fc-2000 porous ceramic wick

[gdeal]

In hindsight I am thinking torching the coil on the wick locked in the some of the nasties underneath the coil, that the ultrasonic cleaner could not get out. The vape is 100% back to new, but it has that slight twinge...I am gonna give this half a more tank and then this wick is getting a full cleaning and a new coil. I hope I can get this clean, these 3/32 are getting rare.

So where is the book on care and feeding for these things?

that is correct, when i say i dry burn there is always juice in the tank. i just fire the coils vertically and blow on then till they heat up. so far i really havent had to take out the wick to clean them. really the only reason i have taken out any of my wicks is just to try different things. like i said before, i have one set up that has been in for like 4 weeks, havent touched it, and it is still fantastic. i like the term wet burn, thats good.

Thanks for the clarification, should have ask two hours ago....

BTW. Vapdivrr,,,The gunk only started to build when I used the atty on a mechanical. The thinner wick just doesnt need that much power.

 

[Hello World]

that is correct, when i say i dry burn there is always juice in the tank. i just fire the coils vertically and blow on then till they heat up. so far i really havent had to take out the wick to clean them. really the only reason i have taken out any of my wicks is just to try different things. like i said before, i have one set up that has been in for like 4 weeks, havent touched it, and it is still fantastic. i like the term wet burn, thats good.

I syringe any leftover juice out, turn the Genny/PV upside down and fire just until the coils light up and all the juice is gone from the wick. Then I add .2 to 1ml of PG, swirl it around in the tank for a while to pick up any old juice and then wetburn it away. At the end I again tip the atty/PV down and fire until the wick is dry. Then add new juice, way I go. Takes a little while, and I do that about twice a week for each of the 4 Gennys I have. Disturbing any coil/wick setup has too often landed me troubleshooting issues arising out of thin air that never existed before, so I won't mess with it unless I absolutely have to. I do the same with SS too.

 

[vapdivrr]

In hindsight I am thinking torching the coil on the wick locked in the some of the nasties underneath the coil, that the ultrasonic cleaner could not get out. The vape is 100% back to new, but it has that slight twinge...I am gonna give this half a more tank and then this wick is getting a full cleaning and a new coil. I hope I can get this clean, these 3/32 are getting rare.

So where is the book on care and feeding for these things?

Thanks for the clarification, should have ask two hours ago....

that makes sense, i do think that the juice gets burned into the wick somehow like a flash burn, but if there is air movement it doesnt affect it, like when vaping. it does eventually go away, but it takes a long time, i had changed my juice when this happened because i thought it transfered to it, but maybe the juice was ok, really not sure on that. the only thing i have seen on the maintenance of these wicks is on the websites that sell them, they state that every now & again remove, boil, and torch. if i do take them out i first rinse them in water really good then torch, then boil & retorch. if you take them out always rinse before torching if your not going to boil them.

 

[vapdivrr]

I syringe any leftover juice out, turn the Genny/PV upside down and fire just until the coils light up and all the juice is gone from the wick. Then I add .2 to 1ml of PG, swirl it around in the tank for a while to pick up any old juice and then wetburn it away. At the end I again tip the atty/PV down and fire until the wick is dry. Then add new juice, way I go. Takes a little while, and I do that about twice a week for each of the 4 Gennys I have. Disturbing any coil/wick setup has too often landed me troubleshooting issues arising out of thin air that never existed before, so I won't mess with it unless I absolutely have to. I do the same with SS too.

sounds like a good way. so after a few days you notice some performance issues? so you feel you need to clean them? and after doing this you notice a difference?

 

[SteveW]

Set up an AC9 today with a ceramic wick. Went about cleaning everything first with alcohol. Big mistake on the PMMA tank. noticed a white etching appearing all over it. My tank was being eaten! Quickly got it under water but a little damage has been done . Should have done a bit of research before doing this. Was never an issue with my glass tank attys of course. Anyway. Everything is great I am happy to report. No leaks, no thread issues. The wick does not touch the bottom, but big deal, it is a nice way down there and it does not affect wicking at all. Hot wrapped 4/5 coil with 0.5 ribbon again at about 1.5 ohms and it is going like a champ! No break in period at all. Fabulous. The lid, I am happy to report, is a lot easier to manage that the one on the ZAP. No issues removing it carefully to avoid wick damage. Very happy with the AC9.

 

[vapdivrr]

Set up an AC9 today with a ceramic wick. Went about cleaning everything first with alcohol. Big mistake on the PMMA tank. noticed a white etching appearing all over it. My tank was being eaten! Quickly got it under water but a little damage has been done . Should have done a bit of research before doing this. Was never an issue with my glass tank attys of course. Anyway. Everything is great I am happy to report. No leaks, no thread issues. The wick does not touch the bottom, but big deal, it is a nice way down there and it does not affect wicking at all. Hot wrapped 4/5 coil with 0.5 ribbon again at about 1.5 ohms and it is going like a champ! No break in period at all. Fabulous. The lid, I am happy to report, is a lot easier to manage that the one on the ZAP. No issues removing it carefully to avoid wick damage. Very happy with the AC9.

wow, sorry to hear about the alchol, glad you caught it in time. discount vapers now carrys a 1-3/4 fc- wick, just for the ac-9. but like you said it isnt that big of a deal. at first i was bummed about the shorter wick and thought it inhibited the vape, but it really doesnt. i also like the ac-9, i have heard of fit issues with it but mine fits all my mods fine. i really like it with the caravela. i never even think about issues with the wick as i pull off the top cap, just pull it straight up and its fine. the tank on the rsst must be totally different to the plastic on the ac-9, when there is juice in the ac-9 the tank looks clear, on the rsst the juice looks cloudy. i bet if you had done the alcohol on the rsst it would of been completlt ruined.

 

[SteveW]

Thanks mate. Yeah, after I rinsed it in water and filled it with juice it is not even noticeable. As you say, the material is transparent when you fill it, looks really good. I have it on the Provari at the moment with a sotong ring and it is a very clean look. It is a very heavy mod, wow, seriously thick steel in the cap making it top heavy with the bigger batteries but that is no issue to me. Happy with the purchase. A keeper for sure.

 

[Hello World]

sounds like a good way. so after a few days you notice some performance issues? so you feel you need to clean them? and after doing this you notice a difference?

I do them out of maintenance, I don't wait for some circumstance to occur.

Usually I vape the juice right down to empty if still tasty, otherwise syringe out the remainder. Then PG wetburn it. In this fashion the tank and wick are always cleaned and it never gets to any point where I have to take action to remedy something. Yes, there are some differences after I have cleaned up, but nothing drastic, but I notice the "usual" cleaner taste. I won't use water ... something tells me it gets into places PG does not and might cause wear and tear by corrosion -- I may be wrong on this, thus an intuitive decision only.

A second reason for this ... I have never needed to disassemble my AGA-T2s since I'm sure they won't stand up to as much fiddling with as some of the other higher shelf atties. And this is just working out fine. At some point I'm sure resistance/voltage issues will inevitably come up forcing me to Re & Re the atty, but I try to keep the house as clean as I can to put that necessity off as long as possible without going overboard. My Z-Atty Pro just got a full strip-down cleaning after 2 months of use and is now back in primo shape again, working like it did when I got it new.

 

[ricks]

I'm looking for a couple of new rba's that are thin. I use my Robust mostly and I don't like the rba wider than it. Does anyone knows of any other rba's that are thin?

 

[SteveW]

FC 2000Z Wick is Coming . . .

Zen talks about the FC 2000 ceramic wicks. He is onboard and has signed a license agreement with the guy who makes them (retired fire-fighter). Watch from about the 47 minute mark. Very interesting. Makes a big distinction between the fish stone and the FC 2000:

 

[FrogHat]

Good thing you posted that I was going to buy another ZAP, now I will wait a month or so

 

[SteveW]

Good thing you posted that I was going to buy another ZAP, now I will wait a month or so

Whatever the V2.1 is, I hope they work out something for the way the cap can break the wick. To me the ZAP and the ceramic wicks were a bad combination. I think in total I broke 3 wicks with that setup. Have not broken a single one in the DID and the AC9 seems really friendly as well. It sounded like it is just getting a fancy logo or something. Needs a bigger overhaul than that imho.

 

[FrogHat]

That's why I'll wait.........sounds like it's coming out soon so after a few reviews I'll make my decision. I really haven't had an issue with the ZAP, I broke my first one in it but learned my lesson.

 

[LuV2SkRaTcH]

I broke one of my wick! I have 5 more, but still sad. I feel like it just got broken in and was tasting pretty good, but for some reason for a 2 says it was running fine at 3.7 volts and occasionally I'd bump it up to 4.0 volts just to try it and it worked but was a bit hot for me so I'd lower it back down to 3.7 volts. All of a sudden I was getting the e1 error, so I'd drop the voltage down by .1 volts. Worked fine for a 20 minutes, ten I'd have to drop it down again.

So when I decided to change out my coil and flavor, I started to unscrew the negative screw and didn't notice I had accidentally looped the tail of the coil into the screw, so when I loosened the screw it pulled on the wick and it snapped, and I think my heart broke also. Haha!

Hot wrapped a brand new wick and now I feel like I have to break it in again. Not because the taste is off much, but it's just not wicking as well as the last wick. But still wicks!

 

[SteveW]

I broke one of my wick! I have 5 more, but still sad. I feel like it just got broken in and was tasting pretty good, but for some reason for a 2 says it was running fine at 3.7 volts and occasionally I'd bump it up to 4.0 volts just to try it and it worked but was a bit hot for me so I'd lower it back down to 3.7 volts. All of a sudden I was getting the e1 error, so I'd drop the voltage down by .1 volts. Worked fine for a 20 minutes, ten I'd have to drop it down again.

So when I decided to change out my coil and flavor, I started to unscrew the negative screw and didn't notice I had accidentally looped the tail of the coil into the screw, so when I loosened the screw it pulled on the wick and it snapped, and I think my heart broke also. Haha!

Hot wrapped a brand new wick and now I feel like I have to break it in again. Not because the taste is off much, but it's just not wicking as well as the last wick. But still wicks!

Tons of empathy around here mate. So many of us have grieved just as you do now. Time (and the new wick) will heal your wounds. Give her a tank or so and you will probably find it will come alive.

 

[gdeal]

FC 2000Z Wick is Coming . . .

Zen talks about the FC 2000 ceramic wicks. He is onboard and has signed a license agreement with the guy who makes them (retired fire-fighter). Watch from about the 47 minute mark. Very interesting. Makes a big distinction between the fish stone and the FC 2000:

At the 50 minute mark, Zen confirms what we have been saying for a while. Ceramic doesn't wick, it a juice conduit. Hopefully they have worked out a better capillary structure to overcome this. It would be also interesting to see if they addressed the brittle nature of these wicks. Guess we will have to wait and see if this is marketing hype or really a revolutionary improvement.

Thanks for posting SteveW

Vap is the firefighter the same guy you spoke with?

EDIT: Of course ceramic wicks... I should have been clearer. Re-read as "Ceramic could wick better and an improved capillary structure would would help this. "

 

[Hello World]

Hot wrapped a brand new wick and now I feel like I have to break it in again.

Tankecigs ships their wicks in a small poly vial, not sure if others do too. I fill them with 50% PG and 50% VG which gives a tad of a head-start to break them in.

I think we've all broken 1 or 2 to get a little reality adjustment on how they need to be handled. In my book, a cost of the learning curve.

Ceramic doesn't wick, it a juice conduit.

May not be be mutually exclusive based on capillary attraction, part of the definition of a wick itself. What I got is that ZEN simply meant to convey "as a way of" rather than get technical about it. But then I may have overseen something.

 

[SteveW]

At the 50 minute mark, Zen confirms what we have been saying for a while. Ceramic doesn't wick, it a juice conduit. Hopefully they have work out a better capillary structure to overcome this. It would be also interesting to see if they addressed the brittle nature of these wicks. Guess we will have to wait and see if this is marketing hype or really a revolutionary improvement.
Thanks for posting SteveW

In the short term this may REALLY strangle our supply. Glad I stocked up. In the longer term, we hopefully will see a good supply chain and lower prices. Now that "Zen" says they are good, all of the Zenites will be looking to get their hands on them I think. Not sure on the changes. I will be a bit of Maverick and say that this last lot of wicks from Tank are way better than the first batch. I stuck one in an AC9 today and have not had a single dry hit chain vaping at a genuine 5v with stacked batteries from the get go. Bloody sensational. When I blow through these wicks it seems really airy. Not sure if this is already part of the "new design" input from Zen or not but I am very happy with this lot and plan to make them last a long time.

 

[gdeal]

I recently got my ceramic through a co-op, but based upon what I have seen and read, the ones I have compared to the original have a rougher texture and are much lighter than a similar sized fish wick (not sure vs originals). I think Vap mentioned the texture change earlier. The FC-2000 performs like it has more open space in the wick than the fishstick. Probly the number one reason why its working better. Not to confuse "wicking" with "working".....they both dont really wick that well... but they do delivery the juice!

 

[DSmooch]

Funny but the only wicks I ever broke were those in the ZAU or the ones I was trying to make for the ZAU. I have 2 DIDs with the original fc and the first EHW that I made the day after Elias came up with it, never touched them since... I forgot they were rebuildables, just ran them under water once. Looks to me that maybe the fc doesn't need engineering as much as the ZAU does...