RTA Wicking (Wick Only Lasting about a Day?)

[Deleted]

Hi all. I've got both Kayfun Lite Plus V2 and Subtank Mini tanks and I have been making my own coils and wicks for both for a few weeks now. I have found the coils fairly easy to do and after trying various ohm settings from 0.5 to 2.2 I have settled on 1.7/1.8ohm (ish) (I prefer mouth to lung). I have also tried different wicking methods and after many a failure and success I think I have finally nailed the correct amount of wick and placement in both tanks. I use Muju pads for the wick as I find it easier to use. I pretty much go for the "bunny ears" method of wicking with the wick having resistance within the coil (but not too much) and both ends nicely fluffed up, then gently placed on the deck ensuring to make a small hole (with daylight visible) for the juice wells. I can now repeat this coil maintenance (degunking and re-wicking) pretty quickly each morning with near identical vaping results. A small amount of crackle, good production of cool smooth vapor, tasty, no gurgling, no leaking.

I vape at 1.8ohm and 9-10 watts typically (I occasionally increase it to 12-13 watts to help burn off any excess juice). I vape Manabush juices (50/50) and the vape I get is tasty, cool and silky smooth, and just as I expect a good vape to be at these watts.

So what is the problem then? Well, I have to rewick every day (Kayfun or Subtank Mini - both are the same). I'm not chain vaping although I am no casual vaper either, and the first few hours are excellent with either tank, but towards the end of the first day the taste is becoming much weaker, a little laboured, and I just know it's getting time to re-wick. At this point I've probably used 3-4ml of juice in either tank, depending on which one I'm using. When I remove the wick the center portion within the coil is noticably darker in colour (as is the coil) compared to both ends (the ears) which are just juice coloured, but I would have expected that as the coil is where the juice is heated after all.

Now, I honestly don't mind re-wicking every day in order to maintain that great flavour and I've always just assumed it is because of the juice I vape and the low watts I prefer to use (causing the wick to "gunk up" quickly), but before I get truly settled into my daily pattern of re-wicking I thought I'd just check with the experts here to see if they think this is normal in the circumstances and if not what they think the problem might be and where I may be going wrong. Or is it just as I suspected and the result of 50/50 juice, moderate to heavy use, and juice at fairly low watts?

Thanks in advance guys!

[Deleted]

I have no experience of Manabush liquids but some liquids are notorious coil gunkers .... custards and some tobacco extract liquids in particular.
Some of my coils will last 2 - 3 weeks while others last a day or two depending on what liquid is being vaped.

[catface26]

You mentioned a small amount of crackle. This could still indicate a slight flooding of the coil which could be caused by not enough wick. If the wick is to loose inside the coil then it could be burning as not enough juice can get in.
You want some resistance when you feed your wick through the coil. Pull it back and fourth once it's in to loosen the bit inside the coil.

For a comparison my wicks last at least a week in my subtank mini (I vape this with a Clapton coil at 40w) and my Bellus RTA (Dual clapton coil at 50w)

[SteveF]

I found the wicks in my subtank RBAs went 'off' quite quickly with Manabush, love their juices but its been a pita keeping them in the sweet zone.
Can't offer much on where to go next, I've tried most coils too, everything from simple 28g 1.4ohm through twisted kanthal to 0.25ohm mini claptons. The coils just gunk up and the wicks go almost black after a day or so.

[chykensa]

It sounds as though your method for wicking and coiling is about right @hondo, so I think it's down to the Manabush juices. I have tried some of their range, and found them quite sweet and sickly, and that would suggest that the coils are gunking up with caramelised juice quite quickly. Do you have another brand of juice you can try for a day to compare?
I can't really suggest anything else, other than a higher power to your coil would lengthen the amount of time between rewicking; as you mentioned, the more power the quicker the coil rids itself of the excess caramelisation, and should therefore last longer.

[jevans]

Nov 26, 2015 0:02:48 GMT chykensa said:

the more power the quicker the coil rids itself of the excess caramelisation, and should therefore last longer.

An interesting theory Andy, but I'm not convinced!


Jim

[VapingBad]

I mainly vape a naturally extracted tobacco and have to change Kayfun (all cotton wick atties I have used) wicks with every tank, maybe every 2nd or 3rd tank with temp limiting, thank god for gennies.

[chykensa]

Nov 26, 2015 1:36:37 GMT jevans said:

Nov 26, 2015 0:02:48 GMT chykensa said:

the more power the quicker the coil rids itself of the excess caramelisation, and should therefore last longer.

An interesting theory Andy, but I'm not convinced!


Jim

I'm not saying that the caramelisation doesn't occur Jim jevans, but a higher power does prolong the life of a coil to a certain extent. The power helps to burn off the crud, whereas at lower power, the crud sticks around and slows things down!

[Deleted]

Thank you all very much for all of your help and comments.

chykensa Unfortunately I don't have any other juices to try. I did try Digbys Mom's Custard recently (very nice too) but just changed the wick on auto-pilot without checking.

I suspected it might be the type of juice, so rewicking every day is a price worth paying in order to continue to enjoy Powwow and Chiricahua Sun. I just needed to check with you guys first in case I was doing something daft or missing something obvious. That said, I've got a DIY juice kit on my Xmas list, so things could get interesting! :-)

[jevans]

Nov 26, 2015 7:34:51 GMT chykensa said:

I'm not saying that the caramelisation doesn't occur Jim jevans , but a higher power does prolong the life of a coil to a certain extent. The power helps to burn off the crud, whereas at lower power, the crud sticks around and slows things down!

I've no doubt you're right Andy, it just seems to me that if the coil is hot enough to burn the crud off, it's hot enough to burn the wick.


Jim

[goneforagasper]

Manabush is one of the liquids I use in a Kayfun Lite @hondo and it does gunk up I have to dry burn and rewick every 2-3 tanks.

As a matter of interest I used to use the "bunny ears" wicking but after some dry burns probably due to to much cotton, I have changed to this wicking method


I find this works for me and I have not had any problems - it just works every time

[Deleted]

Cheers for that goneforagasper . I've not seen that one before and will be trying it out tomorrow for sure. Interesting that you are getting 2 to 3 tanks worth though before re-wicking, I'm getting slightly less than one tank with Powwow, so perhaps I am using too little wick after all.

Out of curiosity, how close is your coil hovering above the airhole? I noticed on that video that his coil is almost touching the airhole (I haven't watched it properly yet - just flicked through quickly - will watch properly tomorrow). But I am now wondering if my coil is just too high and that is shortening the wicks lifespan.

Thanks again.

Edited to add: I found a small bottle of Digbys Apple Pie so running a tank of that for testing - jolly nice it is too

[goneforagasper]

I do mine 2-3 mm above the air hole @hondo

[Deleted]

Same as me then mate, cheers!

[jevans]

goneforagasper @hondo Does the space above the air hole really matter, isn't it all about air flow?


Jim