Err wick on fire! Help!

[Toondog]

I've just set up my new aga t+ first go and errrr... the ss wick keeps catching fire and now it just blown! What?!?! Didn't even know juice was flammable! The coil read 2.7 ohm on my vamo before it gave in. What gone wrong? I'm confused as it looked great! Didn't dare put the cap on and have a draw!

Heeeelp!!!!

Chris.

[DiscoDes]

What voltage or wattage were you putting through it!

What wire have you used?

[DiscoDes]

Oh i see you're using a SS mesh wick, you must have had a short.... you DID oxidise it?

[Toondog]

Yep I oxidised it and both times I coiled it it read 2.8 ohms at a every stage even when it was catching fire, I had it on 8 watts for starters and went all the way down to 6 and its still doing it, even with the cap on, there was a little explosion when I was taking a draw, nearly sh@t myself. I've put it back in the cupboard till I find out what's going wrong

Chris.

[DiscoDes]

Chris, you're almost definately getting a short through the body to the wick, could be at the bottom of the tank or wick hole in the cap, this causes hot spots. SS mesh wicks can be a right PITA IMO. You could try a small piece of cling film or ciggy paper where the wick goes through the cap.

[Skwoddy]

lol, The explosions are probably just juice pops, frightened the hell out of me the first time, as for the catching fire im stumped, unless you paid £1.35 a litre from a local forecourt?

[Deleted]

What about wicking, if it's not wicking effectively the coil may produce enough heat to ignite the juice ??? Is the wick soaking with juice?, are the coils close enough to the wick? Do the coils look wet?

[chrisjw]

As cornersruns says, drip some juice on the mesh & coil before firing it up, to make sure it's wet

[Toondog]

Jan 24, 2013 16:47:11 GMT Skwoddy said:

lol, The explosions are probably just juice pops, frightened the hell out of me the first time, as for the catching fire im stumped, unless you paid £1.35 a litre from a local forecourt?

No not juice pops had plenty of them, this was a definite ignition related event!
I don't think it's a short as the resistance has remained constant both coils, obviously not after the first one popped, I think I'm leaning towards the not wicking thing, it's not soaked in juice and ignites after about 3 or four seconds. Any ideas how to improve the wicking? I only got one price of mesh with the bloody thing so will have to work with what I've got. What are the odds of un-rolling the wick and maybe cutting a length off to make it looser helping? I oxidised it after I rolled it. It's definitely oxidised, perhaps too much, it's jet black!

Determined to get this to work as just burning the juice I dripped on the wick smelled so much stronger flavour wise than anything I've experienced before.

Any more clues?