Clearly I'm Dry Burning Wrong

[The Ocelot]

Lol - you guys know all too well, when it isn't spelled out, that's when you end up with a 60 message thread that finally reveals someone was trying to dry burn a carto or something.

When I got my first Protank, I bought a bunch of heads on sale for about $1.50 or so each. I haven't cleaned any of them. I did take one apart, but I took it apart so much all the king's horses and all the king's men...

Anyway, when they get gunky I put them in a jar to be dealt with at some point. I counted them today. In 7 months I have used 11 heads. Now granted, I rotate devices constantly, but I use the Protanks quite a bit. Perhaps now one might understand why I am bewildered by folks getting stressed out over Protank heads. I've never seen them for sale over $3.00, why don't people just buy more?

Kanger ProTank & Evod Coil Replacement - 5 Pack 2.5 ohms

 

[Rickajho]

Oh I don't stress out over them. It just that after years of having cleaned relatively pricey (old school) attys that cost 3/$25.00 I'm used to dry burning. Cleaning and dry burning a Kanger coil is a lot easier and faster than a non rebuildable atty.

I don't mess with then though:

In some simmering water for a minute to get non-burnt residue out.
Dry burn - coil and top wicks.
Coil in the water again for a minute to get the dry burn ash out.
Dry burn again just to get the water out of the wick. (That isn't even really necessary.)
Put it back together. Done - in under 5 minutes.

The longest part of that process is the dry burn and that varies depending on how mucked up the coil is.

After years of trying all sorts of things - from booze to baking soda - I've come to the conclusion that what is water soluble is gonna come out with... water. Anything that won't come out with simmering water needs to be burned off. That's it. I don't soak, wait, wash, rinse, spin & repeat. Too much bother. And if what I'm doing didn't work I wouldn't bother with that either.

Ultimately, I'm not doing it to be miserly. I'm doing it because it's fast, and I can.

 

[The Ocelot]

Oh I don't stress out over them. It just that after years of having cleaned relatively pricey (old school) attys that cost 3/$25.00 I'm used to dry burning. Cleaning and dry burning a Kanger coil is a lot easier and faster than a non rebuildable atty.

I don't mess with then though:

In some simmering water for a minute to get non-burnt residue out.
Dry burn - coil and top wicks.
Coil in the water again for a minute to get the dry burn ash out.
Dry burn again just to get the water out of the wick. (That isn't even really necessary.)
Put it back together. Done - in under 5 minutes.

The longest part of that process is the dry burn and that varies depending on how mucked up the coil is.

After years of trying all sorts of things - from booze to baking soda - I've come to the conclusion that what is water soluble is gonna come out with... water. Anything that won't come out with simmering water needs to be burned off. That's it. I don't soak, wait, wash, rinse, spin & repeat. Too much bother. And if what I'm doing didn't work I wouldn't bother with that either.

Ultimately, I'm not doing it to be miserly. I'm doing it because it's fast, and I can.

I didn't mean you were stressing. I didn't even mean the OP was stressing. I just discovered how few heads I go through and was a bit amazed. I do see people get stressed though. It's hard enough to quit smoking and to get frustrated over the little tiny mass-produced doodads we use vaping can make it worse.

 

[madqatter]

why don't people just buy more?

I like reusing before recycling.

They do last a good long time.

 

[Vapoor eyes er]

Never liked the ProTank but that's just me. After dry burning rinse in water. If the coil is really gunked up soak in vodka.

 

[The Ocelot]

I like reusing before recycling.

They do last a good long time.

The gunked ones are still in the jar.

 

[gotch23]

The pro-tank has a rubber-gasket, which has the propensity to
get burned during dry-burns... It even can get burnt during regular
usage if you fire at too high wattage or fire for too long.
Once burnt, i have found that it will always give a slightly burnt taste
no matter how clean everything else is.

So imho: Don't dry-burn the pro-tank... ever.
Rebuild it with a micro-coil instead... exchanging the cotton wick
once every couple of days, and rebuilding the coil itself if needed
is way less hassle for me than doing that intricate cleaning-soaking-dryburning-thingy.

Plus... the rebuilt coils perform way better than the stock ones...
for my usage profile.

Stock pro-tank wicks last me from 2-3 tank-fulls with dark or sweet juices
to a couple of days with standard china juice (dekang or hansen).
Turning down the wattage (i run them at around 10 watts) probably makes them last way longer...
but that just doesn't give me a satisfying vape.

 

[madqatter]

The gunked ones are still in the jar.

Yes, I respect that they're still available for either reuse or recycling!

 

[baseballmom]

Took me awhile, but I think I figured it out-definitely rinse afterwards as people have suggested. I've been soaking mine in a warm water with tiny amount of baking soda added in- sometimes I can see some small blackened flakes come off the kanger protank coils-rinse-dry thoroughly-dry burn-rinse-dry again...worked for me so far-lol but took me time and I was very happy when finally had a success! still can't figure out what I did wrong prior though-just a part of my learning curve as a newb and oh so much to still learn-sigh.

 

[Coastal Cowboy]

I didn't mean you were stressing. I didn't even mean the OP was stressing. I just discovered how few heads I go through and was a bit amazed. I do see people get stressed though. It's hard enough to quit smoking and to get frustrated over the little tiny mass-produced doodads we use vaping can make it worse.

I stopped rebuilding BCC coils a long time ago. It's just not worth it. If a good cleaning and quick dry burn doesn't improve the head's performance, it gets replaced with a unit that sets me back all of about $1.00. I have 11 setups; four of which I use many times daily and the rest occasionally. I average replacing about one per week.

 

[baseballmom]

rickajho-wow you have some great advice on this-thanks!

 

[names]

The pro-tank has a rubber-gasket, which has the propensity to
get burned during dry-burns... It even can get burnt during regular
usage if you fire at too high wattage or fire for too long.
Once burnt, i have found that it will always give a slightly burnt taste
no matter how clean everything else is.

This is the single biggest problem with the Kanger coils. That white rubber plug at the bottom is some cheap urethane that burns way too easily. If someone made a proper silicone rubber version of they same, they could charge just as much as Kanger does for their coils. it is the Achilles heel of their design.

 

[loislolalane]

Ok! lol

First, are you separating out the people who complain about a burnt taste and are just running their Kanger device hotter than they need to or should? These things should always be started at your lowest possible voltage - new or dry burned. Move the voltage up from there only as needed. Especially true if you are using 1.8 ohm coils. I don't like the 1.8 ohm - they just get too hot, too fast and there is no where to go to drop the voltage as far as you may need to.

When you dry burn, are you burning until the wick & coil stop producing smoke? If not, you aren't done dry burning.

How are you handling the top wicks? If you don't have a gas oven you need to expose them to some other open flame to burn the crud off those too. This is where long handle metal tweezers come in handy. I've found that most top wicks don't last more than one or two cleanings, depending on how "generous" they were with what was put in there. Very quickly the top wick has to be replaced with the material of your choice. Even some cheesecloth can be made into a replacement top wick if you are "crafty." Toss any used cotton wick instead of trying to dry burn it, of course.

You can't just remove the top wicks and leave them out. That results in the coil flooding with more liquid than it can handle, and vapor production actually goes down - not up. People then try to compensate by ramping the voltage up. And that gets you right back to what you were trying to cure: harsh burnt taste and more flavorings in the liquid burning onto the coil than actually turning into vapor.

The other things you have to make sure you do with a cleaned coil - besides starting it at low voltage - is give the wick a minute to absorb liquids again.

I'm betting if it tastes burnt to you after cleaning you either

didn't dry burn it enough
didn't give a dry wick a chance to absorb liquid
starting running the cleaned coil too hot

in that order.

Ah-MAZING! You just gave me so much good information at once! I think I might have started the voltage too high. I have a burnt wick/black coil situation happening here. Your advice is so incredibly helpful and I will use it when I next try to dry burn! Thanks!


Living, loving, and laughing all the time!

 

[loislolalane]

When I got my first Protank, I bought a bunch of heads on sale for about $1.50 or so each. I haven't cleaned any of them. I did take one apart, but I took it apart so much all the king's horses and all the king's men...

Anyway, when they get gunky I put them in a jar to be dealt with at some point. I counted them today. In 7 months I have used 11 heads. Now granted, I rotate devices constantly, but I use the Protanks quite a bit. Perhaps now one might understand why I am bewildered by folks getting stressed out over Protank heads. I've never seen them for sale over $3.00, why don't people just buy more?

Kanger ProTank & Evod Coil Replacement - 5 Pack 2.5 ohms

I've bough extra heads myself. Not so caught up in the $1.50 of it all. You're so right about them being dirt cheap. For me, being a noob, I wanna try everything like twice. (LOL) Couldn't hurt and I learn along the way!


Living, loving, and laughing all the time!

 

[loislolalane]

The pro-tank has a rubber-gasket, which has the propensity to
get burned during dry-burns... It even can get burnt during regular
usage if you fire at too high wattage or fire for too long.
Once burnt, i have found that it will always give a slightly burnt taste
no matter how clean everything else is.

So imho: Don't dry-burn the pro-tank... ever.
Rebuild it with a micro-coil instead... exchanging the cotton wick
once every couple of days, and rebuilding the coil itself if needed
is way less hassle for me than doing that intricate cleaning-soaking-dryburning-thingy.

Plus... the rebuilt coils perform way better than the stock ones...
for my usage profile.

Stock pro-tank wicks last me from 2-3 tank-fulls with dark or sweet juices
to a couple of days with standard china juice (dekang or hansen).
Turning down the wattage (i run them at around 10 watts) probably makes them last way longer...
but that just doesn't give me a satisfying vape.

I watched a video on rebuilding with cotton, last night, so I think that will be the project of the weekend! Thanks!


Living, loving, and laughing all the time!

 

[Feisty]

I just did my first dry burn on all my used coils the other night. WHOA, what a nasty taste after, now I know why

Thanks to all of you on here who give such great information for us newbies.
I'm going to give the vodka soak a try.

 

[abstractcousin]

if you dry burn too much, it can burn the wick. this happened to me a lot when i used a vivi nova a while back... at least thats what i thought was happening. just make sure you dont over do it, and make sure its actually dry. then, keep it juicy when your done!

 

[madqatter]

This is the single biggest problem with the Kanger coils. That white rubber plug at the bottom is some cheap urethane that burns way too easily.

The positive post insulator? I haven't had a problem with it, but it is pretty easily replaced.

if you dry burn too much, it can burn the wick.

Silica wick (the kind it comes with) doesn't burn. Gunk in the wick will burn, but the silica doesn't. (Can't dry burn if you replace the silica with cotton, though.)

 

[kimmellee]

Ok! lol

First, are you separating out the people who complain about a burnt taste and are just running their Kanger device hotter than they need to or should? These things should always be started at your lowest possible voltage - new or dry burned. Move the voltage up from there only as needed. Especially true if you are using 1.8 ohm coils. I don't like the 1.8 ohm - they just get too hot, too fast and there is no where to go to drop the voltage as far as you may need to.

[BOLD]When you dry burn, are you burning until the wick & coil stop producing smoke? If not, you aren't done dry burning.[/BOLD]

How are you handling the top wicks? If you don't have a gas oven you need to expose them to some other open flame to burn the crud off those too. This is where long handle metal tweezers come in handy. I've found that most top wicks don't last more than one or two cleanings, depending on how "generous" they were with what was put in there. Very quickly the top wick has to be replaced with the material of your choice. Even some cheesecloth can be made into a replacement top wick if you are "crafty." Toss any used cotton wick instead of trying to dry burn it, of course.

You can't just remove the top wicks and leave them out. That results in the coil flooding with more liquid than it can handle, and vapor production actually goes down - not up. People then try to compensate by ramping the voltage up. And that gets you right back to what you were trying to cure: harsh burnt taste and more flavorings in the liquid burning onto the coil than actually turning into vapor.

The other things you have to make sure you do with a cleaned coil - besides starting it at low voltage - is give the wick a minute to absorb liquids again.

I'm betting if it tastes burnt to you after cleaning you either

didn't dry burn it enough
didn't give a dry wick a chance to absorb liquid
starting running the cleaned coil too hot

in that order.

Until the smoke stops? I need to try it again then. I tried that with my x2 from smokeless image. I thought it was going to light up on fire or something... or maybe it would and you can only do what you are saying on what the OP is talking about???



Kim

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