Masters Of The Unburnt Coil: Tell Me Your Secrets!

[marlowe310]

Hey guys,

I've been vaping now since about Thanksgiving of last year (after a quickly aborted attempt a few years back when the tech just. wasn't. there.). Picked up a Triton start kit, quickly moved to the VV battery, and haven't looked back since. Once I went VV, I upgraded all my coils to 3.4v and put the standard 2.3v aside (in case of emergency only!).

My question is -- how do you guys go about not immediately burning your coils? I'm not a super repetitive vaper, and I've spent ALOT of time digging around online and watching videos and what not -- and yet I seem to burn every coil I put on within a day. Most of my tanks have coils that look like Leper colonies, all covered with burns that I've pulled out of the center shaft, leaving ever-less wick on the opposite side.

What might I be doing wrong? And at what can I work harder to do right? Any and all info/tips/platitudes welcome.

JUST in case -- I picked up my current batch of 3.4v coils RIGHT after Thanksgiving, when there was a shortage of 3.4v for a while -- I checked online constantly and actually bought 7 packs the night they restocked -- a day BEFORE they sent out the email blast letting everyone know 3.4v was back in action. Is there ANY possibility that this initial batch had more issues than the usual production quantities? I am 99% all the burning is my fault, but I just wanted to put all the info I had out there in case anyone knows something I don't.

Thanks a ton -- love reading ECF and I'm glad to finally have a good reason to post!

 

[ElConquistador]

Sorry, I'm not sure what you mean by 3.4v coils. Do you mean ohms instead of volts? Seems like you would have to put a LOT of voltage through a 3.4 ohm coil to burn it.

 

[Aviationrich]

Are you cleaning them? If you use them (say the same one) for over a week or so without a cleaning that could be your problem.

Sent from the dagobah system using jedi-chat

 

[GreenLeaf]

The technology has come a LONG ways, hasn't it? ...and it's only improving. I couldn't imagine myself leaving the stinkies behind with what was available a few years ago.

Unless you're overloading the coils/wicks without a cool down, you're not doing ANYTHING wrong. Some juices have more impurities than others and require coil/wick cleaning FAR more often than their counterparts. As a rule of thumb, the darker, more heavier/thicker the juice, the more often you are going to have to perform coil/wick maintenance cleanings, or replace them all together.

Forgive my ignorance if such is the case, what are 3.4v coils? Do you mean ohms?

Halo offers 4 ohm coil options:

1.8-2.0
2.2-2.4
2.6-2.8
3.0-3.2

The lower the ohms, the more the vapor is heated, which causes more buildup. There is a comfortable middle ground between vapor production and vapor temperature.

As far as cleaning wicks is concerned, unfortunately there isn't a good video walk-through that I have found, though I have devised my own cleaning regiment that effectively extends the life of the coil/wicks, most of which others are probably already performing a variant of.

1. When the color of the ejuice in the tank becomes any darker than natural, or the flavor becomes less than desirable, it's time to clean.
2. Many people use flavorless Denture Tabs or Vodka/PGA for cleaning. I haven't had to use any of that to achieve satisfactory results.
3. Remove the coil assembly and yank the wicks out just enough (no more) to expose the dark spot that the coil comes in contact with.
4. Rinse under high pressure hot water, rubbing the dark spot build up between your fingers to remove impurities.
5. When it looks clean, squeeze the remaining water out of the wicks with a paper towel, napkin or tissue until dry and no more moisture comes out.
6. Rinse the tank and tip, blow water out of the center air tube, and wipe all parts dry inside and out with the same paper towel/napkin/tissue.

Doing this method, I have never had the need for a dry burn, or had to wait for the wicks to air dry overnight. I immediately fill them up, wait a couple minutes for the clean wicks to re-absorb, and vape on.

 

[rbeckys8]

sometimes answers here help me too..thank you!

 

[marlowe310]

Thank you so much -- This is PRECISELY the information I was looking for. And I also appreciate everyone being gentle despite my boneheaded substitution of 3.4v for the 3.0-3.2 ohm coils I actually meant. .....It's been a long day.

I'm going to give this exact method a shot this weekend and then see what's what -- but I'm betting this is what makes me finally understand what the heck I'm doing.

A couple follow up questions:

1) When it becomes apparent (tastewise) that you've burned a coil on a mostly full tank -- what do you do about that? Up till now I've been unscrewing it, shifting the wicks around and then rescrewing it back in all without dumping the liquid. Then I blow profusely to clean the center post and wait for it to reabsorb. That generally works, but seems EXTREMELY inelegant -- and sorta baffling when I get a burned wick on a fresh coil in a full tank. Is this also just a luck of the draw/juice consistency?

2) How bad/difficult to pull of is it to vape a tank nearly dry before cleaning? Or should I just bite the bullet and pour the juice into an empty bottle for the duration?

I really do appreciate all the helpful and friendly info provided so far -- it's nice to be able to get solid, user centric answers to life's little frustrations.

 

[GreenLeaf]

Thank you so much -- This is PRECISELY the information I was looking for. And I also appreciate everyone being gentle despite my boneheaded substitution of 3.4v for the 3.0-3.2 ohm coils I actually meant. .....It's been a long day.

I'm going to give this exact method a shot this weekend and then see what's what -- but I'm betting this is what makes me finally understand what the heck I'm doing.

A couple follow up questions:

1) When it becomes apparent (tastewise) that you've burned a coil on a mostly full tank -- what do you do about that? Up till now I've been unscrewing it, shifting the wicks around and then rescrewing it back in all without dumping the liquid. Then I blow profusely to clean the center post and wait for it to reabsorb. That generally works, but seems EXTREMELY inelegant -- and sorta baffling when I get a burned wick on a fresh coil in a full tank. Is this also just a luck of the draw/juice consistency?

2) How bad/difficult to pull of is it to vape a tank nearly dry before cleaning? Or should I just bite the bullet and pour the juice into an empty bottle for the duration?

I really do appreciate all the helpful and friendly info provided so far -- it's nice to be able to get solid, user centric answers to life's little frustrations.

1. I would advise you not refill a tank full on a heavily used coil/wick assembly until you're familiar with the particular halo flavor you are using, and how hard it is on the coils. If you do so with the darker ejuice, it's just going to turn the rest of the ejuice in the tank to an opaque, nasty sludge (think old motor oil) before it's even half gone, and that never tastes good. Waste not want not.

Then again, you probably won't know this until you conduct your own testing with different flavors. As a rule of thumb... the darker the ejuice, the more often you have to clean the wicks.

For example, with Mystic, which is pretty much clear, I have never, not once, had to clean the wicks and I have put 70-90ml easily through the SAME coil, never cleaned, no gunking, no flavor or consistency loss whatsoever. However with flavors like voodoo, belgian cocoa, or tiki juice, they need cleaning every or every other 2.4ml. Quite a big difference.

Shifting the wicks does little good without cleaning them, as those dark, unspent impurities are going to leech back into the ejuice it comes in contact with.

2. You can vape them all the way down to bone dry AS LONG AS you routinely tip-and-roll the tank to keep the TOP of the wicks wet. If it's particularly low, I turn my tanks upside down between every drag until all the ejuice is used up if I know it's time to clean the wicks. Between maintenance times, you can just fill/top them off periodically.

 

[Droopy421]

I personally clean my tanks in between every refill. I take the plastic off, rinse under warm water, vodka soak for 24 hours, soak in hot water for 12-24 hours, let dry and then refill. That being said I have 15 or so tanks and usually do this with 2 tanks at a time. Using this system I have only lost one coil in a month and that was my fault from accidentally pulling the bottom wick out while cleaning.

 

[AmandaD]

If you're getting a burned taste on a full tank something's not right. This was happening to me on one particular tank until I realized that for some reason the coil assembly was not staying screwed on tightly. When you remove the drip tip to refill, it often untightens the coil, and you have to be sure you tighten it back up before putting the drip tip back in! Just something else to check

Also, Belgian Cocoa is so thick I usually have to clean between every tank. It doesn't taste burned, just 'gunky' and the juice gets very dark.

Other than that I vape my tanks till they're pretty much totally empty - just tilt and swirl, and you can pretty much get the last drop!

 

[Penguins17]

If you fill it and start vaping you can get dry hits and start burning stuff, when you fill a tanks, give it 15-30 minutes (more if it is a thicker juice) to let it wick up all the way. If there it no juice for the coil to heat up, it is going to heat up the wick instead.

 

[always9988]

If no one else has said it, tilt it upside down before taking a draw. I got to the point where I actually tilt the end up as I puff, get a juicier hit that way to me. And keeps the coil completely wet.

 

[Aviationrich]

If no one else has said it, tilt it upside down before taking a draw. I got to the point where I actually tilt the end up as I puff, get a juicier hit that way to me. And keeps the coil completely wet.

That's how I hit mine! Either it's level or tilted up.

Sent from the dagobah system using jedi-chat

 

[JohnnyDill]

Once my Triton tanks are less than 3/4 full, I always place it on it's side. I never get burned hits. When the juice gets low, I tap all four wicks to one side of the tank and set that side down. I can get almost 100% of the juice vaped using this method. I hate wasting precious Halo liquid, so I vape down to empty before cleaning my wicks.