Driphacks Vaping Safety Guide

Vaping is a hobby for millions around the world now, the different products, vaping styles and many different options out there give people a real choice in how they want to enjoy it. The great thing about vaping is that you don’t have to be an expert on the subject, you just need to know the very basics to be able to enjoy vaping. For a lot of people this will be the case, simply fill full of liquid and press button, there can’t be more to it can there? Well yes there is, many more things to help keep you vaping safely. So here at Drip Hacks, what we want to do is to take a look at some of the biggest safety issues when it comes to vaping to make sure you know you are keeping yourself safe. Maybe you know about these things or perhaps there is something new to learn. Either way we hope we can help you even just a little.

Tanks

The tank is the metallic / glass house that you use for your E Liquid and contains the coil / cotton used to create the vapour. As a rule things don’t really go wrong in a safety aspect but take a look through the following and hopefully you can keep yourself as safe as possible when using your tank.

Dry Burn

The wick is the cotton part of your coil which absorbs and holds your e liquid. However there are a few different ways to ensure your coil wicks ensure safety if you want to have the best possible vape for the longest amount of time. This is something most people away from coil builders will never experience but even a seasoned pro may forget. When you fire your mod you are running power through the coil and heating up the cotton to start vaping, pretty basic stuff. However what happens when there is no liquid on the cotton when you do this? In short, it burns the cotton almost instantly, without any safety window. This can immediately ruin a brand new stock coil much the same way as accidentally firing your mod for too long can do. Dry burning however comes with an additional risk when you first fire it. When there is nothing to heat up, the heat goes straight into the cotton and will most likely cause an ignition, setting the cotton on fire. This is not as much an issue with rebuildable coils but inside the tank, it can lead to burning of the tank itself and possible long term damage to the glass / plastic making it unsafe to use. Always make sure your cotton is saturated before firing.

Not Replacing coils

If you know a thing or two about vaping then you know to replace the coils as soon as they are no longer functional. They will taste horrible or muted and the experience will be much lower once a coil has given up the ghost. However did you know what the actual danger of not replacing a coil can be? In a word, carcinogens can be created by excessive use of a old coil. Vaping doesn’t have any carcinogens with regular usage but an old coil can cause them to appear, why? Because once the coil has been essentially burnt out, further use is then burning the cotton even further, plus any other leftover ingredients there (for example glucose from the E Liquid). So by regularly using the coil in such a state you are burning what is left and therefore inhaling carcinogens as a result. So if you think your coil is on its way out, always change it, otherwise you are creating a very unpleasant vaping experience.

Ohms Law

If you vape using stock coils then this won’t be for you, but for anyone who wants to make their own coils. A better explanation of this is in our handy coil building guide if you want to go and check that out. Essentially Ohms Law is the mathematical equation that determines what power you put through your coil to make it work. Not enough power is perfectly fine, too much can have some devastating consequences. Most mods on the market come pre built with protections for this kind of risk but an unregulated / mech mod leaves you open to potential hazards. If you are putting too much power through a coil not designed to take it, it can lead to battery venting, battery shorts or an overload on top of the mod. As the batteries are struggling to generate the power in one go (on an unregulated device) it can lead to the chemical balance in the battery to very quickly struggle before explosions, something you read about in the news. Similarly if the mod were to struggle with power, the force on the coil on top would create almost a bullet style effect.

In short, if you are making your own coils then make sure you understand exactly what you are doing when using an unregulated device. Stock coil users won’t have this issue but one slight miscalculation can cause catastrophic effects if something goes wrong with a coil you have made.

Glass

Another safety aspect when it comes to tanks is the fact they are made out of glass and therefore run a hazard if not properly treated. Tanks made now are very unlikely to fundamentally fail when it comes to heating but it can still occur. So the first thing to always keep a note of is how warm the glass is getting when you are chain vaping. Depending on the tank, the heat may dissipate upwards which means onto your glass and that is when you can start to have issues for safety. The more the glass heats up, the more it struggles and can lead to shatter/cracking if stressed too much. Always keep a check on your tank performance because even the very best tanks can struggle with this if the E Liquid / overall temperature do not help the cool-down after each vape. Similarly, where mods can be designed for being drop proof, sadly this is not the case for tanks. So always make sure you don’t leave your device lying in a place it could easily drop/knock over and cause glass breakage. At the very least it can leave you without a vape until you get home, at worst then the broken glass can be dangerous to remove afterwards depending on tank design. Simply keeping aware of where you leave your mod can prevent this sort of thing happening.

Mods

The mod is the device that houses the batteries and provides power to the coil when you want to vape. Most mods on the market are designed for maximum safety and often come with many protections built in to stop an issue occurring. However when it comes to any electronic device, care and proper usage has to come into effect to ensure you are not putting yourself at risk. So here are the main things to look out for when it comes to safely using a mod.

Proper Care

More and more devices are coming to market with added design protections such as waterproof design to make the device as safe and rugged as possible. For any other devices out there, you have to make sure you are maintaining a mod correctly. One of the biggest risks when it comes to mods is not taking correct care of them, which can lead to issues down the line. One of the issues can be caused by E Liquid getting inside the device through a tank leakage or spill. Once you start to get E Liquid inside the device, it can then sit on the circuit boards inside and cause a whole host of issues that you could never see coming. For example I once had a mod that heated up excessively to the point where it was dangerous to use Same with any drops, knocks that the device isn’t designed to withstand. It could lead to something being knocked out of place or even worse, disconnected leading to the mod then acting dangerously. Simple cleaning up leaks / proper care when you put the mod down can save a whole host of issues in the future. As simple as that advice is, even the safest electronic device out there can fail if improperly cared for.

Locking the device

Another important thing to remember when it comes to how to handle mods is the very simple idea of shutting / locking the device when carrying outside. It makes no difference if it is regulated or not, not shutting down a device can cause major issues if gone unnoticed. Regulated devices usually come with a firing protection of around 10 seconds before automatically stopping but if left, this could potentially repeatedly fire the mod. When the mod is firing for even that amount of time it puts tremendous stress on your tank and it can lead to coil wicks burning, tanks overheating leading to shattering and other issues tank related. What it can also cause is battery pressure if they are outputting power for long periods of time repeatedly whilst heating up. This can lead to battery failure and when placed in your pocket, potentially unnoticed until it explodes. So always make sure you lock your device/shut off when putting it in a bag/pocket because if something goes wrong, you may not notice until it is too late.

Batteries

The batteries are specially designed vaping batteries that have a much bigger output than your standard AA style and as a result require much more care and attention. The biggest safety aspect of vaping is through the batteries as they are the cause of 90% of any vaping issues but with a little bit of care they are perfectly safe. We will go into more depth in our battery guide but for now, here are the main things to look out for when it comes to battery safety.

Wrapped batteries

The basic way in which any battery works is through the positive (top) and negative (bottom) end of the battery. Basic science explains how they create a circuit and supply the power to the device they are powering. So what about the battery wrapping? The wrapping as well as the top circle style cover are there for protection to prevent any other circuits making a connection with the battery. For example a battery missing the top insulator disc could well make a contact with something else metal and therefore discharge the power inside the battery. Always make sure the battery wraps are in the highest order and if in doubt then re wrap / replace them straight away. All it takes is another connection to be made with the metallic battery and the full power is discharged with nowhere to go. The wrap is there for your own protection, so ensuring it is maintained is one of the highest priorities.

No Loose Batteries

Another important safety precaution to always remember is never carry batteries loose in your pocket as this can lead to some significant risks. How the battery works essentially is by discharging power within a circuit when asked to which the asked to part is usually you pressing the fire button. However batteries don’t just need a specially designed connection to make them work, anything will do, more specifically anything metallic. So lets say you are carrying your spare batteries in the same pocket/bag as your keys/ coins. The metallic connection from the keys will make the battery discharge power as it will act like the circuit, except there is nowhere for the power to go. This leads to battery venting or in some instances, straight up blowing as the power is not flowing through a correct circuit. When you hear about batteries blowing up in the news then this is why, you get no warning, just significant injuries / a light show. So always make sure you carry any battery in a specially designed battery box, they are cheap by themselves and any respected battery company will sell you them in a box to begin with. It goes without saying but also make sure your battery door/release button is in full working order as well. There wouldn’t be anything worse than it accidentally opening your battery compartment and something going horribly wrong.

Hopefully we have brought something new to your in-depth vaping knowledge, or maybe we have just helped consider all safety aspects of vaping. Remember safety is always our up-most priority and simply considering all of the points we have provided in this article will keep you safe.