Leaky tanks....this makes no sense to me!

[Dave L]

Hello fellow vapers...been a while since I've visited ECF. I have a question regarding something I can't seem to figure out...

Over the last six months or so, I have been enjoying problem-free vaping, mostly with Evods. I have tried some new flavors, and found a chai tea and a few sweet ones that I kinda like. I still favor the tobacco flavors, however. But my wife vapes nothing but vanilla. And the thing is, HER tanks always leak! I have to clean up a juiced-up battery for her over and over, several times a day. I thought we had a defective tank or two, but when I put the tanks on my own battery, filled with my juice, they don't leak. The ONLY variable I can find is the flavor of the juice. And it isn't just one vanilla - we've tried several, from different manufacturers. She has trouble with every single combination we've tried.

Is there any way that a flavor can cause a tank to leak? I have noticed that all the vanilla juices turn very dark as they steep and age, which suggests that there's something that sets them apart from the juices I use. But I can't for the life of me figure out why any tank we use, when filled with vanilla, leaks all over the end of the battery. We have Evods, CE7s, T2s, and it's the same story with all of them. Any ideas, anyone?

BTW I sometimes add a few drops of vanilla to some of my tobacco flavors, and this causes no problem.

 

[Baditude]

I can't think of a reason why vanilla flavoring could cause a tank to leak. There are some flavors such as cinnamon and citrus flavors which can cause plastic tanks to crack or even melt, but vanilla does not fall into this category of flavors. SOMETHING SAFE FOR CINNAMON & CITRUS FLAVORS

You said you put her tanks onto your battery with your own juice flavors and they did not leak; I'm assuming you filled those tanks yourself and not her. This makes me think that the tanks are not defective with missing seals.

I suspect your wife is not filling her tanks correctly. She can't just dump her e-liquid into a tank, she must avoid liquid getting into the hole of the center post. She should fill the tanks OFF of the battery. She should make certain that all parts of the tank fit snug and that all of the seals are present and in the correct position; compare hers with your own.

Clearomizer tanks have a natural weak point where the plastic meets the bottom metal base. This is not glued, but press fit together. Occassionaly physical stress while in a purse or pocket can cause this connection to become slightly ajar...enough to cause some leaking. Press the metal base and the clear tank together to insure that there is a snug fit at this spot.

 

[cloud.nine]

It could be that her vanillas have a higher PG ratio and are thinner than your tobaccos. Do they seem more watery? Maybe your tobaccos are higher VG.

 

[edyle]

this might sound bad, but
maybe your wife sucks too hard?

 

[Topwater Elvis]

Could be she is taking too hard / fast inhales which over saturates the coil/wick.
Then it leaks out through the air tube onto the battery, when it is drawn upward during inhale it mixes with moisture in the air tube creating more liquid to leak out the bottom.
Dark liquids tend to gunk up coils rapidly which can stiffen the draw causing the user to suck harder which leads to the aforementioned.

 

[j3illy]

If I had to guess, I'd say it has something to do w/ the way it's being positioned/handled when not in use. If it's kept in a pocket or purse, and ends up sideways (or worse upside down), juice can easily get into the center hole. The fuller it is, the easier it will be. And once there's a pathway of juice flowing, it will continue via capillary action, even when it's back upright.

 

[skoony]

try not topping off the tank on refilling.
fill half way and let it sit for about 5 to 10 minutes.
this will allow the viscosity of the new juice(thinner),to match the viscosity of
the juice all-ready in the tank(thicker).
if you fill the tank full up when the viscosity equalizes in the wicks it'll suck up the juice like a straw
and straight down the air hole.

regards
mike

 

[crxess]

User interaction issue.

Check her equipment compared to yours.
Is the vape the same - Draw stiffness

Tighter draw=more liquid flow
Longer draw=more liquid flow

Light Draw= fluid build up in the tube - Gravity=Puddle on battery

Plenty of (Not broken) issues for certain users. Trick is detecting and correcting.

 

[devauto]

Hello fellow vapers...been a while since I've visited ECF. I have a question regarding something I can't seem to figure out...

Over the last six months or so, I have been enjoying problem-free vaping, mostly with Evods. I have tried some new flavors, and found a chai tea and a few sweet ones that I kinda like. I still favor the tobacco flavors, however. But my wife vapes nothing but vanilla. And the thing is, HER tanks always leak! I have to clean up a juiced-up battery for her over and over, several times a day. I thought we had a defective tank or two, but when I put the tanks on my own battery, filled with my juice, they don't leak. The ONLY variable I can find is the flavor of the juice. And it isn't just one vanilla - we've tried several, from different manufacturers. She has trouble with every single combination we've tried.

Is there any way that a flavor can cause a tank to leak? I have noticed that all the vanilla juices turn very dark as they steep and age, which suggests that there's something that sets them apart from the juices I use. But I can't for the life of me figure out why any tank we use, when filled with vanilla, leaks all over the end of the battery. We have Evods, CE7s, T2s, and it's the same story with all of them. Any ideas, anyone?

BTW I sometimes add a few drops of vanilla to some of my tobacco flavors, and this causes no problem.

So I would recommend taking one of her "leaky" tanks, filling it with HER juice, putting it on your battery to at least rule out the juice as the problem. If you don't like vanilla, I would suggest trying really hard and suffering through it to see what happens, if the tank does NOT leak on your batteries, when filled with her juice, then you are that much closer to isolating the problem.

HTH

 

[Dave L]

Thanks for all the great replies. The best solution seems to be, she sucks too hard! I know she does. She doesn't fill her own tanks, so I know they're filled correctly. Oh sure, sometimes I get a drop down the center tube, especially with the Evods. I do that with my tanks too. But the problem with hers is really noticeable and ongoing, and I've been driving myself crazy trying to get a handle on it.

I really don't like straight vanilla...too sweet! Please don't make me spend a day sucking on her juice!

 

[Myrany]

Actually SOME vanillas DO harm plastics it just depends on the vanilla. I would guess your wife's does not or you would have seen visible fogging/cracking on the tank.

 

[Baditude]

Then I would begin to study her draw technique. If she is doing too hard of a pull when she vapes, she will end up flooding the tanks. Enforce the longer, gentler pulls.

Vaping is different from smoking. It takes a different draw technique.

 

[GoodNews!]

With my Aspire, it really took a certain combination of PG and VG not to leak all over the air-flow controller/battery protector I had - these little doo-hickies are really essential. A 50/50 juice or something around there may really solve the problem.

The only other things I can really say to help with a hard draw is that the device may not have good enough air flow to support that type of draw without flooding - the hard draws really need the open airflow. If your device also has the ability to manipulate the heads, adding a "flavor wick" of your own choice to tighten up the wicking area could be a potential experiment to try out.

Also, with heads, I've found that you really do have to blow the excess liquid out before it'll sort of reset - it seems that if the head is flooded, that as soon as it comes in contact with more juice, that the juice sort of causes the juice in the tank to continue to run (like how if two droplets of water meet running down a bathub wall, they combine and run faster). But thickening up the juice really has been the technique that's worked best for me.

Probably stuff ya'll already know, figure I'd at least say it.