Kayfun v5: Does yours leak?

[Maestro]

You CAN control leaking to a degree with wicking, but it's finicky and inconsistent. A properly sealed tank will not leak even with no wick in it!! The purpose of the wick is to deliver juice to the coil, nothing more. It's the air bubble at the top that holds the juice in the tank. The juice simply cannot flow down into the juice well unless the vacuum ( negative pressure, suction, whatever you prefer) is relieved or you introduce a greater vacuum in the juice well (a normal toot). If you hit it too hard or if the airflow is too tight, you can pull enough juice into the juice well to overflow it. But with normal use or the tank just sitting there, it should never leak. If it does, air is getting into the air bubble at the top of the tank and relieving the vacuum. It's almost always one of the 3 o-rings at the top: the one at the glass, the one on the top cap, or the one around the chimney. Remove the tank section, press it firmly into your palm, suck on it, and plug the drip tip with your tongue. It should stick until you finally pull it off with an audible pop. If it doesn't, you have an air leak.

 

[DaveP]

You CAN control leaking to a degree with wicking, but it's finicky and inconsistent. A properly sealed tank will not leak even with no wick in it!! The purpose of the wick is to deliver juice to the coil, nothing more. It's the air bubble at the top that holds the juice in the tank. The juice simply cannot flow down into the juice well unless the vacuum ( negative pressure, suction, whatever you prefer) is relieved or you introduce a greater vacuum in the juice well (a normal toot). If you hit it too hard or if the airflow is too tight, you can pull enough juice into the juice well to overflow it. But with normal use or the tank just sitting there, it should never leak. If it does, air is getting into the air bubble at the top of the tank and relieving the vacuum. It's almost always one of the 3 o-rings at the top: the one at the glass, the one on the top cap, or the one around the chimney. Remove the tank section, press it firmly into your palm, suck on it, and plug the drip tip with your tongue. It should stick until you finally pull it off with an audible pop. If it doesn't, you have an air leak.

I agree with all that you said. Without a small bubble in the tank it's hydro-locked and juice won't feed (theoretically). The little bubble compresses when you draw and more juice is drawn into the tank due to negative pressure.

Aside from a leaking o-ring the only time I get weeping from a Kayfun style tank is when it gets warm in my pocket. That's more likely to happen in hot weather than cold. Juice expands and slight leakage occurs. It's also more likely to occur when the tank is full and there's little air to compress and offset juice expansion.

I can pull a vacuum with wetted fingers covering the air intake holes on this one (without removing the tank) like we do with the other Kayfun models. Your method does isolate the top section, eliminating the bottom section parts, though.

 

[DaveP]

Update ...

I pulled my Tobeco K5 apart last night and did some repetitive ultrasonic cleaning with dish soap and water. It sat quietly through the night in dish soap and water and soaked. This morning I washed it thoroughly and built it back with a 1.4 Kanthal coil and a new KGD wick. All is as it should be now. I have good vapor and flavor with the juice control a half turn open at 10W. The machine oil taste is completely gone.

What happened on the first build yesterday was that I cranked the glass tank down until it stopped (like you'd do with any Kayfun). I hadn't picked up on the way juice feed control works. The wick dried out and the flavor died.

So, my first build used up all the juice in the wick and started dry hitting. When I went to remove the wick this morning I twisted it to remove it from the coil and only the side I pulled came out. Those dry hits burned the wick in two.

New wick, 1/2 turn on the juice feed, and it's working just fine.

ETA: Got the beginnings of a dry hit at 1/2 turn on the juice feed. I went to a full turn, hit it a few times, and all is good again. Learning curves are interesting. So far, flavor is still a notch above KF2 and KF3.

 

[Maestro]

On the kayfun, the juice control is a bit misunderstood. It's not intended to regulate juice flow. It's more of a juice shutoff for when you're filling. Whether you open it one turn, or two, or three, doesn't matter. You open it until it's fully open and then it becomes irrelevant. I personally open it 3 turns just to ensure it's fully open. If it's choked off, you're just asking for a dry hit.

 

[KODIAK (TM)]

It's almost always one of the 3 o-rings at the top: the one at the glass, the one on the top cap, or the one around the chimney.

Replaced those twice. (Actually, all of 'em). Last night I lay it on it's side on a paper towel and it leaked a good ml or so. And I refuse to close these things down just to put in a pocket or lay on its side... no sense wearing those o-rings down any more other than filling. But my testicles are getting sticky - I may have to.

 

[Zombo]

Just chiming in to say that I have had my K5 since release and it's never leaked. I keep the juice flow at 2 full turns even though I vape high PG...that works best for the way I vape....3mm ID coil, 0.7-0.8 Ohms, 28W.

 

[DaveP]

I was going by Busardo's YouTube tutorial on the K5 where he was told by the Svoemesto people that the juice control should be at one turn for MTL and 2 turns for Cloud Blowers. Max was supposed to be 2 turns.

Go figure. I haven't looked at the way it's supposed to regulate juice flow or whether there's a visible difference in the setting that could affect juice flow. The juice port below the coil deck does open and close with the adjustment of the flow control if you play with it while it's apart. That feature reminds me of the K4.

 

[Zombo]

I think he was being conservative...I have heard of people opening it 3 turns, I think.

 

[DaveP]

I think he was being conservative...I have heard of people opening it 3 turns, I think.

Maybe it works similarly in any position but closed. I searched for the Svoemesto K5 manual and found it at CremeDeVape.com. It does say open is a max of two turns and it can be operated at any position between open and closed to fine tune liquid flow. I've been vaping 3/4 turn at 10 watts and no dry hits.

I do know from experience that it will burn a wick in two when fully closed .

https://www.cremedevape.com/WebRoot...A6/0A28/1056/E777/SMtec_Kayfun5_Manual_EN.pdf

3.4. Filling and operating the liquid flow control. The Kayfun 5 has a liquid flow control, which can be set continuously to restrict the liquid flow to your coil. It has to be shut completely before refilling the tank. a) To close the liquid control completely, grab the base and turn the tank in a clockwise movement until it stops. b) To fill the tank, the SvoëMesto Kayfun 5 has to be assembled completely including coil and wick. Open the fill port at the top, fill the tank along the sides until the liquid level reaches the upper end of the glass-tank-section. Close the fill port. c) To open the liquid control completely, grab the base and turn the tank in a counter-clockwise motion two full turns. d) To fine tune your liquid flow, you can set the liquid control to any point in-between fully open and closed.

 

[Hitcat44]

On the kayfun, the juice control is a bit misunderstood. It's not intended to regulate juice flow. It's more of a juice shutoff for when you're filling. Whether you open it one turn, or two, or three, doesn't matter. You open it until it's fully open and then it becomes irrelevant. I personally open it 3 turns just to ensure it's fully open. If it's choked off, you're just asking for a dry hit.

Agree and Disagree....
Ponder this;
1. Turns increase or decrease the size (Area) of the opening/space in which the Juice is allowed to flow from Tank to Chamber.
2. Juice Viscosity, VG/PG Ratio, greatly affects the speed, efficiency, ability/inability etc. of the Juice to flow through the opening/space as the Viscosity defines the Surface Tension Properties of the Liquid (also to some degree the Device Material properties).
3. the Area/Size of the Opening/Space must be sufficient to allow the (for our example correct) System's static Vacuum Pressure to overcome the naturally occurring Surface Tension thereby pushing/pulling the Liquid through that opening/space to adequately supply the Wick/Coil.

Therefore given the above facts, proper turns/position of the Juice Flow Control do indeed "matter" and to a great degree determine and define proper Liquid Feed. Without a doubt it is much more of an integral and important part of the System Dynamic than a simple "Closed for Fill & full Open for Vape" On-Off Switch.

 

[Maestro]

I agree that a partially open flow control can indeed regulate the juice flow. On the other hand, if you need to regulate the juice flow, you have an air leak. Same idea as controlling juice flow with wicking. If the juice flow is choked off, your more viscous liquids will not flow as well and you'll get dry hits. However, there's no point in choking it off for thinner liquids because it's the negative pressure that holds the juice in. Hence, there's no reason to choke it off in the first place. Thin or thick, it should be open all the way. If you have to adjust it to the viscosity of the juice, you're going to get flooding, dry hits, and generally be frustrated with it. You have to look at why you need to adjust the flow control to find the root of the problem. Choking off the juice flow is not a solution, it's a symptom. I can put straight PG or VG in mine with the juice flow fully open and it never sheds a tear.

If you lay it on its side, all bets are off. It's going to leak if you don't close off the juice control.

 

[DaveP]

The design of the chimney and the mating surfaces of the coil deck juice ports are in play as you turn the K4 style juice adjustment. At 1/4 turn I eventually get a drier wick. 3/4 turn seems to balance juice feed with my vaping style.

The K5 is a 10W to 40W device, so it's not like it has to be able to deliver enough juice to create a thick stream of vapor for lung hit vapers.

I'm vaping 80pg/20vg juice, so it's not hard for juice feed to keep up with my 10W vaping level when the juice flow is set to 3/4 turn.

 

[KODIAK (TM)]

My 3rd finally started to leak through the air flow intakes just like the others. Three of these things, all made by different people.

I'm beginning to think it's me.

Can't be my build. (I'm a pretty awesome builder these days ). Besides, if the tank is air tight it shouldn't leak even with no build inside.

There are only 2 sources where liquid can leak out of the air flow intakes... either directly under the coil or way up top where the chimney meets the mouth piece.

 

[Maestro]

If you're laying it on its side, it will leak. Air gets into the tank and you lose your vacuum.

 

[Two_Bears]

If you're laying it on its side, it will leak. Air gets into the tank and you lose your vacuum.

Or he looses vacuum through a weak O Ring on the drip tip as happened with my authentic Mini V3

 

[Akrotiri]

My authentic leaks so bad I had to put it up. Changed o-rings twice using spare Svoemesto o-ring kits supplied specifically for this tank. It always leaks through the air slots. Waiting on some generic o-rings from Fasttech. Maybe I'll fare better with those.

I've got three Kayfun 5's... an authentic ($120), an SKX clone from fasttech and a Kayfun v5 mini by SKX as well. The authentic is useless. The $20 SKX clone is ok but leaked a tad overnight once. The $20 "mini" hasn't leaked a drop.

Yes, my o-rings get a good lube and i know how to build/wick.

The authentic really wobbles when the juice control is unscrewed 2 full turns. I suspect the vacuum seal get's broken because of this and it leaks. The SKX has just a little wobble and the mini has no wobble at all (hence it never leaks).

This is the most fickle Kayfun version I've ever owned (Skipped version 4). These I suspect are the culprits (below). 7, 8, 9 are only 1.0mm o-rings. I wonder if 1.5mm might help?

View attachment 619913

All those parts and yet so much fail.
My advice is to put it up and sell it then use proceeds for Hussar or Skyline.

 

[Maestro]

Or he looses vacuum through a weak O Ring on the drip tip as happened with my authentic Mini V3

The o-rings on the drip tip just keep the drip tip on. There's nothing to seal there. However, if you're referring to the small one in the top cap, yeah that's crucial.

 

[Two_Bears]

The o-rings on the drip tip just keep the drip tip on. There's nothing to seal there. However, if you're referring to the small one in the top cap, yeah that's crucial.

Wrong. On my Mini V3 there was a hair line gap between tge Shaft met the edge of the catch cup. That stupid weak O ring was all it took for a vacuum leak.

Tge only way I could stop the leak was to completely close the Juice flow at night.

 

[KODIAK (TM)]

If you're laying it on its side, it will leak. Air gets into the tank and you lose your vacuum.

Nonsense. At least it shouldn't be that way. It would be pointless to carry it in your pocket. Not to mention mods that charge from a bottom port overnight. Or the countless tube mods people lay on their sides.

Nope. If I have to baby these that much they're gone.

Wrong. On my Mini V3 there was a hair line gap between tge Shaft met the edge of the catch cup. That stupid weak O ring was all it took for a vacuum leak.

Tge only way I could stop the leak was to completely close the Juice flow at night.

Mine have leaked overnight with juice control closed. Yes, that little tiny o-ring in the top cap is easy to miss and hard to see - but it's there. Most definitely necessary for a tight vacuum. I've changed those many times.

Ok... so yesterday afternoon my replacement o-rings arrived from fasttech. They're the same size as the originals (a few white) but I thought I'd stop doing the same thing (using stock svoemesto o-ring kits) and cherry pick some others. Can't keep doing the same thing and expect different results.

I've completely rebuilt 2 kayfuns and am using them now. So far so good but I've always been able to go 3 or so days before so we'll see.

 

[Two_Bears]

Nonsense. At least it shouldn't be that way. It would be pointless to carry it in your pocket. Not to mention mods that charge from a bottom port overnight. Or the countless tube mods people lay on their sides.

Nope. If I have to baby these that much they're gone.



Mine have leaked overnight with juice control closed. Yes, that little tiny o-ring in the top cap is easy to miss and hard to see - but it's there. Most definitely necessary for a tight vacuum. I've changed those many times.

Ok... so yesterday afternoon my replacement o-rings arrived from fasttech. They're the same size as the originals (a few white) but I thought I'd stop doing the same thing (using stock svoemesto o-ring kits) and cherry pick some others. Can't keep doing the same thing and expect different results.

I've completely rebuilt 2 kayfuns and am using them now. So far so good but I've always been able to go 3 or so days before so we'll see.

Try switching the standard drip tip for the standard.

I had planned to do that but i was busy packing for move, and then Someone came along and wanted to buy my Mini V3 and was very happy to be rid of the _____