My DIY is costing me an atomozer-a-day,, at least. Getting frustrated. HELP!

[Wruff]

Started DIY ejuice this week. Really yummy. Problem is that no matter what I do my atomizers don't even last a day now, when before (with store bought juice) they'd last me 4 or 5 days easily.

I know that too much VG is not good for atomizers.

I started my DIY with mixes heavy on VG (65/35). Atomizer junked in a few hours. Okay fine, I understand that.
Thinned VG with distilled water. Atomizer lasted longer, but not much longer.
Worked up now to 50/50. Atomizer lasted about 6 hours before going belly up.

All the store-bought stuff I've used is 50/50, and my atomizers would last 4 or 5 days (and still worked then, though less efficiently, so I'd replace with a fresh one).
Now my own 50/50 stuff is decimating my atomizers in short time. They work great at first, then after a while suddenly seem to go dry (give a lame hit all of a sudden),,,, the just FLOOD and gurgle.

I use good stuff:

Flavors from TFA
Nic and PG from NicVape
100% VG from highly rated "NOW" brand.


Any ideas what might be happening with my stuff?

Thanks


btw, I'm using a KangerTech Pro 3 tank, with Kangar dual coil atomizers. Vision Spinner II battery.

 

[Boletus]

Which specific flavorings, and what concentration? Without other info, the only thing that can be inferred is that either you are using too much overall flavoring, or there is a problem with your equipment. Ohms/watts and wick material of your coils are relevant.

 

[baseballmom]

Are you adding sweetener? Sweetener can gunk up coils

 

[DaveSignal]

I vape much higher VG than that and my atomizers last until I feel like building new coils in a new configuration for a different vape.

If you are burning out your coils in 1 day, you must not be doing it right.

 

[Wruff]

Which specific flavorings, and what concentration? Without other info, the only thing that can be inferred is that either you are using too much overall flavoring, or there is a problem with your equipment. Ohms/watts and wick material of your coils are relevant.

Flavors from TFA.

Recipe;
Caramel Macchiado Latte:

50vg/50pg

Coffee 4%
Caramel 5%
Chocolate 4%
Sweet Creme 4%
French vanilla 2%

No sweetner, baseballmom.


Maybe too much flavoring then (and the chocolate and coffee flavors are very dark too, which I've read here that isn't good for atomizers).

 

[Heabob]

Coffee, Chocolate, Caramel, and Cinnamon are all very hard on coils.
Yep the darker ones are usually the worst.
Fruits generally cause less trouble.

You could try that recipe cut in half, might be better...

 

[Wruff]

Thanks. Getting down to it now. Gonna do a basic banana nut bread. 55vg/45pg, and cut with about 2% of distilled water (4-5 drops).

My coil from that above recipe, after seeming to be dying, is now vaping full strength again. Maybe it's gonna make it through the day after all. We'll see.

Gonna try a mix now with no dark flavors, and kicking up the VG some (55/45), and adding just a little bit of distilled water to the mix.

 

[Boletus]

Have you tried making a small batch of each flavor on its own? It sounds boring, I know, but once you know each flavor and the % of each that works well alone, you will be more likely to be able to adjust more complex recipes to your liking.

 

[WharfRat1976]

Gunk juices and dark flavors are harder in stock coils than on home spun rda coils. Maybe it's time for some new gear. Also, doing taste tests from one DIY batch to the next is impossible with stick coils. ..well not very efficient.

Good luck...keep us posted!

 

[Wruff]

Have you tried making a small batch of each flavor on its own? It sounds boring, I know, but once you know each flavor and the % of each that works well alone, you will be more likely to be able to adjust more complex recipes to your liking.

Yeah, I did a few of those. An apple, a caramel, and a banana nut bread.

Then started attempting some of my recipe's, like the Caramel Macchiado Latte I posted above (so good!), but I think I've gotta scale back the flavors a few %'s for it to really agree with my atomizers.

Tonight I did a Banana Nut Bread (7%) with just a hint of chocolate (2%) and coffee (2%), @ 55vg/45pg. Seeing how this atomizer performs with less added flavor %., I

btw, I've been doing all my mixes with 10mg of nic.


Thanks all of you for your feedback. Helps much!

 

[Boletus]

Yeah, I did a few of those. An apple, a caramel, and a banana nut bread.

Then started attempting some of my recipe's, like the Caramel Macchiado Latte I posted above (so good!), but I think I've gotta scale back the flavors a few %'s for it to really agree with my atomizers.

Tonight I did a Banana Nut Bread (7%) with just a hint of chocolate (2%) and coffee (2%), @ 55vg/45pg. Seeing how this atomizer performs with less added flavor %., I

btw, I've been doing all my mixes with 10mg of nic.


Thanks all of you for your feedback. Helps much!

Sounds like you are on the right track, you just have to experiment around with your flavorings. Maybe you can nail down which is the worst coil gunker and work around it. Maybe find a couple/few juices you can make that are vapable for you, make enough to last a while, and then start playing around with the rest of it, looking for something you like better.

Have you been steeping your juice, or just shake and vape?

 

[Wruff]

Sounds like you are on the right track, you just have to experiment around with your flavorings. Maybe you can nail down which is the worst coil gunker and work around it. Maybe find a couple/few juices you can make that are vapable for you, make enough to last a while, and then start playing around with the rest of it, looking for something you like better.

Have you been steeping your juice, or just shake and vape?

Just got all my DIY stuff 3 days ago, so right now just experimental shake and vape stuff. I gotta find a groove with vg/pg levels and flavors before making any quantity. Definitely gonna be steeping some stuff though. I'll steep a bottle of tonight's results.

Gonna push the VG to 60% this time, w/ 3% distilled water overall me thinks, and dial back the flavor %'s again too

 

[MattyRetro]

Rebuild your atomizers! It's so easy to do and yields much better results than the stock coil.

http://youtu.be/zT44i8KuaUM


And once you get good at it you can move up to this build:

http://youtu.be/cIoH-mOXKsc

All you need is some 32ga. kanthal for the first and 28ga. for the RipTrippers build. You can order 100ft of it each on eBay for around $10 bucks total. I've also been using Rayon for wicking material but organic cotton balls from CVS will also do the trick. The rayon just lasts a little bit longer. I order my rayon (cellucotton) on eBay as well.

Seriously, you will NEVER go back to using stock coils again.

 

[b.m.]

Thanks. Getting down to it now. Gonna do a basic banana nut bread. 55vg/45pg, and cut with about 2% of distilled water (4-5 drops).

My coil from that above recipe, after seeming to be dying, is now vaping full strength again. Maybe it's gonna make it through the day after all. We'll see.

Gonna try a mix now with no dark flavors, and kicking up the VG some (55/45), and adding just a little bit of distilled water to the mix.

I dont have the protank 3 so can't say for sure,but i have a couple protank 2's and it sounds like you have the same problem as i did with mine.If i used 50/50 it would wick fine,but if i used some of my 70vg/30pg they would not wick fast enough due to the juice being thicker,so i got alot of dry hits unless i took a draw,let it sit a while,take another draw,etc. i think the area in the protank where the wick sits is just a bit too tight for the the thicker juice to flow like it should,and now with the colder weather it makes it even thicker so it will wick even slower if it has been in cooler temps.

 

[Wruff]

Yeah, bm. I also think that these new invisible wick atty's that Kanger's putting out don't help.

MattyRetro, these invisible/enclosed wick double coil atty's make that coil build an entirely different beast altogether. I haven't even been able to get the top pin out of the head on these. And the enclosed wicks pose another obstacle. Kanger maybe purposefully made their atty's more difficult to access/rebuild.

 

[relapse]

Yeah, bm. I also think that these new invisible wick atty's that Kanger's putting out don't help.

MattyRetro, these invisible/enclosed wick double coil atty's make that coil build an entirely different beast altogether. I haven't even been able to get the top pin out of the head on these. And the enclosed wicks pose another obstacle. Kanger maybe purposefully made their atty's more difficult to access/rebuild.

I don't think it is possible to take these apart to rebuild at all. I refuse to buy them. Thankfully I have been able to find the old style at my local b&m. Once I stop being able to find them, my wife is gonna have to upgrade to a kayfun I think.

 

[MattyRetro]

That sucks about the new coils pretty much being "tamper proof". I guess it's best to stick up on the old ones when you find em.

 

[chopdoc]

Started DIY ejuice this week. Really yummy. Problem is that no matter what I do my atomizers don't even last a day now, when before (with store bought juice) they'd last me 4 or 5 days easily.

I know that too much VG is not good for atomizers.

I started my DIY with mixes heavy on VG (65/35). Atomizer junked in a few hours. Okay fine, I understand that.
Thinned VG with distilled water. Atomizer lasted longer, but not much longer.
Worked up now to 50/50. Atomizer lasted about 6 hours before going belly up.

All the store-bought stuff I've used is 50/50, and my atomizers would last 4 or 5 days (and still worked then, though less efficiently, so I'd replace with a fresh one).
Now my own 50/50 stuff is decimating my atomizers in short time. They work great at first, then after a while suddenly seem to go dry (give a lame hit all of a sudden),,,, the just FLOOD and gurgle.

I use good stuff:

Flavors from TFA
Nic and PG from NicVape
100% VG from highly rated "NOW" brand.


Any ideas what might be happening with my stuff?

Thanks


btw, I'm using a KangerTech Pro 3 tank, with Kangar dual coil atomizers. Vision Spinner II battery.

I use the Kanger protank II & III, TS3's, MT3's, Nautilus Aspire, and others plus drip and I get weeks out of my coils before having to replace them.

The problem your describing is two fold. This is what I found. When a tank like any of the kangers get a little age they get what I call looser. When they are full no problem but when they get down to a third of a tank or so they will start to gurgle. Its the design of the tank plus the age. See a full bottom coil tank will create a vacuum when it uses juice that helps keep it from leaking and the lower the juice gets it will lose that vacuum and start to gurgle.

Also look at how your building your coils. The wick your placing on top of the coil is probably too much where its strangling the juice flow to the coil where it enters the coil case. Cut back on how much you put on top of the coil and see if that helps. I also find not using anything bigger than 2mm helps with this and dont forget to dry burn it. Donno why but it helps. I had that problem and thats how I solved it, hope it helps.

 

[chopdoc]

Rebuild your atomizers! It's so easy to do and yields much better results than the stock coil.

Protank Rebuild with Micro Coil & Cotton - Tutorial! - YouTube


And once you get good at it you can move up to this build:

Nano Micro Coil build for Kanger Protank 2 - YouTube

All you need is some 32ga. kanthal for the first and 28ga. for the RipTrippers build. You can order 100ft of it each on eBay for around $10 bucks total. I've also been using Rayon for wicking material but organic cotton balls from CVS will also do the trick. The rayon just lasts a little bit longer. I order my rayon (cellucotton) on eBay as well.

Seriously, you will NEVER go back to using stock coils again.

Use 32 with 5 wraps and it usually gives 2.2 ish ohms. Yet the Kanger III is a dual coil and I usually use 34 kanthal on them. Been a while since I had to rebuild one but wanna say I had 1.6 ohms last time I did a dual coil on it.

 

[Soignee]

I don't think it is possible to take these apart to rebuild at all. I refuse to buy them. Thankfully I have been able to find the old style at my local b&m. Once I stop being able to find them, my wife is gonna have to upgrade to a kayfun I think.

You might want to think about bypassing the Kayfun and going to a Lemo. Way better airflow control and easier to build on!