Silica Wicks?

[denis9t9]

Ok,
So may have been ask before but I am a bit worried about vapping with silica wicks are they ok to use as we may be inhaling the fibres?

[theinhaler]

as the wick should be always wet i think the fibres would have trouble getting airbourne

[lenny59]

I asked this on another forum when I first started vaping

My feeling is that so long as they are "Wet" with juice I dont think you are inhaling fibres

But I'm sure there will be other opinions on this

[womble]

There was some talk of it, I don't know the answer, but it was one of the reasons I changed to a SS wick (once I worked out how to work the things).

I've probably breathed in enough crap over the years at work, I don't need vaping to add to it, no matter how small the amount.

[lenny59]

Mar 23, 2013 22:10:21 GMT womble said:

There was some talk of it, I don't know the answer, but it was one of the reasons I changed to a SS wick (once I worked out how to work the things).

I've probably breathed in enough crap over the years at work, I don't need vaping to add to it, no matter how small the amount.

My lungs are coated with years of Rollies and Gypsum.......so I cant really see any Silica wick getting a look in

[womble]

Mar 23, 2013 22:14:30 GMT lenny59 said:

Mar 23, 2013 22:10:21 GMT womble said:

There was some talk of it, I don't know the answer, but it was one of the reasons I changed to a SS wick (once I worked out how to work the things).

I've probably breathed in enough crap over the years at work, I don't need vaping to add to it, no matter how small the amount.

My lungs are coated with years of Rollies and Gypsum.......so I cant really see any Silica wick getting a look in

I dread to think what is in my lungs and try not to think of it too often, as it sends me into a cold sweat. But working on the premise that making it worse doesn't make it better, I'm trying to stop anything else getting in there.

[Adam78]

Mar 23, 2013 21:18:04 GMT denis9t9 said:

Ok,
So may have been ask before but I am a bit worried about vapping with silica wicks are they ok to use as we may be inhaling the fibres?

I have no idea how much of a risk this really is but I'd prefer to be safe than sorry, videos like this



and seeing people mention things like "possible risk of silicosis" on other forums got me a bit nervous tbh.

This was one of the reasons I switched to using the braided wick from here

EkoWool Braided wick

It's still silica & more expensive but apart from it being better quality, easier to work with and wicking better, the individual silica fibres seem much more stable to me, I think they have a larger diameter in microns, making them safer still.

When I bought my first lot of normal silica wick it came in a little Zip-lock baggie and there was millions of tiny silica fibres all over the inside of it and also covering the wick but when I got that braided wick (which also came in a baggie) there was hardly any loose fibres at all.

So yeah, I feel a lot happier using that braided wick than the stuff I had before. As soon as I can decide which mech mod to buy & get a genesis style atty, I'll be using the SS wick.

Having said all that there are a lot of people who say that silica wick is perfectly safe eg.

To put it simply the aerodynamic diameter of a the (wet or dry) silica fiber we use is too large to reach deep enough into the lungs to do damage. If It does get into the upper airways it will be broken into smaller bits by the movement of the cilia and ejected from the body through the digestive tract.

To help you visualize the size difference between the largest size that is respirable and the size of the fibers we use: