Any tips to keep coils lasting longer and performing better, and how to clean them

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JayTater

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Daily cleaning followed by a dry burn. Then, before any liquid flavor swap. Rebuild my coils after a week, whether they are dead or not. I replaced all my flavor wicks with regular cotton also, a full bag of CVS cotton balls will last my wife and I a lifetime :) This is all Kanger stuff, PT1, Evods, and T3's.
 
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SASmith

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I have been rotating about 6 clearos...mostly Kanger T2 and Viva Nova and vaping 50/50 pg/vg and have not had to replace a coil yet. For the T2 which holds 2.4 ml I will clean them about every three tank fulls, I usually just take them apart and rinse them under very hot tap water and let them air dry. The Viva Nova holds 3.5 mls so I clean it about every two tank fulls. Recently after rinsing I have started putting them in a ultrasonic jewellery cleaner, which I remembered I had. :)
 

supermarket

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Just trying to get an idea of what I should be doing to avoid burnt/dry hits, and make coils last longer.
How often do you clean and/or replace yours?



From my experience, there are two things that cause coils to go bad.

1) The stuff the accumulates on them

2) When the coils start to touch either other. This can be caused by simple wear and tear(movement) and/or the gunk mentioned in #1


First things first, you should always check your new coils before you put them in. I've found that coils from the factory often times come with minor problems, and can be fixed by adjusting them.

Also, the life of the coil will probably last longer if you aren't holding the power down for too long during each hit, or letting it get too hot for too long. This will shorten the life of the coil, at least in my experience.

Some people like to dry burn the coils after rinsing them, but I rarely do.


My process:

when I first get a coil from the factory ( a brand new one), I inspect it quickly, make sure none of the coil is touching itself.

Then I fill up the delivery device, and let the coil soak up the eliquid for about 5-10 minutes before I puff on it.

From that point on, I just enjoy vaping....and everytime I go to change a flavor, I thoroughly wash out the coil, take it apart, and let it dry overnight. I also add a new flavor wick.

Instead of waiting for the coil to dry before using teh new flavor.....if I'm replacing an eliquid, I just pop in a new coil. I use the one drying overnight as the next coil in the rotation.

Also, I rebuild my own coils now. Even if you DONT rebuild them yet, SAVE ALL YOUR COILS. You will thank me later.

From now on, I replace my coils about every 5-7 days no matter what.
 

r77r7r

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    Just trying to get an idea of what I should be doing to avoid burnt/dry hits, and make coils last longer.
    How often do you clean and/or replace yours?

    Clearomisers are probably the most prone to dry hits and burnt hits. You'll have to read a bunch on here to learn how to get around that.

    All toppers are affected by your choice of eliquid. Dark and sweet and high VG are the toughest on equipment.

    I use unflavored 60/40vg on a fillered carto and throw them away after 3wks. For 75cents, I don't clean them.
     

    metalhed73

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    I use cotton for my wicks so dry burn with wick in place is out, my RSST has had the same coil in it for around a month and a half. When I go to change flavors in it I simply pull the wick out, dry burn the coil til it glows evenly and is silver in color when it cools. Then I thread a new cotton wick and go to town. If I am not changing flavors the cotton wicks last about 2-3 weeks if I keep them wet. For my protanks/evods I will just replace the coils every week or so depending on usage/juice but I rebuild them so I always keep a bunch of fresh heads at the ready (Link to how I rebuild if your interested). If I happen to be out of fresh kanger heads I will pull cotton/dry burn/rewick in a pinch as the coils should really last a long time if you don't run them non-stop for extended periods without some sort of dry burn.
     

    pokerplaya

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    I have a mini RDA with a 5 wrap of 28ga kanthal that I use a wick from organic cotton balls. I change the wick every couple of days or so. Dry burn, and rewick and I'm good to go. I've been using the same coil for a little over a month now. I guess if it still vapes...i'll just use it till she pops and then wrap a new one. The vape is awesome, I love these RDA's.
     

    MacTechVpr

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    Try every other, if you use any dense VG liquid like Johnson Creek. Two to three thank fills at most. At that rate you might as well use cotton and get the best flavor possible. However, so far, good quality Ekowool, having been well washed and boiled a few, surprisingly broken in on a coil already, goes back in and vapes both clean and with abundant flavor. Trick is to find the right coil diameter as it chokes easily and the right flavor wick if you need it, as in a Kanger.

    Ah, to find that right combo. That's the ticket I'm lookin' for. And lately, finally, it's getting to be more fun trying.

    :)
     

    Concat

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    If you go flavorless, your coils will last like 5 times as long.

    I got pretty damn tired of the flavor roller coaster and messing up my palate all day. I totally prefer it now and recommend people try it. Super cheap and easy to mix, coils last forever, "vaper tongue" is less of an issue, and it has a pleasing subtle flavor all on it's own and you really don't sacrifice any TH.

    Oh AND you don't have to worry about the myriad of flavoring ingredients - from quality control to trace toxins.

    When you're new to the game, the different flavors can keep you going. The novelty of trying everything out... but I think the vets here would be quite surprised by all the advantages of flavorless - and that includes the inherent clean and subtle flavor.

    I should note that I don't like the taste of flavorless juice that's high in VG. It does taste a bit waxy. So that is a potential caveat for some. Any higher than 30/70 PG/VG and I notice the waxy flavor coming out, which I don't like. PG has a much more neutral and clean flavor, imo. Slightly sweet.
     
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    MacTechVpr

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    If you go flavorless...you don't have to worry about the myriad of flavoring ingredients - from quality control to trace toxins.

    Hey, that is utterly sensible, logical and in our irrational world eminently prudent.

    However, I like a little salt on my grits.

    :D

    Good luck with that!
     

    magicmyst

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    ...the advantages of flavorless - and that includes the inherent clean and subtle flavor.

    I should note that I don't like the taste of flavorless juice that's high in VG. It does taste a bit waxy. So that is a potential caveat for some. Any higher than 30/70 PG/VG and I notice the waxy flavor coming out, which I don't like. PG has a much more neutral and clean flavor, imo. Slightly sweet.
    Umm...it's "flavorless" but has a "clean and subtle flavor"?
     

    magicmyst

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    Some have said that dry burning burns the insulator, resulting in burnt flavor, even with clean coils and wicks. Here's what happened to me:

    In my last attempt at cleaning & dry burning, I took about 20+ evod and protank heads, pulled the stems and flavor wicks, soaked and rinsed repeatedly in warm water, thoroughly dried. I then rotated between 4 batteries, giving each coil about a 3 second burn 'till it glowed, and repeated this about 5 times. After they cooled, I put a clean cotton flavor wick on each, and put them back together. The result? I've gotten no more than a full EVOD tank out of any of them before they started producing burnt hits, so I'm wondering if I may have burned the insulators? And if I recoil these heads with cotton, are they still going to go burnt on me?
     
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