I definitely have to try that. I admit that I always kind of filled the wells with material, diameter wise. If anyone reading this happens to be wicking a Berserker or similar atomizer, I’d love to see a picture a good wickjob
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No pics but consider this....I'm currently running two Berserker minis with 2mm internal diameter coils with Muuji cotton. The tails are not trimmed or combed; they are the same as the amount of cotton in the coil, kept square shaped, and just dropped into the bottom of the juice wells. That's not a huge amount of cotton and considerably less than that from a larger coil eg 3mm which would need to have it's tails reduced to wick well AND produce flavour.
I'm not suggesting you need a 2mm coil just mentioning it to help you visualise how little cotton you need in the wells.
So a few days ago, I rewicked one of my two Berserkers with as little material as I would imagine would be needed for a 2mm coil (I use a 2.5). Lo and behold, I could finally go back to normal vaping, without having to manually make the air bubbles move up the tank every couple of draws. And it doesn’t leak either! I’m really relieved, almost happy, it had become a huge pain in the backside...
One little thing though: I’m quite sure that , due to using less wicking material, I get a little less intense flavor. Maybe I can correct that by using more material inside the coil, and cutting off some outside?
Great news mate. I havn't found wicking to be a problem re getting it to work as it should. There's definately a sweet spot for best flavour though so just experiment with the tails. I now don't remove any of the tails with a 2.5 or 2mm coil.
I think it's more to do with how the tails go in the wells that affects flavour, or blocks wicking. So I don't now trim or thin them but I try to get the cotton in without 'stuffing' it in. I place it in with the strands running vertically. I make sure the cotton is touching the bottom of the wells but only just. I then poke a thin tool past the wick and out the bottom hole of the well, to ensure that hole isn't blocked. There can be a fair bit of cotton in there as long as it isn't stuffed tight and that bottom hole isn't blocked. No cotton should be visible in the feed hole under the deck.
Well, when I stuffed the 2.5mm coil with cotton and used the tails as-is, I had the trapped-air problem, so I know how much is too much. That was when the cotton was almost too thick for the coil though, now I can try and see what happens if I take just enough so that it goes through the coil easily.
On a side note, I didn’t know there are holes in the wells, but now I finally understand how it works lol! Before it just didn’t make sense...
Wick the coil with enough cotton that is a bit of restriction, should slightly move the coil without displacing or deforming it. Use tweezers to comb/thin the tails until they fit in the wells without being tight.
Well that's a fair point. A 7mm strip of cotton will have fuller tails than a 5mm strip, assuming the same thickness. I don't like too much in the coil. Snug yes but not 'as much as I can get in' snug.
Well, it has been almost 3 weeks since I had thought I had solved the problem, but it has been a bit hit or miss during this 3 weeks, despite multiple re wickings following above instructions, on both of my Berserker minis (1 clone, 1 authentic). A lot of times, I still get air trapped in the wells and near-dry hits, thankfully prevented by TC. And then, with what seems to me a very similar wickjob (same coil), I get a perfect experience and can chainvape as fast as I possibly can - until I have to refill the tank. I really don’t get it.
So obviously, this made me think quite a bit, about how it’s supposed to work, and why thinning out the tails should help (but didn’t, or not all the time). So here’s what I came up with: Shouldn’t I rather make sure that the tails aren’t too long, instead of making them thinner? Since the juice is filling the wells from the bottom, I should make sure that there is some empty space beneath the tails where the juice can collect, and rise up to where the tails will absorb it.
Maybe this is ‘common knowledge’ among vapers, but I never thought about making sure that the tails don’t touch the bottom of the well. I haven’t tested it yet, but maybe this will finally solve my problem...
So obviously, this made me think quite a bit, about how it’s supposed to work, and why thinning out the tails should help (but didn’t, or not all the time). So here’s what I came up with: Shouldn’t I rather make sure that the tails aren’t too long, instead of making them thinner? Since the juice is filling the wells from the bottom, I should make sure that there is some empty space beneath the tails where the juice can collect, and rise up to where the tails will absorb it.
Maybe this is ‘common knowledge’ among vapers, but I never thought about making sure that the tails don’t touch the bottom of the well. I haven’t tested it yet, but maybe this will finally solve my problem...
I don't use those rtas but in mine my wicks are shorter and just tucked into the ports. Wicks never touch the deck. Why don't you set up one with shorter wicks and just dam the wick ports in the other?
Yes, that’s exactly what I intend to do. I’m pretty sure the wells are deep enough (just) to tuck them in securely, and still leave about 1-2 mm of space before they would touch the bottom.
Too long isn't good for sure. The 1.5 has deeper wells so wicking correctly seems easier to me, as there is more room for deviation from 'perfection'. The original mini needs to be short and not stuffed in tight and there's less room to work with.
You can do a wee experiment re thinning. Cut and stuff your wicks like you think is good. Juice em up, wait a minute and gently take the tails back out. Look how much they have swollen and jammed the wells tight. At that point you can gently scrape away some cotton and place them back in the wells.
You can do a wee experiment re thinning. Cut and stuff your wicks like you think is good. Juice em up, wait a minute and gently take the tails back out. Look how much they have swollen and jammed the wells tight. At that point you can gently scrape away some cotton and place them back in the wells.
If my ‘theory’ is correct, it doesn’t matter if they jam the well sideways, as long as there’s room beneath for a little juice to pool up. That’s what I’ll test.
Make sure that your ends are cut, and straight. Stuffing wells, or anything else, tends to bunch up the cotton, and you want it nice and straight. Think of your wick as an ejuice highway. I also never have my wicks into the juice wells, just to the deck. It looks like you'd need to tilt the atty to avoid dry hits near the end of the tank, but it's not the case. It works every time. What you described, loosening the cap, or burping the tank, is very helpful at times but should basically be unnecessary. You haven't said, but are your wicks burning out in the middle? If you're using high voltage or very low resistance, you may be vaporizing the juice faster than it can be wicked, but usually that's not the case. Usually it's just a matter of physically placing the wick in the correct configuration. Less is better, but you want full contact with the inside of your coil.
So I have re-wicked the Berserker a few hours ago, with the shortest tails I have ever cut in this tank. They are so short that their ends drop into the wells just a little , and so far it’s going very very well! (As for the thickness, it’s a 2.5 mm coil, and the cotton isn’t too tight as to distort the coil) There hasn’t been the slightest leak yet (probably because I didn’t do any thinning of the tails at all), and right from the start, I could chain vape as fast as I could, it kept up easily.
I’m cautiously optimistic, since I’ve been here quite a few times since I use this tank (12 months). However, this is the first time that I think that I know WHY it’s working...
I’m cautiously optimistic, since I’ve been here quite a few times since I use this tank (12 months). However, this is the first time that I think that I know WHY it’s working...
Great news. From there you might need to fine tune for best flavour, which depends on the juice and amount of cotton in the coil. Sometimes I thin sometimes I don't.
Now a few hours later, I have also re-wicked my clone, in the same manner, and it also seems to be going fine, I can vape at a fast pace without having to worry about dry hits. Both tanks are filled with juices that aren't too thick though, now I wonder if I would also work without diluting. On the other hand, if I can dilute it without sacrificing taste, that saves me money as well.
One thing: I had forgotten to fill it up before I screwed the deck onto the top, so I had to fill it from the top, and it started leaking through the air hole right away, in the usual manner, and I had to go through the old flip it upside down-and-up-and-down-and-up until it stopped. But I don't know if the same would have happened with the other Berserker too, if I had filled it up from the top; these tanks just prefer to be filled from the bottom...
One thing: I had forgotten to fill it up before I screwed the deck onto the top, so I had to fill it from the top, and it started leaking through the air hole right away, in the usual manner, and I had to go through the old flip it upside down-and-up-and-down-and-up until it stopped. But I don't know if the same would have happened with the other Berserker too, if I had filled it up from the top; these tanks just prefer to be filled from the bottom...
When filling from top fill gently.I think when filling hard/fast,creates big pressure under the wick tails and temporarily a gap is created and juice is passing through and floods the chamber.After a while tails return/sit at initial placement.
Good thinking, i.e. that explains why it's so hard to make it stop leaking. It's normal that it starts leaking because there's no vacuum, but it should stop as soon as the lid is on. This vacuum, together with well placed cotton tails, normally prevents overfilling of the wells and leaking. So probably most people will fill as quickly as possible -since it's leaking all over- which in turn will create the situation you described, and make it keep on leaking.
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