Signs of poor wicking.

[RiderVapor]

Have started building recently, second rda is a Velocity clone. Running a 22g, 5/6 wrap duals which ohm out at .3 on my eleaf ohm meter. Far as wicking goes, what are the signs of poor wicking. If anyone can show me example so it is easier to see, etc, please? Thinking my wicking is not right by seeing dry cotton on either ends of coils and then as it goes down is damp.

 

[coilburner]

Burnt hits, thats how you know you did a poor job wicking. Its hard to say if you did a poor job wicking on an RDA because when you get a burnt hit it means your out of juice. I would say the number one sign of poor wicking in an RDA is when your getting a burnt hit but its clear the cotton around the coil has enough juice indicating that maybe the cotton is to tight in the coil.

 

[RiderVapor]

Yes, true. After asking this question that was thought of, but beside burnt hit which I am not getting at all there have to be other effects when wicking is not at it's best.

 

[DoubleEwe]

The taste of the vapour will be the biggest indicator.
If it doesn't taste right then it needs rewicking, too tight or too loose cotton (or other wicking material) will change the taste, too tight gives a more intense cotton taste and will feel dryer and less flavourful than it should be.
Also having too high heat will also change it (this one will have a slight burnt taste that some people don't seem to be able to detect), but you will notice it when you change your wick and the old wick comes out looking charred (and it doesn't disappear when you rinse it under water).

 

[RiderVapor]

The taste of the vapour will be the biggest indicator.
If it doesn't taste right then it needs rewicking, too tight or too loose cotton (or other wicking material) will change the taste, too tight gives a more intense cotton taste and will feel dryer and less flavourful than it should be.
Also having too high heat will also change it (this one will have a slight burnt taste that some people don't seem to be able to detect), but you will notice it when you change your wick and the old wick comes out looking charred (and it doesn't disappear when you rinse it under water).

After posting last night, put on my cheater glasses since my vision sucks now. Coils where a little gunky after a few days use because of juice I am vaping, pulled out wicking to clean them up. Just took the wicks and rinsed them after your replay, looks as if I got it right so good for me. Really enjoy the heck out of dripping as compared to using sub ohm tanks, have more control over my coils/wicks, better flavor, etc. I am a bit on the OCD side when it comes to building things so want to learn everything possible to know the good and bad signs of builds.

 

[DoubleEwe]

After posting last night, put on my cheater glasses since my vision sucks now. Coils where a little gunky after a few days use because of juice I am vaping, pulled out wicking to clean them up. Just took the wicks and rinsed them after your replay, looks as if I got it right so good for me. Really enjoy the heck out of dripping as compared to using sub ohm tanks, have more control over my coils/wicks, better flavor, etc. I am a bit on the OCD side when it comes to building things so want to learn everything possible to know the good and bad signs of builds.

Good stuff!

When you get your wicking to be 'done right' most of the time it is far easier to then be able to tell when something is amiss.

Depending on which cotton you use for your wicks, there are sometimes stray strands that pop up, if any stray strands are either coming out from the cotton inside the coil or at the edge of the coil then you should try to remove them (tweezers are good for this).
If they are not removed then they will affect the taste (as they will burn) when you start vaping, they make it more scratchy on the throat and have a 'burnt hair' taste.

 

[RiderVapor]

Thank you so much for the help, vape on my friend.

 

[GrandSam]

Burnt/dry hits and juice not absorbing properly. The latter is difficult to see, so use the former to assess it. What you want to do is build your coil, build your atty, and stick your wick through the coil. Pull the wick back and forth. If you are moving the coil, moving the mod a lot, or having a difficult time moving the wick, then you have used too much material. If the wick moves freely without any resistance, you have used too little material. You want the wick to rub against the inner wall of the coil, but not enough to move the entire mod/coil.

 

[RiderVapor]

Thank you for all the help, just a little over reacting on my part since being so new to building my own coils and wicking them. Had enough of the hit or miss with pre made coil heads used in sub tanks, now it is all on me which I prefer much more. Guess my tanks will now only be for driving around which is all good with me.

Quick add on, yup I had a little too much wicking going on and is now fixed after putting in a new build for learning. Now on a much better path using a few of the tips learned here and watching some youtube.
Thanks again to everyone here.

 

[SLIPPY_EEL]

A good thing to do is to wick/juice your coil and then fire it for the length of time you would take a toot, do this without the topcap on so you can watch for any hotspots, fire it a few times, rejuice and repeat, sometimes you may think you have a nice snug wick but at the ends of the coil where the wick sags down it will sometimes sag away from the roof of the coil aswell, it can be overlooked and worth checking as i had to alter the way i wicked a while back becouse of this, all may seem good all full of juice but how about when the wicks shrinking back after the juice has been depleted

 

[RiderVapor]

A good thing to do is to wick/juice your coil and then fire it for the length of time you would take a toot, do this without the topcap on so you can watch for any hotspots, fire it a few times, rejuice and repeat, sometimes you may think you have a nice snug wick but at the ends of the coil where the wick sags down it will sometimes sag away from the roof of the coil aswell, it can be overlooked and worth checking as i had to alter the way i wicked a while back becouse of this, all may seem good all full of juice but how about when the wicks shrinking back after the juice has been depleted

Thank you so much for the tip SLIPPY_EEL, thinking about visiting a local hang out were they have some experience with building and very friendly folks to help me learn a little better with building my own coils, etc.

 

[hypocritelecteur]

Is crackling and spitback a sign of wicking issues or something else? I'm guessing it means not quite enough cotton in the coil. Just rewicked my atomizer after a failed experiment with readywick it started spitting and popping.

Correct me if I'm wrong but my understanding is that...
Gurgling indicates juice channels are not full enough or the JFC is too open, and if the problem is severe you will cut your vapor production by flooding the chamber.
Dry hits mean too much wicking material is in the juice channels or the juice is not reaching the wick
Spitting/pooping means... too little material inside the coil?