Dangerous VICKS Vaporizer - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: FennecTECH
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2016, 01:37:06 am
content: I have one of these and i plug them in every whinter but this time i noticed something i could touch the damp surface of the vaporizer and i would get belted something serious! so i put a wire in the water with a LED on the other end of it touched it to a metal pc case and what do you know the led lights up for a moment and then dies! turns out the thing toasted the led! so i put a ground lead into the water that leads to the ground terminal of a power strip i use to reduce the shock i get when refilling the thing but seriously vicks this thing is DANGEROUS! need to get a multimeter to see what kind of voltage is on this thing

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2016, 01:48:41 am
content: Probably a corroded through heating element. No idea why they don't require GFCI plugs on those things like they do for hair dryers and window A/Cs.

author: DrGeoff
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2016, 01:50:16 am
content: Several of those plug-in smelly-air thingies have caused house fires over here in AU.

author: FennecTECH
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2016, 02:09:14 am
content: im tempted to tear the thing apart yeah prolly corosion because they tell you to use salt water too xD hell they could even make it three pronged xD i think anything with a metal chasis or water should automaticly be grounded lol

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2016, 10:43:41 am
content: Quote from: FennecTECH on April 14, 2016, 01:37:06 amBetter to measure the current it can supply - due to capacitive coupling, you'll probably find a lot of other devices with SMPSs are floating at mains voltage, but can't supply much more than hundred microamps or so (which is plenty to light an LED, and could be perceptible, but not dangerous).You could've killed the LED because of reverse polarity and not overcurrent, because it's AC.Better to measure than jump to conclusions.

author: Rerouter
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2016, 11:07:53 am
content: to test for that, grab a 100K resistor, measure the voltage to ground without it, and measure the voltagge to ground with it in parrellel, if its microamps that should give you the numbers to work out the leakage, if it barely changes its much more serious

author: MarkL
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 14, 2016, 12:54:27 pm
content: These vaporizers don't have an isolated heating element. They heat the water with two electrodes dipped into the water that are connected directly to the mains input. The heating "element" is the resistance of the water. So, yes, the water is connected to mains.If you have very pure water it won't conduct very well to generate heat. That's why the instructions have you add salt to the water a pinch at a time until you reach the right conductivity. They also note that if you add too much salt you can pop your circuit breaker (in which case, dump out the water and start again).Surprisingly it's UL listed. We have several of these units and it's difficult to make contact with the water because of a large shroud around the electrode assembly. You can't really get your finger in there while it's immersed in the water. But this design should probably have a GFCI, just in case.I wouldn't stick a grounded electrode in the water. It could end up drawing significant current and will probably electrolyze away whatever you put in there. I don't know what material they're using for electrodes.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2016, 06:00:32 pm
content: Electrodes are carbon rods, moulded into the plastic case. I have an old clothes steamer that uses the same techique.Only issue is that there is absolutely no protection, though there is inherent boil dry protection. Seems like a PTC fuse or such would be a good idea to have in there.

author: xygor
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2016, 06:11:21 pm
content: Your added ground wire will act as an additional electrode. There would still be a voltage gradient across the water. You should remove your addition.

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2016, 06:33:09 pm
content: These things exist for decades and the construction did not change much over the years, only the material: bakelite on the top heater portion, woven fabric cable mains cable (that was probably what caught fire if the cable was in poor condition). I had one just like the picture below and, as SeanB mentioned, it had the same beefy shroud around the boiling plates. Never had any problems with them.

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2016, 04:21:55 am
content: Quote from: MarkL on April 14, 2016, 12:54:27 pmSounds like Big Clive would have a bit of fun with one of those!The ones I have encountered just use a metal encased heating element. There are also some that use ultrasonics or are just small evaporative coolers, which are far more energy efficient but need regular cleaning to prevent bacteria/mold growth.

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2016, 10:47:03 am
content: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrode_boilerBigClive has reviews of a few of this type of device on YouTube.