Getting more life out of Coil Heads

[TM79]

Hello All,

I would've posted this in another forum, but it looks like I need to make a few more posts here before I can do that. Anyway, this may be something that many veterans already know, but perhaps for the rest of us newbies, it may be informative.

I'm currently using the KangerTech EVOD BCC kit (two PVs). As many know, the coil heads have to be replaced regularly. For a while, when I would start noticing less flavor, the burnt taste, etc, I would simply throw the coil head away and grab a new one. On one of my PVs, I've been using Nicquid "Midnight Express." I guess since it is a dark liquid, it burns up a coil head much faster than a lighter colored liquid. I was going through a coil head every 3 days with this liquid. They are not terribly expensive (around $10 for a five pack), but for penny pinchers like me, I try to get as much out of everything that I can.

So three nights ago, I started getting less vapor, burnt taste, etc. Just for fun, I took the used coil head out and instead of throwing it away, I took the little silicone (?) gasket off, using a pair of pliers, I gently took off the "center post," and soaked them all in a bowl of hot water for an hour or so. Then I took the three pieces out and laid them on a paper towel to dry for a few hours. After they seemed to be dry, I reassembled them and stuck the coil head back in my PV. I really wasn't expecting it to work, but to my surprise, I had more vapor than a brand new coil head. Why? I have no idea. Is this safe? I have no idea. All I know is that here I sit, three days later, and I'm still getting plenty of vapor out of a coil head that I would have thrown away. Thus, doubling the life (at least) of my coil heads. Also, I have had little to no leakage down to the battery terminal.

I've heard of rewicking them, but didn't really want to try that just yet. Any comments or criticisms are welcomed.

TM

 

[Elantis]

Cleaning was one of the very first things I looked into when I started about a year ago. I started off with regular cartos and found information here on how to clean them, then I went on to clearos but they didn't come apart or have replaceable heads, learned how to clean them and make them last longer, and until I did learn to rebuild I also cleaned the heads of the Vivi Novas (similar to protank heads in the way they are put together)

You are definitely on the right track. Some boil them in water, some soak them in vodka (my method), and they can also be dry burned to burn off the excess juice that builds around the coils. Any and all methods are fine, if they work for you.

There is an abundance of threads throughout the forum and different methods.

My favorite method was soaking in vodka overnight, rinsing, dry burning at 5 to 7 seconds intervals with cool down sessions inbetween, (the silica will dry first then the coil will begin to glow), when the coil is glowing it will burn off the excess juice, once cooled blow out any ash and replace, fill and vape.

 

[Vapoor eyes er]

Agree with Elantis. Washing/ soaking in water or alcohol with an occasional dry burning (turns juice gunk on coil into ash)- rinse after dry burning. Heads lasting 10+ weeks BUT the silica wick begins to degrade so I change it at that point.

 

[Bkag]

Yes it is perfectly safe and a pretty common practice for a lot of people on the forum, not only can you clean them you can also rebuild them for next to nothing with a new coil and new wicking. Rebuilt coils often perform better than factory coils!

 

[vorm]

Cleaning coils is a great way to vastly extent there life. My method is similar to yours, except I dry burn them first until I have cooked off most of the gunk (search YouTube on how to do this without burning out the coils), after that I toss them in a little jar of alcohol (vodka works well), I let them sit there for a few hours to clean, then take them out and drop them in a little glass of water to rinse, after soak there for an hour or more, I take them out and let them dry. Once they are fully dry they are ready to us and often as good as new, or in some cases better than new. I have found using some of the EVOD heads it really helps to clean them this way before they are ever used, as I often get that "electrical" flavor on brand new heads, which I can't stand.

Hope that helps.

 

[Rickb119]

Uh oh. Now you've done it! You started tinkering. Next thing you know you'll be rebuilding your coils. Then you'll want to make your own juice. Who knows, you may even want to build your own mod. Where will it all end?

BTW, Congrats on taking the bull by the horns, or rather the coil by the stem and figuring out what works. Lot's of threads here about coil rebuilding, juice DIY and many other good things.

 

[DuckysBooBoo]

I've always just washed them under warm to hot water. I don't take them apart....just clean with water and air dry.

 

[evan le'garde]

I use my Protank coils for a day then let them soak in distilled water. When i'm on my last coil i boil, in distilled water, the ones i've soaked in about half a pint until it's all evaporated.

 

[EmeraldLeo1982]

I'm bad about obsessional progression lol within a month I went from using my basic ego-t/clearo setup to building my own wick and microcoil setups in my RDA on my SVD and making my own juice hah :/ If my SVD ever kicks the bucket I'll turn it into a mech mod and carry on.

 

[Coastal Cowboy]

I've always just washed them under warm to hot water. I don't take them apart....just clean with water and air dry.

That's my method too. Mostly because by the time I need to clean a coil, there's no more vodka left. Who drank that, anyway?

I also try to keep a steady supply of coil heads of different resistances handy. When it's time for a new tank, the dirty one comes off and goes into a hot bath. A new, or recently cleaned one goes in its place. I can make a 5-pack of coils last for months like this, and I always seem to have another 5-pack en route from DV, MBV or whoever else I'm ordering from that week.

I used to rebuild the coils but that was actually not cost effective for me. My time is valuable and, perfectionist that I am, I would spend 30-45 minutes making sure one new coil was wrapped just right.

 

[Choc_Addic]

I would like to add......

When using Vodka or everclear is you can soak the head in a bottle of said liquid and reuse.

You can use the liquid just about forever (until it turns kind of dark) for soaking.

Cheers.

 

[Pinggolfer]

I've been cleaning my coils with hot water and then dry burning them clean. I hear a lot about soaking in vodka, but isn't alcohol the same thing? I would hate to waste my vodka on a coil.

 

[EmeraldLeo1982]

I'll rebuild my coil about once a week by necessity but about twice a week by desire hah. Depends on what juice I'm vaping and how much it gunks up, normally i'll just dry burn between wicks daily.

 

[RTYPE11]

here is what i do this is not a recommendation as there are potential hazards: I work in electronics and on cars, I have CRC MAF sensor cleaner - A MAF sensor is a heated wire sensor in your cars intake that measures air flow, if it gets gunked up your car will run rough. I spray my coils with this, let most of it evaporate then hit it with MG Isopropyl Alcohol, and let that evaporate, i can instantly see my wicks turn back to white/clear. sometimes i give it a quick rinse to remove any MAF sensor cleaner residue. in any case i feel that the coil is back to 100% after this process.

 

[baseballmom]

ok, so when I washed the heads in water and let dry for 24 hours and tried to re-use-why did the pull seem so "stuffy"-like I had to actually pull on pretty hard to get vapor(comparison best described would be breathing with a head cold vs breathing normally)? was it because I didn't do a dry burn and just washed them? guess i'll try the everclear or vodka next and a dry burn-sorry to jump in, this just seemed a good place

 

[Choc_Addic]

ok, so when I washed the heads in water and let dry for 24 hours and tried to re-use-why did the pull seem so "stuffy"-like I had to actually pull on pretty hard to get vapor(comparison best described would be breathing with a head cold vs breathing normally)? was it because I didn't do a dry burn and just washed them? guess i'll try the everclear or vodka next and a dry burn-sorry to jump in, this just seemed a good place

It's the pull same without battery attached? You may be tightening up the atty to the battery too much. Just 2 finger tight.....

Cheers

 

[baseballmom]

not sure..i'll check and see if that's my problem-could very well be. thank you!