What am I doing wrong?

[fitlikemin]

Hello again, I've been using smok pyrex aro clearos - bought two originally, first one worked fine so I bought another three and some spare heads from a different vendor so i can take a variety of different juices with me to work, have some drying out properly etc after washing.

Since then it's been one disaster after another - I use a needle tip bottle to fill them and am now only putting a small amount (0.5ml) down the side, carefully avoiding the centre hole.
Each and every one leaks - battery flooded, liquid in mouth etc.

When I fill them I'm blowing through onto a bit of paper towel - nothing coming out.
Leave them for a few minutes so the wicks soak.
I then screw the clearo onto my battery - first few vapes are fine, then the gurgling, liquid in mouth starts.
I unscrew the battery, blot off all the liquid from the battery, blow through the drip tip and stuff some paper down to soak up the liquid, check that all the O rings are in place and that the head is screwed in (don't think I'm overtightening anything) and start again.

Each time exactly the same thing happens - the battery floods, I get a mouthful of liquid after a few vapes.

I'm careful to keep the battery/clearo upright, I've changed the heads for spare ones I bought, I've tried washing the claeros and leaving them to dry for two days.  Tried diferent juices. Every bl***y time - after a few vapes I've got a mouthful of juice and the batttery bit is soaking.

I've gone through 30ml of softmint in less than two days (and Joose Juice are sold out at present until new stock arrives from USA- but that's a different problem!) and folk at work are no longer so impressed with me stopping smoking as I seem to spend all my breaks unscrewing, cleaning and blotting up liquid, with a quick couple of vapes then back to the same routine.

I can't see what I'm doing wrong but neither can I accept that 5 seperate clearos, (and replacement heads) bought from two different vendors, are all faulty so it must be down to user error.
I've watched various youtube videos (both from here and elsewhere) on using these, changing heads etc and can't work out what the problem is.

Can anyone help - what am I missing out/doing wrongly?

I haven't bought cigs yet but came close yesterday as I'm becoming nore and more frustrated. I'm currently using a carto but prefer the extra capacity of the clearos and want to continue using them. I bought the galss ones so there wouldn't be any issues with vaping eg banana and other flavours.

Apologies for the loser length post but I'm slowly going demented here trying to resolve this icon_shoppingm.

[Karma]

Sorry to hear your having problems fitlikemin

I'm not familiar with those clearos so can't be much help i'm afraid. Have you tried any other kind of clearo or carto yet?

[Perpetua]

There's not enough wick in the heads by the sounds of it fitlikemin . . . so your juice is running straight through, especially if it's PG heavy.

It means either a complete rewick or adding an additional piece to the existing coil head. I think they're similar to the Evod heads so it means taking them apart and laying an extra bit in. I don't think it's down to user error at all.




allaboute-cigarettes.proboards.com/thread/22461/evod-protank-tips-tricks?page=1

[dinamic22]

fitlikemin the only thing you have not mentioned that worked for me is: have a look at the small grommet that sits on top of the wick & give it a push towards the wick, if it was not sat right you will hear a kind of click as it hits its rightful place, oh & something i have seen on the forum before is look under the grommet i have just described to see if theres a couple of small loose flavour wicks as if there isn't any this could account for leakage & gurgling.

[Deleted]

fitlikemin I'm not familiar with these heads but if you fancy a meet up to battle it let me know. Am in the Deen quite central

Jane

[fitlikemin]

Oct 19, 2013 11:37:53 GMT Perpetua said:

There's not enough wick in the heads by the sounds of it fitlikemin . . . so your juice is running straight through, especially if it's PG heavy.

It means either a complete rewick or adding an additional piece to the existing coil head. I think they're similar to the Evod heads so it means taking them apart and laying an extra bit in. I don't think it's down to user error at all.

Thanks Perpetua - thats's re-assuring that it might not be something I'm doing wrong. I'd already taken the metal "bit" off the haeds and tried dry burning the coils after washing them, unfortunately the wick bits on top all seperated so I sort of chucked them back on top again and  replaced the metal bit again. That seems like a fairly easy thing to try first to resolve this - can I use cotton wall from a cotton wool pad or ball and try some of that in one of the heads (think I read somewhere of folk rewicking with cotton wool?) or am I best to order wick stuff online? If so I'll use the supplier mentioned in that linnk about recoling evod's and protanks.

dinamic22 - I'd tried pushing down on the silicon grommet(forgot to mention that) but I think your's and perpetua's suggestion to add more loose wick on top of the coil is what I'll try now.

johanino - that's  a lovely offer, thank you so much for offering that. I like the idea of meeting up with fellow vapers for tips/troubleshooting. Work currently rather hectic (I'm just about to head in to catch up with stuff) but if the extra wick bits don't seem to make a difference I'll definitely take you up on your offer am totally gobsmacked at how helpful and friendly folk on here are.

Apologies incidentally for the rubbish quoting - haven't worked out how to quote more than one person in a reply or how to "hotlink" folks names.
Thanks again to you all.

[Deleted]

I know it adds nothing to your predicament fitlikemin but this is the reason I stick with the top coil iclear 16s and 30s and avoid these bottom coil clearos ... never had a leak, gurgle or a dry hit in all the time I have been using them. The only downsides are that, being dual coil, they use more juice but this is why they give such a great vape and when the juice level goes down you have to tilt the clearo occasionally to keep the wicks wet.

[fitlikemin]

Oct 19, 2013 13:15:24 GMT @freefromsmoking said:

I know it adds nothing to your predicament fitlikemin but this is the reason I stick with the top coil iclear 16s and 30s and avoid these bottom coil clearos ... never had a leak, gurgle or a dry hit in all the time I have been using them. The only downsides are that, being dual coil, they use more juice but this is why they give such a great vape and when the juice level goes down you have to tilt the clearo occasionally to keep the wicks wet.

Thanks - I went for the pyrex ones as I'd bought a couple of taster juices which apparently shouldn't be used in plastic tanks so thought I'd try and standardise on one type of clearo/head combination when the first one seemed to work fine. I've just ordered some wicks and wire after watching various videos on how to recoil heads, it seems (reasonably) straightforward and will hopefully save me money in the long run. If the extra wick doesn't help I might reconsider and go for top coils instead. Hopefully I'll eventually settle on a set-up I'm happy with and stop splashing out cash on various bits n pieces.

Since I bought approx 240/260 cigarettes a week I think I'm still (marginally) ahead with what I've spent on e-cig stuff so far but wouldn't want to look into that too closely.  I'm paranod about running out of battery/liquid/etc and ending up buying cigarettes again so have probably gone a bit OTT with purchases so far! Waiting on three different packages from fasttech -mainly ego batteries and a spinner.

I've just tried adding taking loose wicks from one head and putting them into another (new) head on the clearo with a different juice - once again it worked for a few vapes but has now leaked again -so back to the cartos until the wick/wire arrives! If tthe smok aro's are still leaking after that I'll have to reconsider - since I'm finding I far prefer mint/menthol flavours to tobacco/fruit/sweet flavours so far anyway I might reconsider the need for glass clearos and give the iclears a shot. I'm losing so much juice at present through leaks that the prospect of using more juice by vaping isn't too much of an issue. I find the cartos are fine but again am scared that I'll run dry at work at a time when I can't refill it. Apparently someone who used to work there used e-cigs but spent most of his time refilling them and I'm trying to be as unobtrusive as possible as there's talk of possibly banning them in the office. I prefer being able to fill it up in the morning and there's enough in there to keep me going all day.

Away to look at iclears now..........

[Deleted]

fitlikemin I must admit that I am mainly a tobacco vaper with the odd tank of menthol so I have never had a tank cracking problem. I can't think of a top coil clearo with a glass tank off the top of my head but as I have never had a problem with the plastic tanks I haven't really searched.

[Super-Shiny]

fitlikemin

Keep one of these in mind as you like your carto's but worry about them running out.

Large version here:

Carto tank: Here
Cartomizers for the above tank (Size Extra Large): Here

Smaller version here:

Carto tank: Here
Cartomizers: Here

[fitlikemin]

Oct 19, 2013 14:23:06 GMT Super-Shiny said:

fitlikemin

Keep one of these in mind as you like your carto's but worry about them running out.

Large version here:

Carto tank: Here
Cartomizers for the above tank (Size Extra Large): Here

Smaller version here:

Carto tank: Here
Cartomizers: Here

Thanks Romelee - there's so many different things to look at and try to get my head round! That also looks good and certainly looks like it'd hold a fair amount of liquid. Tempted by so many different options - this was what stopped me trying e-cigs in the first place until I found this forum and followed the suggestions and bought the riva kit, my head was birling with the variety and choices.

Am I right in thinking that you can boil cartos a few times to clean and reuse them and that you can't recoil them? Also is it best if using these to buy the pre-punched cartos or buy the (cheaper) unpunched ones and a punch thing to put the holes in? I realise I've spent a fair amount over the past few weeks but eventually would like to settle on one system which is economical to use/replace.

[Super-Shiny]

fitlikemin i myself would not boil a carto, can't be bothered with all that, as for punch your own carto's sure it is cheaper but again i can't be bothered with that either, them carto's i linked are the ones i have always used for tanks and they never let me down.

Some videos on carto tanks (gives me a opportunity to watch this woman again )

[charon]

fitlikemin, What you are descibing is the curse of BCC's. If as you say all O rings and silicone caps as they should be, then the only logocal way juice can get to battery/mouth is through the wick apature. the bits of wick you trew away, are sometimes known as "flavour wicks" I personally call them PLUGS!!

as a stop gap, yes use some cotton wool but rolled into a thread. Put that on top of the coil, drop of juice on it, reassemble and you should be fine.

[fitlikemin]

Oct 19, 2013 16:11:48 GMT Super-Shiny said:

fitlikemin i myself would not boil a carto, can't be bothered with all that, as for punch your own carto's sure it is cheaper but again i can't be bothered with that either, them carto's i linked are the ones i have always used for tanks and they never let me down.

Some videos on carto tanks (gives me a opportunity to watch this woman again )

Thanks Romelee - have just ordered a tank and 5 pre-punched cartos. Hopefully I can get back to vaping away productively at work without constantly fiddling away and leaking juice everywhere. Lots of useful tips in those videos as well - loved the black "finger stools" on the fingers of the smoke anywhere for pennys guy - WANT

[fitlikemin]

Oct 19, 2013 16:21:04 GMT charon said:

fitlikemin, What you are descibing is the curse of BCC's. If as you say all O rings and silicone caps as they should be, then the only logocal way juice can get to battery/mouth is through the wick apature. the bits of wick you trew away, are sometimes known as "flavour wicks" I personally call them PLUGS!!

as a stop gap, yes use some cotton wool but rolled into a thread. Put that on top of the coil, drop of juice on it, reassemble and you should be fine.

charon@charon
Thanks - sorry I didn't reply to you sooner - missed your reply earlier for some reason.
I have given this a try but the only cotton wool I had in the hoose was "compressed" (other females will possibly know what items I'm referring to ) but I managed to make a wee thread of it and gave it a try. So far it seems to be working ok, a wee leak initially but once I cleaned everything up it's been going fine for the last hour.  I defienitely prefer the cool/airy vape from the smok Aros but looking forward to trying the tank and cartomisers as well. Not so important when I'm at home but can often be out of the house for 12-14 hours when working so need something which'll last me all day without leaking.

I'm going to take the aro with the cotton wool wick and a couple of cartos to work tomorrow, hopefully that'll see me through to evening.

Thanks again to everyone for all the suggestions and advice. Really chuffed that despite the setbacks I haven't gone out and bought fags, this is the first time I've stopped smoking without "suffering" or having to resist the tempation to buy/borrow cigs.