton rise the coils, burn them clean (I do get them red, don't heat over that) with several short burns, I rake across the coils very very lightly to shake any loose gunk, sometimes re-rinse them, dry them and re-wick...................................both RTA's are going on 4 months with SAME coils. After the cleaning most of the time these coils look almost brand new.....SS doesn't rust......Also make sure to check your grub screws and re-tighten if needed...I sometimes just release tension on screw and re-tighten normally as part of the process....

I burn and re-wick anytime I feel the flavor is not right.....with the Griffin this is about a week at a time...on the side air flow Boreas I have gone as long as 3 weeks between re-wicking......I vape mostly fruit flavors in various DIY combinations. No added sugars or sweetner's as the VG I use is fairly smooth and sweet by itself and when combined with fruit flavors is normally pretty damn tastey without any sugars....

But vape what you want, but some flavor's and different tanks will require different lengths of time between re-wick and cleaning's...............let your taste buds be your guide.....lots of extra wicking on hand is a good thing and as its cheap, why put up with bad flavor for a few cents?

ADDED NOTE: I have noticed that when the coils get REALLY gunked that this can sometimes cause a mod to start jumping out of TC or to start hittng temp cutoffs frequently, that is also a good guide to tell you that it's time for some RTA maintenance........As can a loose grub screw or coil too close and when hot touching a post when heated....

 

[raymo2u]

It will but proper care and cleanliness will ensure they go for a bit longer then without...