How do you know when your coil's gone bad?

[nwasiq]

You know the wick's gone bad if you get a burnt taste. What about the coil? And how should one take care to get the most out of a coil?

 

[alicewonderland]

theyre so cheap that I just throw em out when i find reduction in flavor and they turn black. but thats just me. all depends on the juice im using how much residue buildup gets on the coils, darker juices more buildup and less flavor over time. i usually change my coils every 2-3 days though and im a somewhat heavy vaper, i can go through 20ml in one day if im just at home the entire day

 

[minitater]

Two symptoms tell me it is time to change coils: hard draw and funky or burnt taste. Since I rebuild my own coils, I don't have to save money by using a coil after it goes "bad". Yes you can just toss them, but rebuilding saves much money. I have some coils that have been rebuilt 30 or 40 times. Even if you can find new coils for as little as a dollar each, this runs into quite a bit if you just toss them when spent. Most new coils are made with a small bit of silica wick that does not last and does not taste as good as one you rebuild ( I use rayon ).

 

[Frenchfry1942]

Coils gone bad...when they get arrested for minimal burnt flavor and little vapor.

 

[HecticEnergy]

Try dry burning. you can find the procedure on Youtube

 

[Waddle]

The OP is talking about coils in a Lemo I believe. Dry hits or a burnt taste is not always a sign of a gunked wick. Sometimes it's because you are using too much cotton. Or you're vaping at too high a wattage and you're not wicking fast enough to keep up. I find once my coils start to gunk I get less vapor production and flavor. Then I know to change out my cotton.

I only change my coils, unless they are quite old, when I can see hot spots or hot legs when I dry burn. If they still fire from the middle out I keep them going. A well built coil can last you months.

 

[nwasiq]

The OP is talking about coils in a Lemo I believe. Dry hits or a burnt taste is not always a sign of a gunked wick. Sometimes it's because you are using too much cotton. Or your vaping at too high a wattage and you're not wicking fast enough to keep up. I find once my coils start to gunk I get less vapor production and flavor. Then I know to change out my cotton.

I only change my coils, unless they are quite old, when I can see hot spots or hot legs when I dry burn. If they still fire from the middle out I keep them going. A well built coil can last you months.

Thanks Waddle! Yes I was talking about coils in the Lemo. You know me too well

 

[Monotremata]

The OP is talking about coils in a Lemo I believe. Dry hits or a burnt taste is not always a sign of a gunked wick. Sometimes it's because you are using too much cotton. Or your vaping at too high a wattage and you're not wicking fast enough to keep up. I find once my coils start to gunk I get less vapor production and flavor. Then I know to change out my cotton.

I only change my coils, unless they are quite old, when I can see hot spots or hot legs when I dry burn. If they still fire from the middle out I keep them going. A well built coil can last you months.

Thats pretty much me. If you keep em maintained right, I dont change em until they literally finally burn up and break, or if I see some post on here of some fancy new build that I wanna try out. I was actually thinking about getting one of those Kuro Koilers yesterday but after thinking about it, it would be a waste of money considering how often I actually build coils. Ill just keep my pin vise handy instead..

 

[WattWick]

... when it dons leathers and listens to rock'n roll backwards.

 

[Stacy1]

I only build new coils when I get bored and that doesn't happen often. I currently have 4 attys in rotation and I would guess that the newest coil is probably a month old. I rinse and dry burn every couple of days when I change my wicks and thats it

 

[VaPreis]

Coil longevity probably depends on the wire gauge you're using. The current coil in the Lemo I use daily is a 26ga coil and has been in there for a few weeks and I have no immediate plans to rebuild it.

However, I vape a gunky liquid, and every 2 or 3 tanks worth, I take it apart for a dry burn and re-wick. After removing the wick, I dry burn the coil to burn the gunk off, then gently scrub the coil under warm water with a soft toothbrush. Re-wick with fresh cotton, and it's good to go for another few tanks.

 

[saddlehorse blues]

I'm rebuilding often, still trying out all kinds of different things. Of course, I should stop buying every new RTA that comes out, but the next one always looks so cool.

 

[snow blind]

Coil longevity probably depends on the wire gauge you're using. The current coil in the Lemo I use daily is a 26ga coil and has been in there for a few weeks and I have no immediate plans to rebuild it.

However, I vape a gunky liquid, and every 2 or 3 tanks worth, I take it apart for a dry burn and re-wick. After removing the wick, I dry burn the coil to burn the gunk off, then gently scrub the coil under warm water with a soft toothbrush. Re-wick with fresh cotton, and it's good to go for another few tanks.

Same here. Dry burn and toothbrush under the faucet and you're good to go for long while! I do notice some of my bales with more sugar will gunk faster and I don't use them as long because they seem to start to corrode quicker.

 

[Monotremata]

... when it dons leathers and listens to rock'n roll backwards.

Thats probably why I let mine last for so long, were the perfect match!!

 

[drippaboi]

Aside from breaking I've only ever once felt the "need" to replace a coil. It was around 2 months old and after several re-wicks, dry-burns, and connection-tightenings it just wasn't performing how I remembered. I didn't really see any pock marks (but I don't have the best eyes) and it still fired like it was supposed to. I tore them out and rebuilt the same thing and viola, back to normal.