901 Attys Glowing, But No Vapor!

[andrew]

I purchased a 901 kit and 2 extra attys from rockymountainvapor.com. Everything is great, except 3 of my attys are not producing much vapor! They energize just fine, and I can see the heater coil glowing, but it shouldn't be glowing. When they work properly, the coil draws up liquid and produces a fizing sound, and lots of vapor comes off. It shouldn't glow because it transfers the heat to vaporize the liquid.

I have cleaned them several times with alcohol, sometimes vodka, and sometimes everclear. Maybe this has ruined the wick. Another possibility is that these atomizers are poorly constructed, and don't have the coil wrapped around wicking material. When I see the coil glow, I can see that it is not in contact with any wicking fiber.

Anyone else have this problem? This is very annoying as these are nearly brand new, and otherwise are in great condition with a miniscule amount of vaping time on each one.

I did admitidely clean one with a harsh solvent which probably did that one in. See:
Warning: Don't damage the atty wick!

EDIT: I must add that I have not been doing dry burns or energizing them without a draw, or making them overheat. I only observed them glowing after they stopped producing vapor.

 

[nbaagain]

When my atties glow that usually tells me they are dry. Try dripping some fluid onto them.

 

[Vaporer]

Try fluffing your cart material flush with the face of the cart. Then soak it to almost pooling. You can pool it aand suck a drop back in the bottle. Insert your cartridge into the atty all the way and try it. Give it a minute or 2 to wick the atty. You shold have vapor. If not, remove the cartridge and see if there is an imprint of the top of the atomizer in the filler material. Usually 1/8" - 1/4". If you see no dent in the filler its not touching the atomizer for some reason which means the atty is dry and has no liquid to vaporize.

 

[Houdini]

Andrew, why do you think they should not glow? That shows they are working and is normal. How long have you had them? I see you joined here in Sept. so if that's how long you have had the 901 it does not need to be cleaned already. They are most likely dried out and need to be saturated with juice if you are not getting any vapor. Drop some juice down on to the bridge and let it soak in then give it a try.

 

[andrew]

They are not dry. After a drop or two directly on the atomizer, they produce about one half to one draw of normal vapor, then stop producing much vapor, and it turns to a burnt harsh vapor.

I will try more drops to see if that helps.

 

[Nepenthy]

U didnt pull the wick out of em, did you? That basically downgrades your atty to a cart only atomizer. No wick will produce the symptoms you have described.

 

[andrew]

U didnt pull the wick out of em, did you? That basically downgrades your atty to a cart only atomizer. No wick will produce the symptoms you have described.

No, I didn't pull the wick out. The wick is not coming in contact with the coil it seems. Maybe I can add some wicking material, or reposition the wick? The attys worked somewhat erratically before, where I would get a draw with great vapor, and the next with no vapor. Maybe the wick just has/had poor contact?

 

[Nepenthy]

No, I didn't pull the wick out. The wick is not coming in contact with the coil it seems. Maybe I can add some wicking material, or reposition the wick? The attys worked somewhat erratically before, where I would get a draw with great vapor, and the next with no vapor. Maybe the wick just has/had poor contact?

Try this. Drip a few drops on the atty, load up a brand new cart, and let it sit for 15 minutes without vaping it. Put the atty on a brand new battery, or passthrough, whatever you use. Then vape away. If you dont get a least 5 or 6 awesome hits from that, your attys are jacked, as you suspect.

In the past, I used an air compressor to blow them out, and the wicks dislodge and get blown out as well. These things are pretty delicate inside, so harsh solvents and or force can mess em up pretty easy.

What kind of juice do you use? I know of at least one vendor's juice who produces little to no vapor for me, after the first couple draws.

Good luck.

 

[Kate51]

Your cart maybe isn't in all the way, or your filler is pulled up into the cart too far. Pull the filler out beyone the edge of the holder, and don't twist the cart onto the atty, EVER! That will push the filler away again. Nice and wet cart, try it again, see what happens. I hope you haven't burned them all out.
When everythings' working properly and you still have no vapor, try a short pre-puff, then take very long slowwww gently pulling puff, up to cut-off point.
You maybe just aren't puffing for a long enough time. If you're getting a 'burned' taste' could be you're also puffing too hard. That just pulls out all the juice, the atty scorches the dry tip of the wick (filler).

 

[andrew]

Thank you all so much for the help. My attys are now happily producing good vapor albeit with a different technique. Here is some more detail.

Ever since I got the e-cig I was primarily dripping and this worked fine. This might be odd to do with a 901 due to the recessed atty, but it seemed to work. I would get about 5-10 draws, then just put another drop on. I have the manual 901, so the batteries are sealed.

Well, this seems to have changed with the number of alcohol cleanings. The reason I cleaned them was 1) remove the factory "primer", and 2) remove PG liquids that I am alergic to 3) Remove mint flavors that I don't like.

I don't think I can drip anymore, and what Nepenthy seems right. I primed the atomizers really good, then put a cart on, and now they produce good vapor consistently, but only at the right saturation point. They can't be too wet. The reason may be that the 901 manual battery is limited to 3.5 volts output to the atty (measured with multimeter) when fully charged, so nothing will vaporize if there is too much saturation, and the atty just generates like a boling sound. If at the sweet spot in saturation, then I get some really good vapor. I need to slightly flood the cartridges, and also prime the atty well. If no vapor, then I pull a hard draw to dry the atty some, and then I get good vapor.

I can't keep that sweet-saturation point with dripping anymore. I'll only get one good hit if that, then burnt vapor. A drop will over saturate. Without the wick working as well, I am stuck to cartys now, but I'm relieved that these attys are usable. I'll go easy on the cleanings in the future.

 

[Kate51]

So glad to see you back with good news...it is so frustrating, and an awful lot of people just can't figure out the nuances as you just did....it is really simple mechanics, once you figure it out it's simple!! DUH

 

[Nepenthy]

Andrew, sounds like you cant with these atty's, but Id recommend dripping in combination with a full cart, preferably with the same flavor you are dripping. You can still enjoy the drag from dripping, but the full cart will serve as a buffer so you dont fry out a dry atty. Any extra juice from dripping will also flow back into the cart, so the chance of flooding is also slightly diminished.

 

[andrew]

I think dripping with full cartys is what I've been reduced to doing. The attys don't want to draw much liquid out of the cart, and stop producing vapor when the cart is still really wet. I've either been adding a drop to the cart or adding one to the atomizer to get it going again. The cart is flooded at that point. I can only get vapor when it goes from flooded to wet, after which the vapor comes out burnt.

Either way, I am just happy to get these atomizers working. That's nearly $30 for four atomizers.