RDA 1st RDA.... Burning my wick no matter what i do or change

[BoUlToN]

Evening, I got my mutation x today, tried building coil after coil and each 1 of them have burnt , think I've mastered the coil itself (dual coil) but not sure if I've got the wicks right, I'm going from low wattage to high seeing if that's the problem and they're still burning, I'm using an istick 100W now though and the highest I've been is 70watts. Using 22AWG wire, 70/30 vg juice and making 0.20-0.25ohm coil with 4 wraps. be grateful if anyone could help out.

 

[smacksy]

Evening, I got my mutation x today, tried building coil after coil and each 1 of them have burnt , think I've mastered the coil itself (dual coil) but not sure if I've got the wicks right, I'm going from low wattage to high seeing if that's the problem and they're still burning, I'm using an istick 100W now though and the highest I've been is 70watts. Using 22AWG wire, 70/30 vg juice and making 0.20-0.25ohm coil with 4 wraps. be grateful if anyone could help out.

I would ditch the 22g..that said, one of my favorite dual coil builds is 8 wraps of 24g Nichrome on a 3mm bit that comes out to about .25-.28 ohms...using organic cotton for wicks it vapes awesome fluffy white clouds/flavor at 75-80w...note that will all new builds I remove the cap, drip on the new cotton till it's thoroughly soaked, and blow on the new build as I pulse the fire button at about 50w....I do this several times to get rid of that new cotton taste... Finally re-drip, replace the top cap and take my first couple of hits, and bump up power up to my desired sweet spot... No burned cotton either... Hope this helps some...

Sent from my QTAQZ3 using Tapatalk

 

[shreduhsoreus]

22g is fantastic, but I would start by doing dual coils instead of a single coil. Do like, 7 wraps on each coil, 3mm ID, wicked nice and fat.

 

[Nikea Tiber]

Make sure your wicking is up to snuff, your coils are heating evenly, and you haven't got any hot legs. Your problem is going to be one of these three things.

 

[Mnop]

Like what others have mentioned, you have to pre-heat the coils without any cotton to remove any hot legs and to ensure that both coils heat up even from the middle to the outside.

When it comes to the wick, you have to make sure that it isnt loose, but also that it isnt too tight. I know the description is a bit vague, but my way of checking is by pulling the cotton back and forth inside the coil. If it can slide easily with little resistance then you're all good. If you gotta put quite a bit of force just to slide it down the coil, then it's too tight.
The reason for this is that the wick has to saturate and soak up the liquid. If the wick is too thick and being chocked by coils, the wick won't have any room to soak the liquid. When this occurs, the wick will burn.

 

[BoUlToN]

sorry for late reply my email notifications aren't coming threw for some reason, I started on 7 wraps when they were burning so went down to 4 and now it's not burning straight away, the only problem I'm having now is that the flavour is going after 4-5 puffs and the burning taste is coming back (not as bad though)

 

[BoUlToN]

and you haven't got any hot legs.

. What are hot legs? Sorry if it's a stupid question? Guessing the legs off the coil wire?

 

[BoUlToN]

I'm burning the coil before wicking cause ive just learnt off watching videos, They make it look simple but I'm just wasting juice and time at the min which is very frustrating. I've done single 4 wrap coil and dual 7 wrap coil, i get 4-5 puffs and the juice and flavour just go, don't think it's hot coils and i make sure they heat up equally. For the wick i assume that it's right but it just cant be if this is happening.

 

[Sm0keydaBear]

Ok well, the general consensus I believe are the more wicking material you stuff between the coils, the greater time you can spend vaping without having to put more juice in.

To answer your first question, burning your wicking material is next to impossible if it is completely saturated. Basically, use what I said earlier meaning try to stuff as much wicking between those coils as you can and when you juice it, don't just put the juice on and put it away. Put the juice on the coil, do the same for the second coil, and wait for the juice to seep into all of the wicking, then juice it up one last time before you put the cap on.

As far as your coils go, the temperature coefficient could be something you need to adjust. The less ohms, the hotter your vape might be. If you're using 22 gauge kanthal, maybe try some 22 gauge nichrome. If you're up to try out something new, try using Ni200. 28 or 30 gauge Ni200 with temperature control mode should also give you less burnt hits.

 

[AndriaD]

Actually the wicking is by far the most challenging aspect, much harder to learn the "exactly right amount" than it is to wrap some wire around a drillbit.

What Mnop said about the wicking is right on the money -- it should fill the coil without any airspace between the wick and the coil, BUT, it should slide easily without "bunching" -- if there is any bunching or it doesn't slide easily, then it's too much.

That does NOT mean "stuff it full" -- that would be too much.

And always prime the wick just after inserting it in the coil, so you can see how it fits then; cotton will tend to plump up a bit with juice in it, rayon will tend to flatten, so if you're using rayon, then "stuffing" the coil might be a better idea, but be warned: dry hits from rayon make dry hits from cotton taste GOOD.

Andria

 

[Sm0keydaBear]

Actually the wicking is by far the most challenging aspect, much harder to learn the "exactly right amount" than it is to wrap some wire around a drillbit.

What Mnop said about the wicking is right on the money -- it should fill the coil without any airspace between the wick and the coil, BUT, it should slide easily without "bunching" -- if there is any bunching or it doesn't slide easily, then it's too much.

That does NOT mean "stuff it full" -- that would be too much.

And always prime the wick just after inserting it in the coil, so you can see how it fits then; cotton will tend to plump up a bit with juice in it, rayon will tend to flatten, so if you're using rayon, then "stuffing" the coil might be a better idea, but be warned: dry hits from rayon make dry hits from cotton taste GOOD.

Andria

In my experience, stuff a coil full of cotton has worked wayyyy better than not having enough. Either way, make sure that the wicking is making contact with the coil. That is the main aspect, because if it doesn't, you will get hot spots on your coil and it will give you this nasty flavor.

 

[AndriaD]

It gives a different flavor, depending on if it's too much or not enough. Too much cotton, and it's just "burnt cotton". Too little, and the taste is "burnt metal" -- it's actually a "dry coil".

Too much cotton is more of a problem if you're using 50/50 or even more VG, so the juice is thick, because thick juice won't wick as quickly as thin juice.

Andria

 

[MattyTny]

It does sound Like it's a wicking problem. Like AndriaD pointed out, either too much or too little can result in a bad taste.

If you are using a very low gauge like you mentioned, you might actually want to go heavy on the wick. The wicking is prone to collapse with high heat and the robust coil can take more wick without distorting the coil as you thread it through.

Since the heat is higher, you want more material in the coil because it's getting vaped off so fast. I don't think you will have feeding issues in a dripper. The heat is also going to loosen the liquid and make it flow easier.

If you think about it, you have 22 gauge contact wraps heating up, so there's a lot of concentrated heat. You can space the coils and not go so heavy on the wick, or you can go up in gauge and also drop some wick density if you can't get it right.

I vape all over the place, low resistance and high resistance, the wicking can be different depending on the coil.

 

[AndriaD]

It does sound Like it's a wicking problem. Like AndriaD pointed out, either too much or too little can result in a bad taste.

If you are using a very low gauge like you mentioned, you might actually want to go heavy on the wick. The wicking is prone to collapse with high heat and the robust coil can take more wick without distorting the coil as you thread it through.

Since the heat is higher, you want more material in the coil because it's getting vaped off so fast. I don't think you will have feeding issues in a dripper. The heat is also going to loosen the liquid and make it flow easier.

If you think about it, you have 22 gauge contact wraps heating up, so there's a lot of concentrated heat. You can space the coils and not go so heavy on the wick, or you can go up in gauge and also drop some wick density if you can't get it right.

I vape all over the place, low resistance and high resistance, the wicking can be different depending on the coil.

When I first started learning to build and wick coils, naturally I tried the contact coils, but almost always ended up with a dry-cotton burnt hit, because the heat is so concentrated. So I started doing spaced-wrap coils, and lo and behold, the problem disappeared. I'm now much better at knowing the "just right" amount of wick to use, but I still use spaced coils, for the same reason -- the heat isn't so concentrated, so it's much less likely to burn the wick.

Andria

 

[MattyTny]

When I first started learning to build and wick coils, naturally I tried the contact coils, but almost always ended up with a dry-cotton burnt hit, because the heat is so concentrated. So I started doing spaced-wrap coils, and lo and behold, the problem disappeared. I'm now much better at knowing the "just right" amount of wick to use, but I still use spaced coils, for the same reason -- the heat isn't so concentrated, so it's much less likely to burn the wick.

Andria

I like spaced wraps a lot. I have my fair share of contact wraps, but having the spacing makes things much easier as far as keeping the coil integrity once mounted. Most of my RTAs do call for contact coils due to deck restraints though.

 

[AndriaD]

I like spaced wraps a lot. I have my fair share of contact wraps, but having the spacing makes things much easier as far as keeping the coil integrity once mounted. Most of my RTAs do call for contact coils due to deck restraints though.

My "sweet spot" coil is perfect as a spaced coil: 7 wraps, 29ga, around 3/32... it comes out to somewhere between 1.65-1.75 ohms -- the CF4 gives that amount of resolution, but most other mods would just say it's 1.7Ω. I usually stay around 8.5-9w. But, that's in my Achilles; I like the same coil in a Kayfun, but usually fire it at about 10w.

Andria

 

[GrandSam]

Had this issue when I first started. Make sure your wick is packed in enough to where it is contacting the entire inner portion of the coil. However, make sure it is loose enough to where you can move it horizontally without too much effort.
22G wire is great, but I would stick with 26G or 27G for now.

 

[OCPratt]

. What are hot legs? Sorry if it's a stupid question? Guessing the legs off the coil wire?

Didnt see if anyone answered your question but a "hotleg" is where one lead or bothe leads coming off the coil glow red, even if ever so slightly, creating a hot area that can scorch wicking material.

 

[Pushbutton]

I'd also ditch the 22gauge for starting out. An 8wrap of 26gauge will be "less angry", give you about the same surface area (slightly more) and likely more power-efficient as well.
Once you are confident about your wicking, go back to the 22gauge if you believe it's an improvement for you.

 

[BoUlToN]

Thank you all for your replies and help even though haven't seen them, i'm not getting emails/notifications through til i log in. Think ive sorted it all now and kind of happy with my builds. Thanks again, pretty sure I'll be on here for advice again at somepoint.