Kanger T3S Cleaning Catastrophe ... ...?!

[MizK]

Hello, you beautiful vapers!! I am very, very new to vaping. I live in Columbus, Ohio but my best friend lives in San Diego. He is here visiting, and when he arrived on Thursday, he brought me a gift from the vaping shop he frequents there! An 1100mAh eGo-T battery, KangerTech T3S clearomizer, charger, and a couple of juice samples. Best gift ever!! I love it! I had never even seen anything like this before, only the cheap e-cigarettes with cartridges that you see being sold at gas stations, which I never had any interest in. Now, I am definitely a vaping addict and I am already beginning to amass a collection of stuff (hurry up mail!!). The best part is I went from being a pack-a-day (at least) smoker to not even wanting to touch those nasty cigarettes overnight! Anyway, I'm rambling, and I do actually have a question, so I'll get to the point.

I filled up my T3S on Thursday evening, and just finished off that tank this morning (Sunday). I was definitely getting a "dry burn" taste after those 3 days of use, and I wanted to switch flavors, so I wanted to give my tank and coil/wicks a nice, thorough cleaning and dry burn. Since I've never done this before, I did my due diligence both on the forums here and on YouTube to figure out how to properly clean it. Oddly, I couldn't find any videos or posts on cleaning the T3S specifically, but I watched a few videos on cleaning the T3 and Evod, figuring those would be similar enough. Well, it was and it wasn't. I was more surprised than I wanted to be. The thing that really confused me was when I removed the rod on the coil to get to the flavor wicks and coil, there were the 2 flavor wicks on top of the coil that I was expecting from the videos, but there was a third wick that was actually going through the coil, not sitting on top of it. This wasn't mentioned in any of the videos I had watched on cleaning the T3 or Evod, so I was a bit confused. Was I supposed to remove it? Hell if I knew, but it looked pretty blackened and gunky, so I grabbed my tweezers and tried to get it out. I'm not sure if it's meant to be removed, because it was rather difficult to do so and it completely fell apart in the process, plus it's not like you'd ever be able to get it back in there through the coil. I continued on with my cleaning, did a dry burn on the coil and the remaining two flavor wicks, and reassembled the whole thing minus the third wick that was through the coil. It's now refilled with juice and I'm vaping it, and it seems to be working well with no more of the "dry burnt" taste. I'm just wondering if anyone can provide me with any information on this for future reference? I'm definitely going to continue to use this T3S, I have some replacement coils on the way as well as a Kanger ProTank, so I'll obviously be going through this process again. What is with that third wick? Is it supposed to be removed? Why is it there? If it's not supposed to be removed, how would you clean it? Like I said, it was pretty blackened and gunky after 3 days of use. Pardon my long-windedness, I'd be very appreciative of any information, if you managed to stick with me through this whole post.

 

[Frankenmizer]

Wall of purple text! Ahhhhh!

 

[Vchick]

Welcome & congrats on your journey......PBusardos vid shows in detail the coils on the Evod, which are similar, the flavor wicks sit on top of the coil, you can remove the flavor wicks, leaving the coiled wick and rinse, dry & dryburn........You should be able to buy replacement heads if you don't want to make your own coils.......hth

 

[BlueMoods]

Perhaps this will help, removing that wick is part of rebuilding them.

Kanger T3 rebuild tutorial - YouTube

And please, use paragraphs, I scanned that purple wall enough to see we are talking about an T3 Kanger and, the wick that the coil is wrapped around but, can't handle reading all of it.

 

[Choc_Addic]

Yes. It's actually the same built. The wick inside the coil is not meant to be removed. I would replace the coil head. It will burn out.

Watch this. This procedure is the same. The pin on top of the heating coil is taller is the only difference.

The 2 or 3 wicks on the top sitting loose are called flavor wicks and they improve juice delivery (helping the main wick inside of the coil) and also helps with sealing out the juices from leaking into the airway. The wick inside of the heating coil is the main juice wicking device and it is essential for the functioning of the coil head in addition to seal the juices flooding the airway.

Regards.

 

[crxess]

A temporary fix:

Cotton ball
Remove small amount and roll into a thread about the size to fit coil. One end very thin. Thread into coil and gently pull until the threading is fitted. Trim sides and reassemble.
Buy a few spare heads.

Cleaning Heads:
Rinse in HOT water
Remove pipe
Remove flavor wicks
Attach head to battery
Pulse burn until coil glows orange evenly
Blow off carbonized e-liquid between pulses - while cooling coil
Continue Pulsing until wick shows white again
Blow off or rinse one last time
Re-assemble
Use a napkin to draw off moisture from wicks or set aside to dry(1hr or so)
Ready to go again.

I use tweezers to keep the flavor wicks from falling apart until back in the groove.

 

[jow350]

I've had good results cleaning mine with Vodka. First I blow some through it with a syringe and small rubber hose, then run them through a couple of cycles in a cheapy sonic cleaner I got from Amazon for about $20, again in Vodka. Let them dry and they're good as new. I clean my cartos that way as well. I do this every couple of days of use and found that about doubles their lifetime.

 

[jefsview]

Don't worry. There is a learning curve with every new thing we try and do. We all make mistakes. It could have been worse, and you didn't damage the coil when you removed the wick, which was sort of a miracle

Others have replied with answers on what to do in the future.

We all learn by doing, and doing again. But the worst thing you could have done was not ask the question.

Welcome to ECF. Never stop asking questions

 

[Bill's Magic Vapor]

Yeah, turns out you do need that "third wick." It's actually the main wick and needs to be in there. Replacement of that wick is required, either by completely replacing the head or threading through a cotton ball wick as previously suggested. You cannot dry burn cotton. It will catch on fire. However, you can keep it wet with juice and then fire the coil just fine. I think you need to go back to those videos. Pay attention to the rebuilding of these coils. These rebuilding portions clearly show the "third wick," how to clean and re-wick, and rebuild the coils with silica wick and Kanthal wire. Actually very easy to rebuild these wicks, and I rebuild them about once a month as needed. Btw, if you can bead, you can easily replace that wick you removed, and I would suggest attempting that until the new coils get in. Good luck!

 

[Wow1420]

crxess and the others already answered better than I could, so I'll just say Welcome to ECF!

You're actually pretty lucky it's still working without that main wick, so I'd say it's not a catastrophe at all!

 

[MizK]

Thanks a million to everyone for your words of welcome, info, and advice! Leave it to me to ruin the coil the very first time I touch it!

As you all said, it really doesn't work without the wick in the coil. It started out working alright, but it definitely deteriorated into a big leaky mess over the course of the day, and resulted in the loss of a good bit of the precious juice! Oh well, no use crying over spilled juice, I suppose. Live & learn, eh?

Special thanks to crxess for your temporary fix advice, which I took advantage of until my replacement coil heads come in. You're a lifesaver!!

My apologies for the wall o' text in my original post, I was posting on my iPhone and didn't realize how wall o' text-y it looked until after submitting. More living & learning!!

Thanks so much to all for the help, I have a much better grasp on how to clean my tank now!!

 

[MizK]

Quick update: Unfortunately, the temporary fix of the piece of cotton through the coil didn't work The tank quickly started leaking like crazy again out of the bottom. I am just kicking myself over this stupid mistake! I just got this brand new juice that I love, and I've wasted a ton of it due to leakage. Not only that, but now I won't be able to vape at all until my replacement coils arrive on Tuesday. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Ack!! At least now I know ...

Thanks again to everyone for the help.