Crown Coil Woes - Very Confused!

[B1ue52]

Hi


I have recently switched tanks from Innokin to Uwell due to all the rave reviews the Crown gets, but primarily because I could not get an Innokin coil to last longer than a day. I thought this issue would be in the past with the Crown, but sadly not. I can’t get more than 3 tanks out of a Crown 0.5 coil before it just tastes of burnt cotton. I LOVE this tank, so want to solve the issue so am looking for some guidance.

My regime is this:
Prime coil with 1 dropper full of juice
Place in tank
Let wick for 15 to 20 mins
Start vaping at 30w for a few mins
Work my way up slowly to my sweet spot at 45w

2 to 3 tanks later I get nothing but burnt cotton hits. I try re-priming, but no difference. Common consensus is a week for a coil even for a heavy user, so I must be doing something wrong.

I use the tank on an Innokin Coolfire IV Plus (70w) and have tried it on 3 other mods with the same result.

I use 70 to 80% VG liquids at 6mg

I direct lung inhale, gently and slowly for between 3 to 4 seconds letting go of the button for the last 0.5 second or so to prevent condensation build up.

Any help would be very gratefully appreciated as I cannot afford to burn through a coil per day. I may as well just smoke cigarettes at that rate.

Thanks in advance

Andy

 

[Hitmetwice]

Here is a couple things to try, not sure if they'll help you but there is an outside chance it might.

This remedy may cause flooding if done improperly....
Using a toothpick/paperclip/or pin, gently insert it into each juice hole on the coil and rotate in a circular motion. The idea is to allow the liquid in through the outer layers of cotton to aid wicking.

Another is...
At the first sign of the flavour changing/or dry hit, shut down the airflow some and do some primer puffs. This should help replenish juice into the coil.

Or....You may just need to reduce the power you run at overall to 30-40 watts.

I run my 0.25 crowns at 45 watts using 90% PG and have been running the same coil for a few Months. I do not need to promote wicking via any of my above suggestions.

Lastly (and maybe most importantly)...At the first sign of an off taste, or after each tank if you prefer, twist one or 2 q-tip/cotton swabs in and out of the coil. If the swab is too fat to fit peel off a little cotton. If the cotton gets stuck in the coil I use a toothpick to push it through or pick it out. hth. Cheers.

 

[B1ue52]

That's really helpful, thanks. As it happens I have just been back to my B&M to get more coils and they gave the same advice about pricking the cotton. I just had to change coils when I got back so have tried this. Lets see.

I think I thought I was burning coils out, but now think more accurately I am getting dry hits. Seems there is a difference.

What do you mean by primer puffs? Just short burst drags to encourage replenishment?

I have seen advice on here about "dry burning" coils after dry hits. Why and how do I do this? What does it achieve?

I'll try the cotton swab idea also, but really think this should be less hassle and my experience should be similar to your own. I don't see why I should have to drop the wattage (but appreciate what you are saying and that you have no issues) when these coils are rated to 80w and I haven't gone past 45w.

I still cant help feeling that I am doing something wrong for my experience to be so different from the masses.

Thanks again

 

[Hitmetwice]

That's really helpful, thanks. As it happens I have just been back to my B&M to get more coils and they gave the same advice about pricking the cotton. I just had to change coils when I got back so have tried this. Lets see.

I think I thought I was burning coils out, but now think more accurately I am getting dry hits. Seems there is a difference.

What do you mean by primer puffs? Just short burst drags to encourage replenishment?

I have seen advice on here about "dry burning" coils after dry hits. Why and how do I do this? What does it achieve?

I'll try the cotton swab idea also, but really think this should be less hassle and my experience should be similar to your own. I don't see why I should have to drop the wattage (but appreciate what you are saying and that you have no issues) when these coils are rated to 80w and I haven't gone past 45w.

I still cant help feeling that I am doing something wrong for my experience to be so different from the masses.

Thanks again

You cannot dry burn any coil that still has cotton in/around it, dry cotton just burns. Dryburning is only done when the cotton is removed(or the wick material is silica fibre).

Primer puff is simply taking a few puffs with the airflow restricted and no power being applied. This pulls liquid back into the coil.

The coil may indeed say 80 watts max, but this is in a "perfect" world, sorta like gas mileage ratings on cars or almost anything for that matter. Bottom line is they want you to by their product and may not be as truthful or overestimate the rating.

Cleaning out the gunk from the coil with a q-tip is very easy and takes all of about 1 minute a day. I just remove the driptip and screw 2 or 3 swabs in and out of the coil until it comes out clean.
If you do this every tank or two I can almost guarantee longer coil life. Cheers.

 

[B1ue52]

Thanks for coming back on those points. Appreciate it

 

[xXxelis_prxXx]

Sometimes I clean mine with hot water (tap no bowling) and after the they keep working I did it with the inNokin I sub coils and with the tfv8 coils no more burn taste for me

 

[B1ue52]

Thanks

I have been doing some logical testing this weekend and I think that I have pinned this down firmly to a wicking issue. I have been watching the behaviour of the juice in the tank before and after dry hits and this seems to confirm my thinking. When I get a dry hit, I have not witnessed any bubbling in the tank beforehand, suggesting no wicking of juice before the hit.

Built on this by taking advice from here and using primer puffs when I don't see any bubbles, then no dry hit. Tried unscrewing the tank lid occasionally to equalize pressure and encourage wicking.

Net result is many more hits without a dry hit.

Dry hits only come if I turn wattage up above 40w on the 0.5 coils or 28w on the 1.2s.

Also started cleaning out the coils with a q tip as suggested above and seems to be helping.

However, I think the reason for the issue in the first place is the viscosity of my juice. I use 12 monkeys and Alien Vape, both very high VG and very thick. Combine that with the fact that I only gave up smoking a week ago and have a tendency to chain vape for short periods during cravings, then I think I am beginning to understand why this is happening.

Going to try thinning my juice with a drop or two of distilled water and see if that helps at all.

Thanks again

 

[B1ue52]

meh... I think I am getting close to throwing in the towel unless I can get this sorted soon. It is costing me a fortune in coils and juice and above all, just a horrible experience.

So my latest tests centred around thinning my juice back a bit as I am convinced this is all a wicking issue. But even so, I am still having a horrible experience. I have worked through all the advice provided, and tested things in a logical fashion:

1.2 Coils with neat juice:
First tank is fine while breaking in up to around 25w. Rest of tank is lush, can take hits whenever I want and get really smooth flavourful hits. Refill, then at some point through the second tank I will start getting dry hits, so I have to slow my hit rate down and back off the wattage to around 22w, but flavour is reduced and I cant take hits anywhere near as regularly as I would like. Studying the tank, I can see it isn't always wicking the juice (no bubbles) after a hit, so I throw in some primer puffs or equalise the pressure by loosening the top lid a bit until bubbles can be seen. I carry on vaping but dry hits will happen probably 1 in 10 hits and resistance will start to build on the draws until it gets to a point where its too much effort to take a hit as its like trying to suck an orange through a hosepipe. Tried cleaning the coil as mentioned above. Tried spiking it etc. Always results in having to change the coil out.

Have never got more than 2 tanks through a 1.2 on neat juice before it gets to a state where the resistance makes it unusable.

1.2 Coils with thinned juice:
Thinned juice with a couple of drops of distilled water. Dry hits are less frequent, juice loses flavour obviously, wicking is much more visible now and get a small stream of bubbles after every hit... almost. When I don't, I get a dry hit the next hit. End result still the same, coil will become unusable within 2 to 3 tanks as resistance goes through the roof and you can't pull a draw on it.

0.5 Coils with neat juice:
Unless I wait at least 30 secs between hits, run at less than 35w AND take primer puffs etc, I get a dry hit probably 1 in 5 hits. However, resistance never seems to change on the draw. I change out coils when I have to drop the wattage below 30w or flavour drops off significantly which is usually within 2 tanks. First tank is amazing, second gets worse with every hit.

0.5 Coils with thinned juice:
Same as above but less flavour, can maybe get a third tank before flavour drops off or wattage needs to be dropped. Dry hit ratio at about 1 in 10 hits.

I just don't get it. I have tried everything suggested by anyone I have asked advice from, including my local B&M. I don't chain vape compared to some, I don't hit any harder than most I see. These boards are full of people smoking at 70w plus and having a great time, but I cant get past 35w for more than half a tank. On my first tank through, running 45w after break in on a 0.5, the flavour and experience is just wonderful... after that first tank though, it just goes to crap!

Seriously, what am I doing wrong? I just don't get it and I am determined not to go back to analogues but all this to contend with in my first week of giving up just aint making thing easy!!

Thanks again

 

[Nads]

i think everyone seems to be having the same issues with both the crown 1 and 2. Problem is in the coils, they have changed them from before. My crown 1 used to work perfectly for months, each coil lasting a minimum of 1 month, usually above 2000 puffs was easy to achieve.

When i purchased new coils recently they were dreadful, only lasting 2 days etc..

I got the crown 2 and its the same.

UWell seem to be having problems, peoples complaints on all forums I've seen. Also the Recommended wattages on the coils is a misprint i read somewhere from uwell. The min is actually the max! So if it says 60-80watts. This means 40 watts is the max you should go to for that coil.

Im having terrible issues, like yourself, however I'm using 0.25coils and can't even vape at 45watts.

Wasted a lot of money!

On other forums I've been suggested to go for the Aspire Cleapto atomiser head instead which is supposed to be the best tank out at the moment. I did upgrade to the Smok TFV8 recently, which is a beast of a tank and coils are huge! The clouds are enormous on this thing and go up to 200watts although i can only vape at max 120watts, I'm sticking to 95watts on this tank. Problem with this tank is it drinks your juice too quick and also very wide airflow means that flavour was not as good as the uwell crown when it worked!

 

[B1ue52]

That's pretty much the same experience as me. Once broken in, first tank or two on the Crown 1 are some of the nicest vapes I've had, but then its downhill from there. I gave up on them in the end after 2 weeks of misery and sold them.

My local B&M let me borrow one of their test tanks to see if I had the same issues. It was a Diamond Mist Cumulus (Rebranded Vapeston Maganus) and it is much better. I can get 4 to 5 days out of a coil and only get dry hits if I draw too long and hard, too quickly in succession. If I moderate the time between draws and take shorter hard hits it seems to be OK so far. Not perfect, not what I want, but so much better than the Crown.

I also got a Smok TFV4, not as bad as the V8 you're running of course but very thirsty indeed. I have the same issues with this as I do the Cumulous if I draw too hard too close together, I get the first signs of a dry hit, but again, nothing compared to the Crown 1 which was full on bonfire in mouth type hits. I love the quality of vape on the TFV4, though I cant run it at the wattages others claim. After 2 hits or more at anything above 80w, the dry hits are too hard to manage.

I've come to the conclusion that I am a big guy with a huge lung capacity (when I do lung force tests in the gym I break the machine every time as I max it out) and close together, longish, hardish draws are just too much for current vaping systems when combined with slow wicking high VG juices.

Just got the new Vapeston Ceramikas tank delivered with ceramic heads, so will see how that goes with my massive lungs! I don't hold out much hope as the juice holes in the coils are tiny!

By far the best experience I have had so far is using the RBA head on the TFV4, using just the pre-wound coil that comes in the pack. Found it really easy to wick and the taste and performance was incredible. Maybe this is the way forward for me!

Cheers