Atomizer Frustration

[jplanet]

When things are going well, I love vaping - but keeping atomizers running smoothly is getting me down.

I had a bunch of LR510's from Good Prophets. I absolutely love the hit and taste off of these things. But, it seems that they almost immediately start to get clogged up. I used to think it was just VG juices that messed them up, but now I realize that they seem to get clogged up even with relatively clear tobacco 80% PG flavors.

I've followed all of the recommended maintenance procedures to keep them clean: I blow them out, let them soak in hot water, blow them out again, let them dry and then dry burn. I prep them with a few drops after they've dried - let them sit for a bit, take a few puffs and top them off with another few drops. Then I'm in vaping nirvana for all of a about two hours, at which point they start getting clogged up again.

I had five of these LR510 over the past few weeks - I am now down to one that hasn't fizzled out on me completely. Are the 306's less prone to clogging up like this? Should I be de-bridging/de-wicking the LR510's? I'm afraid to do it to the only one I have left at this point, until more arrive on Tuesday...At $10 an atty, this could fast approach being as expensive as smoking unless I can either find better atties, or learn what I am doing wrong...

I appreciate any suggestions!

 

[dfs405]

Cant help you on the LR's-my only experience with them has been negative. With me they were popping very quickly and i could not understand why everyone was so high on them. I figured -oh well- to each their own. I went to a 6v silver bullet and switched to a HV atty (cheaper at puresmoker if you buy 25 or more). I think the higher voltage keeps the atty's cleaner and burns off alot of excess. They do use more juice though and I direct drip with a drip tip. I love this voltage with high resist atty's. Might be an answer for you but thats just mho

 

[jplanet]

Thanks, that actually means I may be headed in the right direction - I recently ordered a VV Ali'i mod, so I'm looking forward to seeing what a higher votage/higher resistance combo could do for me...

I have also come to realize that I was dry burning the LR's far too long - I was following some cleaning directions that were meant for normal resistance, and was keeping the coils lit up for too long...

 

[IOU]

Yeah, you definitely do not want to dry burn for too long. 5 seconds or less. If the coil gets red hot for about a second, thats enough.

 

[revolver]

This clogging up which comes way too soon has to do with natural cristalizing process in the coil and wick/mesh combo. So, this could be partially avoided if you focus on giving your atty a rest between vapes; time to cool off. Then, partially it has to do with a build up that occurs naturally but also with a recent lack of quality in the factories... The coil has a displacement which translates some further clogging resulting in the air channels. Anyway, the best way to avoid this is following a good dripping method...
Read this...
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo.../149616-direct-dripping-ten-commandments.html
Also de-wicking might help a bit (no need to de-bridge...) as you can re-place the coil mainly... Because it is messy otherwise. Though this will result maybe in an atty which wont hold more than one drop; not handy.

 

[jplanet]

This clogging up which comes way too soon has to do with natural cristalizing process in the coil and wick/mesh combo. So, this could be partially avoided if you focus on giving your atty a rest between vapes; time to cool off. Then, partially it has to do with a build up that occurs naturally but also with a recent lack of quality in the factories... The coil has a displacement which translates some further clogging resulting in the air channels. Anyway, the best way to avoid this is following a good dripping method...
Read this...
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo.../149616-direct-dripping-ten-commandments.html
Also de-wicking might help a bit (no need to de-bridge...) as you can re-place the coil mainly... Because it is messy otherwise. Though this will result maybe in an atty which wont hold more than one drop; not handy.

Thanks for this link, this actually helped me out a lot. I was keeping the cigarette standing up vertically and filling it right before putting it down for a while...No wonder it was constantly getting clogged - tonight I kept it lying down and not filled up in between vapes, and it has worked much better....

 

[revolver]

Im glad this helped...!

 

[jplanet]

Im glad this helped...!

It really did! through the day, my atties have been performing so much more consistently, just by not filling them before letting them rest, and not leaving them standing upright - those two small things were creating a maintenance nightmare for me.

Atties and ecigs really should come with manuals that explain these things! It's what makes me hesitate to recommend vaping to friends - I don't know if they would have the patience to sort these things out.

 

[revolver]

It really did! through the day, my atties have been performing so much more consistently, just by not filling them before letting them rest, and not leaving them standing upright - those two small things were creating a maintenance nightmare for me.

Atties and ecigs really should come with manuals that explain these things! It's what makes me hesitate to recommend vaping to friends - I don't know if they would have the patience to sort these things out.

I totally agree, but some manuals out there with the 'china-english' could end up being counter-productive. Hopefully, as e-cigs evolve further, they will become 'user-friendly' and before you get to notice your friends will already have become vapers... At least, I guess this prediction is sensible in light of PVs evolution rate, so far.