Idea (alternative To Coal Content)

[NoPeace]

i was actually wondering. some standard incandescent light bulbs can start a fire they get so hot. so why cant someone use that as a heat source. i mean of course you would want to aim the light down so that the its not like shining in everyones face so maybe surround it with a heat insulator and some metal. it's cheap, battery powered and could look pretty cool if you mess around with the light : D

[Plain Old Me]

i was actually wondering. some standard incandescent light bulbs can start a fire they get so hot. so why cant someone use that as a heat source. i mean of course you would want to aim the light down so that the its not like shining in everyones face so maybe surround it with a heat insulator and some metal. it's cheap, battery powered and could look pretty cool if you mess around with the light : D

Could work, but keep in mind that a standard light bulb is very inefficent in transmitting infrared waves. Most of the waves transmitted are in the visible spectrum. NiChrome is much better for just infrared radiation. I think that direct heat with a light bulb would probabally burn the shisha while a convection heating apparatus would be more like an actual coal.

[indian_villager]

Have any of you considered those ceramic heat lamps they sell at pet stores?

Edit: my bad just read the first page again it seems that someone might have. Edited February 19, 2008 by indian_villager

[chromecarz00]

go for color me mine for the bowl its great

[Plain Old Me]

Update:
Tested out the heating elements today and the one I tested kinda burst into flame and melted. So I am going to use some heavier gauge wire and more of it. Since the wire melted, that means that the elements were glowing at ~1400 degrees C so I should be getting plenty of heat. My dimmers definitely worked as regulators though, which is a great positive. Just needs some tweaking. Also found out that coiling the wire can change the resistance, which is probably why my calculations were slightly off. Edited February 27, 2008 by Plain Old Me

[SaVi0r]

If your inventions works nicely i'll buy one for the price you spent on materials plus $20 and shipping

[Doofy]

Plz keep updating. I was considering doing something similar, I want to know if it will work. Edited March 4, 2008 by Doofy

[Plain Old Me]

I have not made much progress- I have been sick and busy the last week. Hopefully I will be able to test the thicker gauge this weekend and go on to make the tube it shall all be in.

[Plain Old Me]

So this last weekend I finally got to retest my heating elements. When I got the rig plugged in and such, I turned up the dimmer, but to my dismay I could only really get it 100% on or 100% off, even when I turned the dial very slowly. Also, when I got the heating element going it refused itself into a different shape after about 5 seconds. What I mean is that the wire kinda melted and then fused with other sections of the wire, creating a semi straight wire out of the coil I had going. I think I may need to use potentiometers instead of light dimmers...

[mathuv]

cool, keep it up

[FireMeetsIce]

Temps according to the Hookah Love blog on HS -

"Glyercin boils at a temperature of 290 degrees Celsius and the flavoring used in hookah tobacco is around that temperature if not less. If you have access to a temperature gage - such as my thermocouple - you’ll notice the hookah charcoal on your bowl will be around 320-350 degrees when pulling/smoking your hookah and will drop to around 250-300 (depending on the charcoal you are using and how much). From my observations (just simple fun observations I have made while smoking my hookah), the natural wood charcoals standing state is on the lower end of the scale, while compressed charcoal is at the higher end. When smoking from the hookah, both rise to the 320-350 degrees which allows for the evaporation of the glycerin and minimal or no burning of the tobacco leaf (in fact, some studies show that some cigarettes burn at upwards of 800 degrees). When you then stop smoking your hookah, the temperature will fall back to the 250-280 degrees (if you have the proper amount of lemon wood charcoal. And this is where the lemon wood or other natural wood charcoal has its advantage. Romman Lemonwood charcoal has an estimated standing state of 250-280 degrees while compacted charcoal standing state is 270-300 degrees. Both have 320-350 degrees of smoking state (the state at which air is passing over it and thus heating up the charcoal."

[TubaTrav2010]

asa someone told you before, i guess the harder thing about this is to emulate the increase temperature the coal get when you inhale, probably you can makae something that will be always that hot but that probably will burn your shisha way to much

Almost like how an electric stove coil burns only when needed (to a specific temp), would there be a way to sense the inhale of the gases to turn the coil on, but ya, constant head would burn it way too much. Ill stick with my natural coal until something better comes out.