Greetings And Russian 91 Top Fill Question

[Twicehorn]

Greetings fine folks. I just registered, but have gotten lots of good info from here in my six months or so of vaping.

I just purchased a Russian 91 clone (SKU: 161201) from fasttech. It fits together just fine, seems airtight and solid. Have built a coil, wicked using cotton, everything is going fine with one small exception.

I have been doing top fills. I cover both the air hole and the airflow hole with finger. Fill with juice, probably to about half capacity, that is I cover the angled surface of the chimney top. Then I catch the top cap on the threads, sometimes just a thread or two, sometimes more, but without the oring hitting and invert, all the while keeping the holes covered. I have done this once with the clear section so I could see the air bubble go to the top. After waiting a while to let things equalize (second or two), I let finger off air holes. Every time, a gout of juice spews out the drip tip and I have a minor mess to blow out. This is before I finish screwing on the top cap.

What am I doing wrong? Or what is going wrong?

After the mess is blown out, it seems to work fine with one other possible exception. I use it on an MVP and accordingly keep it on its side. Sometimes I get a bit of bleeding out the air hole and a minor gurgle. This seems to be associated with lying it horizontal.

This may have been answered somewhere in the thousand-post kayfun/russian etc. threads, but I haven't seen it.

Thanks in advance for assistance.

 

[el_lou]

Why not just fill it the way it's supposed to be filled?

 

[olefolks]

Twice, I wish I could help but my experience with top fill lasted for two rounds. First was good. Second was a disaster. So, now I take my 91% off my Provari, unscrew the fill hole, fill about half full, put the fill screw back in, screw it back on my Provari and vape. Solved my problem.
Now I just fill the tank on my Reo Mod and I'm in Vape Heaven.

 

[Fisheeboy]

Welcome to ECF!
Why not just use the fill hole? I got a KF clone from FastTech and the fill hole plug was not the right size so I was forced to use the top fill method and ran into all the problems you described. But with my Russian clone I use the fill hole and there is no gurgles no leaking out air vents. Perhaps it is simply do to the fact that the Russsian is a better machined atty than the KF clone I got.

 

[epicdoom]

first make sure the chimney oring is in place in the top cap its inside the cap, next why not fill it from the bottom is there a reason not to. I fill mine that way and it works perfectly. never leaks and spends almost all of its time laying on its side

 

[Twicehorn]

No I guess there isnt a good reason not to use the fill hole. It's about equal on the fiddly factor.

I guess the reason I resist is that I like tank crackers (mint, cinnamon) so I dont usually use the clear section, so with top filling its the only visual clue I get as to how much is in there.

The chimney o-ring is in place and I guess it should be sealing around the chimney as soon as the top cap goes on.

But other people top fill!!! Why can't I!?!?!?! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

 

[Tinkiegrrl]

You can look up a quartz Kayfun kit. Should be compatible with a Russian 91. I think they're about $25 on ebay? I have one for one of my Kayfun's just so I have the option there for a tank cracker if I want.

 

[Twicehorn]

Yes thanks. I have seen those glass tanks and may get one eventually. Costs as much as my Russian, but wth.

 

[Tinkiegrrl]

Yes thanks. I have seen those glass tanks and may get one eventually. Costs as much as my Russian, but wth.

Yeah, I use clones too, but one of my favorite juices is a tank cracker, so I figured it was worth it. For some reason, I NEED to see the level, or I get paranoid I'm running out.

 

[Twicehorn]

Ok now we're getting somewhere. I just used the bottom fill hole and lo, juice comes running out the tip. ...?

 

[olefolks]

Is the chimney tight?

 

[Twicehorn]

Good question. I try to snug things up but I'm also gentle so as not to strip things. I can see the chimney (top) on the cylinder through the clear section and there is a small gap like maybe it isnt?

That would explain the leak and the horizontal leak wouldnt it?

 

[Twicehorn]

Well hell. Just reassembled everything nice and tight. Cover airholes, can't suck or blow through drip tip, only leakage under finger. Fiddled with top cap so that I found a level where it was "leaking" so that my inversion would allow pressure to equalize through top cap gap. Tried it, boom gout of juice.

Haven't tried the fill port again to see if it gets juice out the tip.

Also re-wicked. May be a bit thick through the coil but not too bad. Trimmed so ends just go down to second level of deck.

The problem with top filling, as I understand it, is that when the top cap goes on, it slightly compresses the air above the juice and pushes it through the channels and into the wicking area and out the vapor passages. Is that right?

So it seems like, despite covering air holes, juice is going into the wicking area inside the chimney and running out when airholes uncovered.

Seems like I need to plug the chimney as well as the air holes?

 

[Butters80]

I top fill a kebo russian 91% and 5 hcigar kayfun 3.1 toppers without leaks. Another thing that could be causing problems is that when one unscrews the top cap, the chimney also unscrews most of the time with it. You might make sure the chimney is screwed down snug after the top cap is off, before filling up. Other than that, as long as you covered the airflow, fill, screw on top cap just a skosh, turn upside down then finish tightening.....you should be good. Hope that helps.

 

[Twicehorn]

Here's something I'm a tad unclear on. Should I be releasing the air holes before or after screwing on the top cap fully? The gout of juice out the tip happens when I release the airholes, which currently is with the top cap on and unit inverted, but before screwing top cap down.

Although the chimney is snug in the top cap, it has not yet been unscrewed prematurely.

With my latest fill, I'm getting no leakage out the airhole after the initial. The leakage I was getting was with thinner juice.

 

[Twicehorn]

Ok. I have found that if I don't uncover the airholes until the unit is upright after screwing on the top cap inverted, the juice flow into the air passages is minimal.

Also, apparently kayfuns can leak when horizontal and about half full. According to the manual, if one passage is uncovered and the other is submerged in juice, the imbalance will push some juice into the air passage. So it depends a bit on the orientation as well as the fill level.

Thanks for the various input.