How often do you dry burn your coils?

[betterBquietnow]

Relatively new to RBA's: I have a DUD that i've been using for about 2 or 3 weeks -- its quickly become my go to atomizer, although I hesitate to take it with me during the day as I like throwing my provari with a carto tank in my pocket and never worrying about leaks

Anyway, I'm using a 325 SS wick and a 4/3 wrap of 32 Kanthal.

I heard someone somewhere say something about dry burning your coils every so often, and I noticed that a fair bit of gunk built up on my coil, so I turned the device down to a low voltage and dry burned the coils until all were glowing hot...did this a few times and upped the voltage slowly -- gave me a nice opportunity to check for any shorts and make sure everything was looking good.

Noticed afterward that flavor, vapor, TH were all improved -- i was pleased. So, is this someone everyone does and if so, how often do you do it? Every morning? Once in a while when noticing a decrease in performance? And, is there any risk in reducing the longevity of a wick due to the dry burning? I dont care much about decreasing coil life (i think wrapping coils is fun) but a nice wick is a precious commodity for me, especially b/c i oxidize w/o a torch since i've been cheap and haven't bought one yet...so needless to say making up new wicks is a big pain

thanks ya'lllllllll

 

[Rule62]

When I refill, I look closely at the coil. If there is build up on it, or more importantly, if there is more build up concentrated in one area of the coil, I'll dry burn, gently brush off the gunk with a Dentek brush, and see if any of the coil needs readjusting. Otherwise, if everything was working well, and the coil is clean, I'll skip the dry burn process, and just refill and vape.

 

[j4mmin42]

I usually dry-burn after every tank-full, for a few reasons: I change juices a lot, and usually I want the old flavor out of the SS wick; Even when I don't change the flavor up, it's nice to know that my coils are still firing evenly; And of course, keeping the coils clean prevents burnt-taste problems.

 

[speedemon]

I burn mine when it looks like they need it or changing to a juice that i want to tell the exact flave.When gunked up i remove the hole wick coil assembaly and put in flame of stove burner works great like new.

 

[Kevin King]

im getting a metalic taste from my coils in my AGA and DID clone. coil is perfect, no hotspot or shorts and all glowing evenly. coils are wrapped close together as well, 6/7 wrap with 28g kanthal. 400 ss wick

 

[spraintz]

I will dry burn prolly once a week to clean and check my coils but since it's so cheap and easy I usually replace my coil at about 2 weeks if not earlier.

Kevin, a pretty coil that is glowing evenly might still have 1 or more coils too far away from the wick, this lets that lil section of coil run a touch hotter/dryer thus creating that metallic taste. Check to make sure that each wrap is nice and close to the wick.......not super tight on it but nice and close so you don't see any space between the wick and coil.

Hope this helps.

 

[MJBinNM]

How often really depends on your juice...my favorite, Gourmet Vapors Keoke Coffee, gunks up pretty quick. I usually scrub the coil/wick with a damp Dentek brush. I then pull the wick, leaving the coil in the DUD, and dry burn the coil. Brush the coil and dry burn again, repeat if necessary, until coil is clean. I rinse the wick in hot water and usually let it soak for a few minutes then dry it over a lighter. Re-insert wick, fill, and vape!

With the Keoke Coffee I have to do this on pretty much every refill. Other juices can go 2 or more tanks before they need cleaning.

 

[natchez]

I use thick juices and dry burn every tank or two. The gunk builds up pretty quickly with thick juices. A little build-up seems to improve the flavor, a lot of build-up hinders performance noticeably.

When a tank is getting low, I pull the remaining juice out of the tank with a blunt tip needle syringe and vape until the liquid in the wick is used up. Then I open it up, light the top of the wick and coil on fire with a lighter to get any remaining juice, and let it burn out. After that I do the dry burn, brush away the ashy residue, and refill. You have to be careful with the open flame not to melt any of the insulating spacers. If that idea makes you nervous, just dry burn with current.

I re-coil when performance drops and then remove the wick, cleaning it well through burning. If the wick end I was using for the coil seems uneven after cleaning and I can't smooth it out easily, I just flip it over and use the other end on top then build the coil.

 

[Rule62]

Another thing I do when I dry burn in between fills is, I hold the device so that the wick is horizontal. Otherwise, the top coils will glow red while residual juice in the wick is still being burned off by the bottom coils. If the device and wick is held horizontal when dry burning, the residual juice in the wick will burn off evenly.

 

[overall]

I only dry burn when the coil looks bad. I have a lot of different genesis atties so I tend to dedicate each to their own flavor. My 5ml cobra has been running with the same wick and coil with no cleaning for about 5 weeks now. There is no gunk build up yet. I am vaping a 50/50 clear juice in there. I have it filled with my all day vape so it is getting used 10 -12 hours a day.
I run with 30awg kanthal at 1.2ohms, I make my wicks so that I can just slide them out and dry burn the coil without the wick. I think dry burning the wick does shorten its useful life and can make it brittle. I do quickie jack frost of the outer part of the mesh only, the center of the wick is unoxidized. I am a tinkerer so I do frequently change wicks and coils for no good reason. The cobra was so hard to get up and running properly that I will be leaving this one alone until I absolutely have to mess with it- looking at it today I think it is going to run for many months without effort.

 

[Kevin King]

I will dry burn prolly once a week to clean and check my coils but since it's so cheap and easy I usually replace my coil at about 2 weeks if not earlier.

Kevin, a pretty coil that is glowing evenly might still have 1 or more coils too far away from the wick, this lets that lil section of coil run a touch hotter/dryer thus creating that metallic taste. Check to make sure that each wrap is nice and close to the wick.......not super tight on it but nice and close so you don't see any space between the wick and coil.

Hope this helps.

thanks alot man, i will try this out now

 

[Rule62]

I only dry burn when the coil looks bad. I have a lot of different genesis atties so I tend to dedicate each to their own flavor. My 5ml cobra has been running with the same wick and coil with no cleaning for about 5 weeks now. There is no gunk build up yet. I am vaping a 50/50 clear juice in there. I have it filled with my all day vape so it is getting used 10 -12 hours a day.
I run with 30awg kanthal at 1.2ohms, I make my wicks so that I can just slide them out and dry burn the coil without the wick. I think dry burning the wick does shorten its useful life and can make it brittle. I do quickie jack frost of the outer part of the mesh only, the center of the wick is unoxidized. I am a tinkerer so I do frequently change wicks and coils for no good reason. The cobra was so hard to get up and running properly that I will be leaving this one alone until I absolutely have to mess with it- looking at it today I think it is going to run for many months without effort.

I do the same. I rarely change flavors. I have several Gennys; each one dedicated to a flavor. I also have several PVs, each one with it's own dedicated Genny. The wick and coil is built with the Genny installed on the device; which eliminates disturbing of the coil, which occurs when attaching and removing the Genny from the PV.

 

[betterBquietnow]

I have several Gennys; each one dedicated to a flavor. I also have several PVs, each one with it's own dedicated Genny.

I now know a lot about proper dry burning...and a lot about envy.