Heating Element Materials...Are vaporizers safe?

[Motokid600]

i own an SSV and i don't know if its something to be concerned about, but every now and then i get an odor coming from the heating element. It smelled almost like burning electronics, but i took it all apart and found nothing visibly wrong. I assume if it was burning wires that the smell would be strong and rancid. Should i be concerned with any kind of odor coming from the heating element what so ever?

 

[Hippie Dickie]

i don't know about the SSV ... is the heater odor also in the vapor? That is, is the heater segregated from the air flow? If so, no problem, but the SSV itself may die soon.

 

[Motokid600]

No the vapor doesn't smell or taste odd at all, but no the element is inside the glass heat cover. The air gets sucked in through a hole near the bass of the cover and travels up the glass tube and out into the wand. I guess there's nothing to worry if the vapor is fine... well seems fine lol.

 

[32paths]

Just thought I would update everyone regarding my findings on potential off-gassing from aluminum heating elements in the Volcano. I emailed another researcher in the Netherlands who performed experiments on the efficacy of Vaporization & received a reply as follows:

I have indeed tested the output of the Volcano, but we did not detect any levels of aluminium after 30 minutes of continuous vaporizing.The method used was a standard protocol for testing the presence of various metals present in air.

I then received a followup email from Markus Storz, one of the founders of Storz & Bickel (manufacturer of the Volcano), who provided me with a research study in done in 2009 to test specifically for aluminum vapors in the Volcano airstream. I will post excerpts from the study and am more than happy to post the study online for those who are interested.

Conclusions from the test:

The exhaust air stream of the test device (type) Volcano DIGIT was investigated (within 2 trials / attempts) to the compound aluminum. The trials were performed under worst case - conditions (long test intervals, high temperature). In both test trials, no emission of aluminum or its compounds especially no aluminum ions were detected while using the Volcano DIGIT device

I cant speak to the integrity of ceramic or other heating elements of lesser quality.

 

[hhdub3]

I know this thread is a bit old, but I wanted to say thanks for your effort 32paths.

We make all kinds of trade offs in life, in terms of risk versus reward. And it seems to me that vaporization has made enjoying enjoying cannabis some degree safer. There's no reason not to continue in that direction. Transparency in manufacturing can only help.

Thanks again,
H.

 

[fireup]

I wonder whether the manufactures of other vapea are testing this throrougly..good to know the volcano is safe to use.

 

[AGBeer]

The thing that strikes me the most humorous is people getting all worried about the effects of aluminum, when they are clearly wearing a old crinkly hat - made of aluminum.

 

[rayski]

I wonder whether the manufactures of other vapea are testing this throrougly..good to know the volcano is safe to use.

Vapor Brothers claims "....all our products are factory tested and 3rd party lab verified to assure you a toxic-free experience.".

 

[max]

I cant speak to the integrity of ceramic or other heating elements of lesser quality.

If you're including ceramic with those other elements of lesser quality, you'll find a lot of people voting for the ceramic as superior to aluminum. In fact, I'd say at least 9 out of 10 vaporists would prefer ceramic. Vapor Bros. and other box vapes switched from aluminum to ceramic years ago. Vapor Bros. was the last brand name box to switch. But the real reason for the switch was element life. The old Vapor Bros. units used to drop like flies. I guess that's why they only offered a 90 day warranty.

Elements encased in glass or stainless steel are good choices. The Herborizer uses a steel encased ceramic element. Customers campaigned for plain ceramic, thinking the stainless steel was dangerous. Not hardly. The vape builder did try plain ceramic, but it couldn't hold temp well enough, and he went with what he knew was both safe and higher performing.

 

[stinkmeaner]

. Vapor Bros. and other box vapes switched from aluminum to ceramic years ago. Vapor Bros. was the last brand name box to switch. But the real reason for the switch was element life. The old Vapor Bros. units used to drop like flies. I guess that's why they only offered a 90 day warranty.

Just a heads up, Vapor Brothers never used an Aluminum heating element. The original Vapor Brothers was made from the business end of a soldering iron with a glass cover, the type with no replaceable element. If you take a nichrome wire based soldering iron apart and it is a tube of steel sheet-metal rolled/wrapped around an insulation (probably Mica) and then a coil of Nichrome Wire in the middle.

I can't find a good close up of the old Vapor Brothers but it used a heat port like this:

Here is a soldering iron similar to the one they would have used:


I think most are giving too much credit to these vaporizer companies as if they are a bunch of engineers brainstorming in a laboratory, in reality most are probably a group of stoner friends with a simple product they made in their garage.

Like the Herborizer for instance, they are not "encasing a ceramic heating elements in stainless steel" It is just an off the shelf Cartridge heater, the most common have a stainless steel sheath and they will have a filler between the nichrome & a casing of alumina or magnesium based refractory insulation. The metal sheath they use is not for holding heat it is for durability and shock resistance. They both are going to hold the same amount of heat given the same watt density.

 

[max]

They both are going to hold the same amount of heat given the same watt density.

Could be semantics- holding vs. retaining. At any rate, the info was straight from Sebastien, and his comment was that ceramic alone didn't retain heat as well as the enclosed ceramic he'd been using.

 

[Hippie Dickie]

his comment was that ceramic alone didn't retain heat as well as the enclosed ceramic he'd been using.

perhaps the naked ceramic transfers (transmits) heat faster than when wearing the stainless condom.

 

[stinkmeaner]

They both are going to hold the same amount of heat given the same watt density.

Could be semantics- holding vs. retaining. At any rate, the info was straight from Sebastien, and his comment was that ceramic alone didn't retain heat as well as the enclosed ceramic he'd been using.

Was it the taste or heat retention? on Vaporpedia it states that he tried the ceramic and it affected the taste, nothing about heating. I always take these small vape company owners say with a grain of salt anyway since they seem to rarely benefit from real testing or engineering. I am not doubting the fact that the stainless worked well but I am pretty sure he didn't try every different brand of ceramic heater. Every major cartridge heater company has a different Nichrome coil layout inside which leads to different heating characteristics.

It should be obvious to you when you think about it, from looking at the design that the Herborizer relies less on the heat retaining ability of the element and more on the glass which has the larger thermally conductive area, air whizzing by a flat heater has less of a chance of picking up the heat than a turbulent design like the Verdamper, just take the new VHW design, bigger ridges = better heat transfer. So if he was really worried about heat retention and heat transfer he could adjust the design a little which is a perk with hand blown glass.

In conclusion I would say it isn't true if he said it won't work, there is too much evidence to the contrary even if he did try one ceramic heater that didn't, even the Silver Surfer works which is a dimmer controlled ceramic cartridge heater with a much simpler single layer glass cover design.

 

[hexaminekid]

I think another issue with the Volcano is that the fan is enclosed and I've seen a photo on the web (try google images?) where that thing is FULL of dust! Dust is an allergan for many people and I'd hate to inhale dust every time I take my meds. They should design all vaporizers so that one can get in there and clean it a couple times a year!

this is an issue I didnt think off but an important one.
Water filtration would certainly help remove any dust.
I think water filtration is a prerequesite for the ultimate vaporiser.

 

[stinkmeaner]

I think another issue with the Volcano is that the fan is enclosed and I've seen a photo on the web (try google images?) where that thing is FULL of dust! Dust is an allergan for many people and I'd hate to inhale dust every time I take my meds. They should design all vaporizers so that one can get in there and clean it a couple times a year!

this is an issue I didnt think off but an important one.
Water filtration would certainly help remove any dust.
I think water filtration is a prerequesite for the ultimate vaporiser.

That photo is either bogus/rigged by a competitor or something was not right with the Volcano itself or wasn't used right somehow. I tell you from experience with opening a Volcano with many years under its belt, my Volcano was spotless. Every other pic or videos on Youtube reveal clean Volcano's also.