Dry Burn Vivi Nova Heads to Clean?

[Kemosabe]

some people dry burn vivi heads, some dont. i have not as of yet. but ive got some really gunky ones that could stand to be trashed if they get damaged in a dry burn, so im willing to risk it.

what is the procedure for a dry burn...meaning does the wick and coil need to be 100% dry to accomplish the dry burn? i ask because i typically rinse out my used heads, and place them in a glass of vodka. when im ready for a new head, i just fish one of the soaked heads out. i like keeping a bit of vodka soaked into the wicks. it thins my liquid a tad which appears to help with wicking, and it also gives a tiny bit more TH, and personally i can always use more TH.

would the advice be to dry everything out before a dry burn or is a bit of moisture going to be okay? perhaps there is a better way to get the gunk off. like a stiff bristled brush, or an atty cleaner syringe, or spossibly omething that i havent heard of yet. please post your ideas and/or current cleaning practices.

im not too interested in rebuilding, just trying to focus on cleaning for now.

 

[Kemosabe]

im wondering if the gunked up heads are too far gone and not worth saving. maybe i just cant let them get that gunked up in the first place. ?

 

[TheSenator]

Ok so here is how I do, not sure of the "correct-ness", but I've had good luck.

I wash in faucet under luke warm water, completely taken apart (tank, base, head; wick and coil still in head).
I wait till they are completely dry. (I don't like the idea of water + electronics; not in the tank, but battery connections, etc)
I dry burn for ~3 seconds, then cool for 3, burn for 3, cool for 3 until the coil starts to glow and look clean. You don't want it burn the wick though, so too less is better than too much for me.
If there is a BUNCH of caked up mess, I have taken a sharp tack and scraped the coil a bit and shake out whatever comes off. DO NOT do this while you have power going to the head, if you ground it out....goodbye head.
If it is really bad, I wash again to get all the bad stuff out.

 

[Burly]

I rinse mine in luke warm water and pull the water out of the wicks with a dry paper towel and let them dry overnight. Mine have not been gunky since I started vaping HHV juices. They literally need almost no cleaning at all.

 

[Kemosabe]

i was a bit wary of burning while completely dry, but now that ive heard its ok i will try it. i just couldnt get past having a hot coil and a dry wick. that just adds up to burn in my head, but hey if it works it works.

I rinse mine in luke warm water and pull the water out of the wicks with a dry paper towel and let them dry overnight. Mine have not been gunky since I started vaping HHV juices. They literally need almost no cleaning at all.

Ooo i like the HHV tip. i assume HHV is heathers heavenly vapes.

Ok so here is how I do, not sure of the "correct-ness", but I've had good luck.

I wash in faucet under luke warm water, completely taken apart (tank, base, head; wick and coil still in head).
I wait till they are completely dry. (I don't like the idea of water + electronics; not in the tank, but battery connections, etc)
I dry burn for ~3 seconds, then cool for 3, burn for 3, cool for 3 until the coil starts to glow and look clean. You don't want it burn the wick though, so too less is better than too much for me.
If there is a BUNCH of caked up mess, I have taken a sharp tack and scraped the coil a bit and shake out whatever comes off. DO NOT do this while you have power going to the head, if you ground it out....goodbye head.
If it is really bad, I wash again to get all the bad stuff out.

i like the thumb tack idea. good look.

 

[pir123]

I soak my vivi heads in (cheap, "undrinkable") vodka too, I use the little silicone holder they come in. I put the head back in, and fill that up with vodka, and let it sit for a day or two. I don't mind the tiny bit of vodka flavor it imports, which is gone after a few hits anyway.

To dry burn I just blow off any drips and pat the wicks with a paper towel, so they're not soaking wet. I then burn in 3-4 second bursts until the coil glows. I start at a high voltage when it's still wet, and then when it dries out, I lower the voltage way down, and continue dry burning several times) and blowing sharply on the coil, until it no longer makes smoke. If they still smell nasty when burning (once the smoke stops) I'll then put a drop of vodka right on the coil, and repeat until the coil glows again, repeating the whole process until the icky smell fades. For best results, I'll then soak the whole head again in vodka for a day or two. I've yet to pop a coil, but I have one head now that seems to have a permanent burnt taste. I'm assuming that's because the wick is contaminated beyond recovery, and probably no longer wicks well. It had been used daily for over a month, and was cleaned several times.

Eventually I'm interested in coiling them myself with new resistance wire and wick. But it's hard to get into, when I can just buy new heads for three bucks that last around a month... though the tinkerer in me is eventually going to win and I'll buy the coil wire and wick and give it a go.

Sometimes after a dry burn/cleaning they don't perform well until they've soaked in e-liquid for a day or more, and sometimes that doesn't work either, you have to "break them in" again. I've had that happen with brand new heads too, where they don't taste right until they've vaped 1-2mls. I've taken to starting new or freshly cleaned coils with a really strong flavor liquid, to mediate the break-in factor. YMMV.

Oh, and silica (silicon dioxide) doesn't melt until almost 3000 deg F. which is why getting the coils to glow isn't a problem with silica wick, though I'd guess that it does release some impurities, when heated, which might explain the icky taste, or that might just be concentrated e-liquid residue. I've no idea. In any event I'm a happy vivi nova user. I mostly use my minis now. I find they're better for "delicate" liquids.

Last thought: I'm using the high-resistance heads (2.8 and 3.2). For whatever reason, even on my VV at 3.0v I've not had any luck at all with the low-resistance heads.

 

[Kemosabe]

dude, excellent breakdown. i really like your method.

i just caved in and bought some wick and wire. i feel like rebuilding is gonna be easy. i was avoiding it like you but i just couldnt resist.

also, FWIW, the vivi heads i have are coming up 2.3 for the 1.8, 2.9 for the 2.4, 2.8 for the 2.8, and 3.3 for the 3.2. i have tried multiple 2.8s, 2.4s, two 1.8s, and one 3.2. im not sure if this is affecting your vape, but just figured id bring it up.

 

[pir123]

Yeah, I figured the resistance would vary quite a bit. Maybe I ended up with very low "1.8" coils. I did test them with a multimeter, but gave up after buying a 5-pack of 3.2s -- they're perfect. I'm sure I'll buy some coil and wick at some point too. Maybe sooner than later, since I just noticed silicawicks.com has a sale going on... I think the 3mm wick is probably best for the VN, but maybe the 3.5mm is better? Good luck making coils!

 

[Kemosabe]

thanks. i still havent tried it yet, but i will very soon. i think 3 or 3.5mm silica woudl basically be the same for the vivi. i dont even know why 0.5mm would matter, but for some RBAs im sure it does.

i found silica wick and kenthal wire in small quantities for a good price from OKC Vapes. i consider it a trial experiment. if im good at making coils and its not too much of a hassle, i plan to buy in bulk and experiment around with cotton, ss, bamboo, cheesecloth, gauze, or whatever lol!

 

[pir123]

Thanks for the tip about OKC -- nice to know there's a place to order small quantities for experimenting. I'll probably do exactly that. I like the VN, but do have some issues with them. One of my minis is on notice, it seems to have sprung a leak The QC on these things seems to be poor, though I guess that's why I have four of them They're definitely good, but not perfect. I have zero product loyalty, so I keep hoping that perfect is coming over the horizon someday. Let us know how your experimentation goes.

 

[Kemosabe]

i sure will.

as far as the leak- try flipping the tank. one of my novas sprung a leak and i flipped the tank, treaded it on upside down and its all gravy.

 

[Denin]

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone in this thread. Love the techniques and worked like a champ on my very crudded up Nova head

Awesome!

 

[hazarada]

In the original vivi headpieces there is a little cylindrical weave type thing (not sure what material it is) around the coil. You cant effectively dry burn with that since that thing burns too and you'll have no idea when to stop. If you take the headpiece apart and remove the weave and put it back together (takes like 5 mins with steady hands and pliers) then you can dryburn the coil/wick pretty much completely clean.

As for the actual burn i remove the source of liquid, you cant completely dry out the wick but that will happen while burning anyway. Then i give it a good 30s of 10w in a few minute intervals until it stops smoking. The first ones deplete the remaining juice while the last one actually cleans it. No need for washing with vodka or water or whatever.

No coil is beyond dry burning nor is there any reason to replace it until it actually snaps

 

[young gotti]

run under water....dry burn until glowing....run under water again and clean burn until glowing again....fill and let sit for a bit

 

[mikebabs]

Dry burning anything will burn the wick......Buy a NEW one......they are cheap enough........Support your vendor.....