Going through coils / wicks FAST

[ScottM]

I have Kayfun Mini on the way. The little guy is finally in the US, and is sightseeing. Hopefully he will show up by the end of this coming week. In the meantime, I have been rebuilding the coils for a SVC version of the Mini Nova. The coils I have tried have ranged from 1.8 to 2.7 Ohms, with combinations of 32 and 30 Gauge Kanthal, and 1.5 and 2.5mm slica. The power is from an Ego Twist. Voltage ranges from 3.4 to 4.2 Volts.

Based on flavor and vapor production, the best coil/wick is 2.5 Ohm comprised of a 5/6 coil of 32 Gauge around a doubled over piece of 2.5 mm silica. The voltage has been 3.6 to 3.7 in an attempt to extend the coil life. The juice I vape is typically 65/35 to 50/50 Vg/Pg, and is sweet... Really sweet- things like Caramel Apple, Cinnamon Roll, Smurfberry, etc.

I am going through coils / wicks every day and a half to two days. THis seems pretty darn quick, even with what I am guessing to be moderately heavy vaping- chain vaping around three mils per day.

The coils are pretty heavily coated and gunked with blackened crusty old juice after a little more than a day. If I don't change the coil fairly quick, the juice begins to become fouled, and bitter.

What do I need to do to extend the life of the coils / wicks? Is there a means of cleaning them that is not going to risk the release of silica particles? (This is why I haven't done the dry burn, etc)

Thanks for any input.

 

[Barton]

Dry burn your coil after cleaning this will significantly extend the life of your builds. That and if possible stay away from darker juices I've found darker juices tend to muck up my coils faster.

 

[donnah]

sounds like your juice is the culprit. If you diy, you can do an experiment.. try running some unflavored juice in it and see what happens. Back when I used cartos and used a heavily sweetened juice, I had that problem. I took one carto and one carto tank and just used unflavored in it. After 6 weeks of daily use and numerous refills I finally took it out and took it apart.. no gunk or discoloration.

This may not be what you want to hear but you may have to change juices. I had to quit using tasty vapor's tastyfinger because it would clog up a carto in a day.

 

[ScottM]

That's not what I was hoping for, no. But it may be the problem. I will try some unflavored juice for a while.

 

[txredxj]

lots of the "premium" vendors use upwards of 20+% flavoring in their juice. that adds up to extra gunk that sticks to coils along with sweeteners that are even worse. dry burns help to get the gunk off but after a few times the silica gets brittle and breaks off in shards. you can take a piece of silica and torch the crap out of it to see how brittle it gets. you can also add some unflavored juice to you regular juice to thin it out. i actually like the lighter taste some of my thinned juices have.

 

[minimalsaint]

Sweetener. The main culprit of my gummed coils. I scaled the sweetener back on my DIY mixes and my coils lasted a bit longer, so that would be my only recommendation.