cotton yarn wick - can't seem to get it right

[Zealous]

So I just got a kayfun mini over Christmas. I've been using cotton yarn wicks with it & the coil is a micro coil wrapped on a 1/16" screwdriver & the ohms are 1.46. I started out with 3 strands of the yarn (to be clear 1 piece pulled apart has 4 stands & I used 3). I don't remember getting a burnt taste from it but when I went to look at the coil after the tank was empty there was this blackness under the coil like it had been burned. The wick was fairly wet though so it didn't seem like it should be burnt but it looked burnt.

So I changed to 2 strands. Now I don't get the burnt spot where the wire wraps around the wick but when I first set it up it tastes like coil (like a burning coil with no wick). There is no burnt spot when I check the coil though. So it's not burning. The wicking is thinner in the area where the coil is though so it seems like it's not making contact with the coil because maybe there's not enough there. But the wicking outside the coil is full & saturated so I'm not sure what's causing it to be thinner under the coil. The only thing that stops the taste is putting my finger over the airflow hole & taking a few puffs to suck juice in. But I know it should be able to wick without this.

So, what am I doing wrong here? I would rather stick with the cotton yarn over cotton balls but I would also like to try & figure out the problem with it so I don't have to always draw juice in by covering the airhole. Once it gets to about 1/3 tank it seems to not have the problems it has with the first 2/3s tank. It seems like it's wicking properly at this point.

Any thoughts?

 

[damthisisfun]

I dont have a Kayfun- YET - coming soon - but I use cotton yarn in my protank and vape dark juice......cotton is always dark and looks like it is burnt - but looks like the dark juice does that.....what color juice u using?

 

[Zealous]

Um, well it's not dark but it's not super light either. It's more of an orangey color. I would be perfectly happy to find that it's just the juice that was causing it to LOOK burnt rather than having it BE burnt but with cotton I'm a little paranoid of burning the wick since you CAN burn the wick. Does it do that after just 1 tank though? I would have thought it would take longer. Maybe I'm wrong since I'm pretty new to using a tank with cotton. Normally I only use cotton on my drippers. But when I've burnt the cotton on the drippers I've been able to taste it being burnt whereas in this case I never noticed a taste of it being burnt, so it's weird.

edit: now that you mention it though I did use some dark juice 1 time with the 3 strand & I don't even think I got through the entire tank before the wick was super gunked up (which is why that juice normally only goes in my dripper lol). So that might be the issue.

Hopefully others will have some feedback too so I can have a bit more information & get things set up properly.

 

[Portertown]

I just tonight put yarn in my Kayfun Lite for the first time. I have been using organic cotton balls us to now.
My coil is .075 ID and I used all 4 strands of the Peaches and Cream yarn. It seems to working quite well and the 4 strands felt about right for my coil size.
I would think 3 strands would be the best for your 1/16 coil (.0625). It appears the 2 strands, even when swelled with juice, are not filling your coil.

 

[damthisisfun]

I too was concerned about the dark cotton being burnt -but was told by others it more than likely is the juice causing it and not burning. Yes - in tanks the cotton pretty much starts changing color after the first tank. In drippers I use bunny balls and it seems not the discolor as fast - but then again - i haven't measured 3 mls while dripping to do fair comparison. If the yarn were to burn - imo- it should break - i mean it is pretty fragile. BTW - silica did the same with my juice - but took longer - maybe 3 tanks........hope someone else will chime in....

PS -sweet juices will also darken cotton - supposedly the heat crystallizes it.............

 

[Zealous]

Ah, well the juice I'm using is pretty sweet so that might be what it is. Thanks. I've been thinking of doing the bunny ears wrap (I think that's what you're talking about) but been too lazy to try that one out.

 

[nostinkies]

I was a BIG FAN of yarn when running my protanks. When I FINALLY got my KFL+, I tried my typical 6coil 32g with the yarn and it wasn't what I was hoping for in terms of performance. So next I started trying real cotton balls. Much improvement over the yarn, not sure why, but it was better. Next go around, I found a vape shop that had 30g kanthal and tried that with the cotton balls. The best I've had so far. Why this particular vape shop didnt sell 28g is beyond me and they charged me out the wazoo for just a few feet of 30g. Anyway, I have a roll of 100ft 28g on the way for all of 7bucks. When it gets here in a day or two, I should be good to go. I know the cotton ball can be fiddly, but try it, it works really well. And if you find the right amount of yarn, please post it here, I'd be willing to give it another go. I feel silly carrying around cotton balls, not sure if a wad of yarn is any better. :-/