I finally had to change the wick in the HC3.1 tonite... it lasted thru 8 full tanks of Legend at an avg Wattage of 9.5.
I was expecting some dark monster of tarred tenticles reaching upwards oozing a foul goo from its ends, But to my suprise, the cotton was not even as dark as a yard egg. Altho the coil was about 3 times thicker due to carbon build up....
I removed the cotton burned off the coil and used a dental pick to remove the stuff that didnt "blow" off. Replaced the cotton, primed it up, put on the chimney tube/cap and the tank sleeve, filled it up and capped it. Working just as good as when I got it going the first time...
looks like my supply of kanthal and cotton is going to last me 7 yrs instead of the projected 6 months...