electric heater

[therealbonger]

Does anyone use the electric heater. I use coals and like the fire, but the heater would eliminate carbon monoxide which is the biggest problem i have with coals.

[DizzyGuy]

Which electric heater are you refering to? Most electric heaters on the market are to heat the coals, not the shisha..

[Skimo]

i didnt know the coals gave off carbon monoxide, wouldnt that kill you? i thought thats what bbq coals gave off

[DizzyGuy]

Just looked at your name and thought that I'd bring up another point, I don't think shisha would work in a mechine like a vaporizor either if that's something that might eventually come up

[.ryan]

[quote name='skimo']i didnt know the coals gave off carbon monoxide, wouldnt that kill you? i thought thats what bbq coals gave off[/quote]

The amount of carbon monoxide coals give off is not nearly enough to harm you. But, if you are really that worried, just smoke in the garden or next to a tree or somthing.

[Skimo]

lol yeah, always smoke in the garden, makes me feel like a hippy

[KiKaL]

[quote name='DizzyGuy']Just looked at your name and thought that I'd bring up another point, I don't think shisha would work in a mechine like a vaporizor either if that's something that might eventually come up[/quote]

Actually it is possible. A local "water pipe" store which happens to sell hookahs and shisha had a vaporizor set up with shisha they they let me give a try. It did actually work, just not nearly as well as a hookah. You could taste the flavor but the smoke was fairly thin.

[DizzyGuy]

Ahhhhh, well, it's not worth it then

And yeah, if you are worried about something like carbon monoxide in the coals, then smoking probably isn't for you lol

[Skimo]

i thought it was bad for it and thats why people didnt use bbq coals lol

[DizzyGuy]

I don't think that coals provide anywhere near the crap that you get out of a bbq coal

[Oggie505]

I guess I should be dead by now from my hookah coals...lol

[tjt486]

Ive heard these discussed before. The idea apparently does not work because of the differences between an electric heating element and a coal. A coal's heat is affected by the air drawn over it when you inhale, the electric element is unaffected. I dont know what the truth is on the level of CO in coals, but I dont imagine its terribly healthy. This isnt a hobby we do for our health, though. We obviously do it for enjoyment though I do understand wanting to minimize the health concerns. Just take it for what its worth, guys and gals.

[Skimo]

lol i dont really care about my health, i live once and want to enjoy it to the fullest

[Scalliwag]

I was working on making a heating element from a lawnmower pull start recoil spring but never finished it. I bent it to shape but I never torched it to increase the resistance and do the math and all. It seems to me if a heating element was made like that it could be mounted to a ceramic enclosure that sat on a standard bowl and heat would be controlled with a rheostat. The way those springs are made you clould get a got of heating surface it is the equivalent of a 3/8" thick element with excellent airflow between the coils.
I need to dig that back out and play with it.

Oh, the pic in the spring is from a google search. Mine is bent with the coils tighter in the middle and the length of the spring will be cut once the ideal sweetspot is found, providing there is one.

[img]http://www.lagp.com/pixs/91-299.PIX/43-409.jpg[/img]

[benny]

theres that bogan/redneck engineering again!

Scalli at his finest!

[Scalliwag]

[quote name='benny']theres that bogan/redneck engineering again!

Scalli at his finest![/quote]

Haha, we will see.

[Hookahmania]

in the middle east i hear a lot of people use this device,it's like a powered up coil that u plug in wall, and use it like a coal, im trying to find one, it is hard to find, but read about it on some site, maybe you have to own your own oill refinery and be a prince to get one? I bet osama yo momma bin laddin has one, but to bad he lives in a cave, he cant even plug it in, the chickin shit bastard.

[azcoyote]

It would be most irksome to have wires coming off my hookah. Heating circuits draw lots of electricity, so a battery pack would have to be huge if you wanted to make it portable.

One thing I think I remember about combustion gases: When enough oxygen is present for complete combustion, the only gas produced is CO2 and H2O vapor. CO is formed when not enough oxygen is present.

When drawing on the hose, fresh air flows over the coals, so CO content should be minimal. That's the theory anyway. :idea:

[OPR234]

[quote name='tjt486']Ive heard these discussed before.  The idea apparently does not work because of the differences between an electric heating element and a coal. [b] A coal's heat is affected by the air drawn over it when you inhale, the electric element is unaffected.[/b] I dont know what the truth is on the level of CO in coals, but I dont imagine its terribly healthy.  This isnt a hobby we do for our health, though.  We obviously do it for enjoyment though I do understand wanting to minimize the health concerns.  Just take it for what its worth, guys and gals.[/quote]

What if you made a heating element like the thing Scalli posted, and hooked it up to something like a soldering iron, so you could heat it up just before you smoke from it. (assuming it gets hot enough)

[Scalliwag]

[quote name='OPR234']What if you made a heating element like the thing Scalli posted, and hooked it up to something like a soldering iron, so you could heat it up just before you smoke from it. (assuming it gets hot enough)[/quote]

Another way would be to have a relay and have the element at like a constant low heat and then when you hit on it have the relay kick on and kick it into nuke mode. It would work like the hookahs that light when you hit on them. at least that is a way to simulate a coal.

[Joseph]

azcoyote, that is only true if it is only a hydrcarbon burning. I wonder how pure these coals really are. They are putting off CO for sure, thats probably part of the reason people get headaches from smoking too hard.

[goatling]

Why mess around, just get one of [url="http://www.crystalaser.com/new/laseruv.jpg"]these[/url] and aim it at the bowl. Make sure not to look directly at it though!

[azcoyote]

[quote name='Joseph']azcoyote, that is only true if it is only a hydrcarbon burning.  I wonder how pure these coals really are.  They are putting off CO for sure, thats probably part of the reason people get headaches from smoking too hard.[/quote]

ABSOLUTELY CORRECT about hydocarbon burning. But headaches can also come from getting lots of nicotine.. There probably are some lignins left in the charcoal. It seems plausible that as the coal is consumed, these substances burn off and at a certain point almost pure carbon is left. When that is exactly I don't know. But it seems I get a cleaner tasting hit once the coals have burned for five minutes or so.

Does anyone else experince this?

[Johnny_D]

[quote name='azcoyote']<SNIP> But it seems I get a cleaner tasting hit once the coals have burned for five minutes or so.  

Does anyone else experince this?[/quote]

Defintely. I experience the same. And it seems to be the same with all the coals i used / have used.

Not sure i like the idea of the having the shisha plugged it. Makes it restricitive in my opinion.

JD

[Sonthert]

There shouldn't be that much in the way of hydrocarbons...they would all be driven off in the charcoaling process. The glue used as a filler for preformed coals probably adds to CO production. Natural coals and their high sulfur composition also adds to CO production. CO production by the charcoal may be one of the most significant health risks associated with smoking hookah.

Edit: Electric hookah head heaters are not new, just hard to say five times fast. The control issue with an electric heater is difficult, especially when you are dealing with a phase change...the heater tends to move too slowly and too much, burning the tobacco or not gtting enough heat out of it.