diff --git a/system/libraries/Email.php b/system/libraries/Email.php
index 756a38a..a745d33 100644
--- a/system/libraries/Email.php
+++ b/system/libraries/Email.php
@@ -105,9 +105,9 @@
 	/**
 	 * SMTP Encryption
 	 *
-	 * @var	string	NULL, 'tls' or 'ssl'
+	 * @var	string	empty, 'tls' or 'ssl'
 	 */
-	public $smtp_crypto	= NULL;
+	public $smtp_crypto	= '';
 
 	/**
 	 * Whether to apply word-wrapping to the message body.
@@ -1875,7 +1875,7 @@
 			return TRUE;
 		}
 
-		$ssl = ($this->smtp_crypto === 'ssl') ? 'ssl://' : NULL;
+		$ssl = ($this->smtp_crypto === 'ssl') ? 'ssl://' : '';
 
 		$this->_smtp_connect = fsockopen($ssl.$this->smtp_host,
 							$this->smtp_port,