How will I know when it's time to change my SS wick?

[m00nshake]

Hello everyone. I've been using my first rebuildable Zen-style atomizer for around one month now. I've read that the SS wick needs to be changed around once every month. How will I know when it's time to change to wick? Also, do I have to change out the Kanthal wire as well? If so, how often would I change the wire and/or how will I know when it is time to change it out?

Finally, do you know of any reason why the ohm would start changing over time? When I first set it up, it was reading at 2.0 ohm on my Provari with a 5 wrap, and it was steady like that for awhile. It's been around one month and now it ranges from 1.2 to 1.8 ohm. I can usually tell that it's started to decrease in ohm because I notice the vape is harsh, I check the ohm and let's say it's 1.2, and I have to lower the voltage on the Provari. The opposite is also true. I notice it's not producing much vapor, I check the ohm and let's say it's 1.8, and I have to increase the voltage to make it vape well again.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

 

[Bishopheals]

I change mine when the juice is not flowing correctly.

 

[m00nshake]

Do you ever change out the wire?

 

[spraintz]

a correctly setup genesis coil and wick the resistance should increase slightly over time not decrease. as a wire gets more and more build-up on it and the constant heating and cooling of the wire changing the metals properties, it will be harder for current to make it through the wire and you'll see a slight increase.

If yer resistance is dropping then I would suspect that yer wick might be a lil over oxidized or really caked up with crud that the oxidized surface is becoming brittle and the coil wire is breaking through and causing a slight short............think about it......your coil wire won't just magically become shorter in length to make an almost full 1ohm change, at the most it should only fluctuate by about .1ohm and even then that should be over time.


I regular weekly/every few tanks of a dry burning of the coil wll help keep the coil lasting longer and keep the wick a bit cleaner. When it's time to replace the coil you can just use the same wick just set it on fire a couple of times to burn off any caked up juice residue and wrap the new coil. a good wick should last you a least a few coil changes.

 

[m00nshake]

Ok thanks for that information. A couple of questions, if you don't mind. How do I go about doing a dry burn correctly? Also, if a coil requires changing more often than the wick, what happens that lets you know the coil needs to be changed? Finally, how can a wick be over oxidized? I took the steel mesh, torched it, dipped in water, repeated, several times. Is there a way to perfectly oxidize a steel mesh? Thanks again for all of your help.

 

[spraintz]

Take the cap off the atomizer and look at the coils, they are most likely starting to get a dark caked up layer on them......this is normal, it happens. If it build up too much then it can have an effect on flavors and overall performance. if the coil still looks like a wire after dry burn then ya prolly don't need to replace it. if it gets too gunked up the wire can eventually deteriorate and just fall apart. also, if the wires resistance has crept up so far that you have no more room on the provari(6v) to adjust or it tastes not as good then might be time to replace.......whats a new couple inches of wire cost ya...03cents...

To do a dry burn:

get as much juice out of the tank as you can, I like to to turn it upside down and and try to get the last bit of it by letting it soak into a paper towel. Set the yer voltage to a lower than what you would vape with(don't wanna pop the coil) and start firing the coil. more of the juice will start to burn off and eventually the coils will start glowing red just like they do when you initially setup a coil. you should start to see the black crusty stuff start flaking off. give it a light brishing with a paper towel, maybe some compressed air or even shoot some water at the coil with a syringe to knock and much of that crap away from the coil as you can.

Continue doin some dry burns until all of the coils are glowing nice and evenly, at this point you could even adjust and tweak the coils like you do on initial setup just in case any new hot spots have appeared and check yer resistance again. only proceed when all coils are firing evenly.

You should notice after a few times of dry firing that the coils look way cleaner and almost like they did when you originally made it, fill yer tank, verify wicking and do the similar "wick seasoning" procedure as if it was new.....I like to turn the atty at a downward angle and flood the wick a bit while firing to start the seasoning process.

Over oxidizing: if you heat the wick too much during oxidizing process so that the wick is very stiff and black....this oxidized layer is brittle and small movements of the wire or even the wire getting too hot can kinda "break through" the layer and hit fresh steel causing a short....even a very slight short(not enough to trip E1). Ya want to heat the mesh until it's kinds goldish to brown.....any more and it gets into that risky realm of over oxidized and can give very sporadic results.

hope this helps

 

[Thrasher]

you cant overoxidize really, usually i just take it out when its dirty and just burn it real quick. and you will know when to change the coil - when it stops working correctly. and you cant really use the old one over its usually too brittle and small to work with.. wick with care should last till it gets nasty and abused looking I had one of mine for over a month now, (have to keep recoiling though.

one trick mentioned to me to clean the tank without disassembling is syringe the tank out fill with everclear till the wick is soaked, syringe that out and dry burn the wick then refill.
you cant ruin a metal wick dryburning.

 

[natchez]

My experience has been as follows: coils every ~15-20 3 ml tankfuls they start to loose performance even with dry burning and cleaning. I use 32 ga. A-1. As to wicks, when they no longer clean up after burning and re-oxidizing . I would guess it has been about 40-60 tankfuls on average- don't really count them. I do turn the wick over and use the other side before building a new one. If a wick develops a hole or is uneven after cleaning and turning once I will discard it. I usually vape a pretty heavy dark high VG blend. The more VG the more buildup and cleaning required in my experience. As always, YMMV.

 

[m00nshake]

Very useful information everyone. Thank you all greatly for the detailed information.

 

[badinfluence357]

I just change the coils every 15 to 20 mls and the wick about 2 weeks to month depends how bad you burn it, meaning how often you vape.. I'm a chain vapist I usually take it out the tank run it under water heat up again on a stove top untill glowing red, recoil it and use it again..so with the proper cleaning I would say a month..

Sent from my SCH-R910 using Tapatalk 2

 

[kingdal]

Take the cap off the atomizer and look at the coils, they are most likely starting to get a dark caked up layer on them......this is normal, it happens. If it build up too much then it can have an effect on flavors and overall performance. if the coil still looks like a wire after dry burn then ya prolly don't need to replace it. if it gets too gunked up the wire can eventually deteriorate and just fall apart. also, if the wires resistance has crept up so far that you have no more room on the provari(6v) to adjust or it tastes not as good then might be time to replace.......whats a new couple inches of wire cost ya...03cents...

To do a dry burn:

get as much juice out of the tank as you can, I like to to turn it upside down and and try to get the last bit of it by letting it soak into a paper towel. Set the yer voltage to a lower than what you would vape with(don't wanna pop the coil) and start firing the coil. more of the juice will start to burn off and eventually the coils will start glowing red just like they do when you initially setup a coil. you should start to see the black crusty stuff start flaking off. give it a light brishing with a paper towel, maybe some compressed air or even shoot some water at the coil with a syringe to knock and much of that crap away from the coil as you can.

Continue doin some dry burns until all of the coils are glowing nice and evenly, at this point you could even adjust and tweak the coils like you do on initial setup just in case any new hot spots have appeared and check yer resistance again. only proceed when all coils are firing evenly.

You should notice after a few times of dry firing that the coils look way cleaner and almost like they did when you originally made it, fill yer tank, verify wicking and do the similar "wick seasoning" procedure as if it was new.....I like to turn the atty at a downward angle and flood the wick a bit while firing to start the seasoning process.

Over oxidizing: if you heat the wick too much during oxidizing process so that the wick is very stiff and black....this oxidized layer is brittle and small movements of the wire or even the wire getting too hot can kinda "break through" the layer and hit fresh steel causing a short....even a very slight short(not enough to trip E1). Ya want to heat the mesh until it's kinds goldish to brown.....any more and it gets into that risky realm of over oxidized and can give very sporadic results.

hope this helps

Hi all

Just wondering about this. I noticed that my coils get gunked up after a really short time, sometimes as quick as one tankful. I understand this is a by product of vaporizing the juice, but when I look at the coil when its firing, I can see the juice boiling on the coil. Is this normal? Other than changing the juice itself, is there anything I can do to reduce the rate at which it gets gunk build up?

Hope I'm not hijacking the thread. Just thought this seems related to the Op's question.

Thanks

 

[natchez]

Hi all

Just wondering about this. I noticed that my coils get gunked up after a really short time, sometimes as quick as one tankful. I understand this is a by product of vaporizing the juice, but when I look at the coil when its firing, I can see the juice boiling on the coil. Is this normal? Other than changing the juice itself, is there anything I can do to reduce the rate at which it gets gunk build up?

Hope I'm not hijacking the thread. Just thought this seems related to the Op's question.

Thanks

With heavy juice 80/20 VG/PG I use every two tanks or so it gets gunky. Tighter coil wraps seem to build gunk more quickly. Try using a slightly looser coil wrap. Your coil should be touching the wick, but not squeezing the wick- if that makes any sense to you. Boiling may be indicating you have a hot spot; are you getting any metallic/harsh flavor?

 

[Pete54]

If you are using the Petar K method of making and mounting your coil, and then sliding your wick into place, cleaning your set up is simple. I slide out the wick and torch it clean. Then, while the wick is out, do a few dry burns on the coil. If the coil is really cruddy, use a Q-Tip with a little water on it and wipe the coil off between dry burns. For me, everything is back to square one doing this. I can't remember ever needing to make a new wick and I haven't had a coil break on me yet.

 

[xbassman]

one trick mentioned to me to clean the tank without disassembling is syringe the tank out fill with everclear till the wick is soaked, syringe that out and dry burn the wick then refill.
you cant ruin a metal wick dryburning.

Thanks for that!
Just tried that and it worked excellent!



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[kingdal]

With heavy juice 80/20 VG/PG I use every two tanks or so it gets gunky. Tighter coil wraps seem to build gunk more quickly. Try using a slightly looser coil wrap. Your coil should be touching the wick, but not squeezing the wick- if that makes any sense to you. Boiling may be indicating you have a hot spot; are you getting any metallic/harsh flavor?

I use heavy juice like you, 80VG/20PG. As for the boiling, I'm not getting a metallic or harsh flavor but then again, I'm not getting much flavor at all. It seems quite muted. I am guessing its the Cobra I am using as my Bliss tastes very good with the same set up.

I changed out the wick on the Cobra last night to one thats less dense and wrapped a new coil. So far, no boiling but the flavor is as muted as its ever been. Am keeping an eye on this and see how it progresses.

 

[kingdal]

@Pete54

Great tip! Thanks

 

[Turbo]

you cant ruin a metal wick dryburning.

You can overdo it causing the coil to burn into the mesh. I try to stick to a couple/few short bursts.

 

[cignomo33]

Im kind of new to the whole vaping. I was wondering if that same gunk is going into my lungs. This may be dumb question but are my lungs getting gunky too? Not that the cigarettes were any better lol.

 

[Brozilla]

Pretty much what everyone said. I usually just dry burn the coils, then take off the ss wick and retorch it again and put everything back together.