Penelope Flooding...

[The Hill Giant]

So, I am quite certain that this is user error, since I'm still relatively new to the Penelope and the wonderful world of GG, so I'm hoping you wonderful people can help me out and tell me what I'm doing wrong.

So it's my understanding that when you refill the Penelope, you tighten the juice flow control down all the way, take the top cap off, and fill just like you would normally fill it.

When I do this, and this only happens on refills, not a fresh fill with no juice in the tank, the thing floods. It happens almost every time. Even with the juice flow control completely closed. I opened the thing up and I can't even figure out how the juice is getting in there to flood it! I kept the flow control closed, blew out the excess, and kept doing that over and over and ended up blowing an entire tank of juice into a wad of paper towel!

So, obviously I'm doing something wrong here. Any advice?

 

[Natron]

when putting cap back on do you do so slowly? too quik and pressure will force juice to flood. ...if only this were my answer (ody flooding)

 

[CaptSteve]

Hi Hill and welcome to the GG family. Your problem is quite simple to overcome and I'll do my best to explain. The top cap on Penelope with it's internal o-ring provides a very good seal, so good that in fact when you screw it back on effectively you are compressing the tank. As Natron pointed out it's advisable to screw it on slowly but also I suggest on refills you don't open the juice flow immediately. Vape it for a little while to give the tank the chance to equalize pressure and then open the juice just a hair at first. Vape some more and then open it up. The issue here is pressure equalization so give it a chance. Under pressure the moment you open the juice control the juice floods the coil.
Hope that helps pal, enjoy Penelope
Steve

 

[Ezkill]

As CaptSteve and Natron said that is likely the problem.

One small tidbit to add: It would make sense because you are only flooding it on re-fills. A new wick doesn't wick as well so on the first fill it's not causing you flooding from the added pressure. However, once the wick is seasoned and pushes fluid more easily the pressure will cause flooding. I've also experienced this and the fix was very slowly putting on the top cap.

 

[The Hill Giant]

Very good. Thank you guys. I had a feeling it was pressure related. Kind of like the issues you can have with a CE3.

The really strange thing, though, is that I had this happen even with the juice control completely closed. I must have tightened it too fast and really pressurized my poor little sweetheart, Penelope. The poor thing wet herself... She is still beautiful, though, even though she isn't potty trained yet.

 

[Ezkill]

Not too odd actually. These devices do still wick even if the juice control is closed with added pressure.

If you ever see an Odysseus or Penelope with a clear tank you will notice that the opening of the juice control is quite high in the tank. However, they will drain juice to the last drop. Somehow they are still wicking when the fluid is below the juice control. You never have to swirl them or anything if you get below the juice control opening, they just wick evenly to the last drop.

 

[OctobersRust81]

i read a good tip a while back somewhere around here, i know it works for ody but not sure about penelope. fill with the juice control closed, put on the cap, then flip it upside down and open the jc a few turns, wait a few seconds then close it again. after that just blow it out, and dont open the jc until it tastes dry and when you do, open it a little at a time.

 

[The Hill Giant]

i read a good tip a while back somewhere around here, i know it works for ody but not sure about penelope. fill with the juice control closed, put on the cap, then flip it upside down and open the jc a few turns, wait a few seconds then close it again. after that just blow it out, and dont open the jc until it tastes dry and when you do, open it a little at a time.

That sounds about right. I got used to filling CE3s upside down for a similar reason.

By the way, I love your name. I'm guessing you're a Type O fan?

 

[Roxxette]

Remember that if you tight the top cap complete even if you close full liquid control/mouthpiece when you unscrew the top cap it will also move the mouthpiece so opening the juice control.

 

[MemphisRib]

Keep in mind that you can compress air, and you cannot compress liquid. So if you fill to the top, it does not matter how quickly you screw on etc., a full tank wil never be "compressed" and cause flooding. The speed you close the ring up top cannot be a variable.

But when you loosen and tighten elements, there is a lot of other elements that can move as a result. If the ring on the rebuildable element twists, you could have some flooding. If the base has some loosening on the tail elements, you can have flooding.

So if you drain to empty, that might be a good time to open up and tighten the goodies all along the trail. The fact that some things are supposed to move freely and others shouldn't, this can be the root cause of flooding.

 

[rojo]

To elaborate on what MemphisRib said, you know the textured ring that pinches your negative coil lead and holds your wick in place? I suspect that when you refill your Penny and reopen the juice flow, that ring is ever-so-slightly unscrewing a fraction of a turn and letting liquid underneath. It happened to me a few refills until I figured out that I had to do the following:

1. Grease the threads a little with Vaseline. Not a lot, just a little, just enough to discourage any liquid from seeping around the threads. If you use too much Vaseline, it could get on your wick and it won't wick any more.
2. Really crank the wick assembly down into the base as far as it'll go. This will help the O ring seal within the base. It also helps to grease that little O ring a little with Vaseline.
3. Really crank that textured ring down as hard as you can twist it when you're installing your coiled wick. Twist the crap out of it until it starts to eat the skin off your thumb.
4. When you close your juice control, don't screw it down too tightly. Just screw it down until it stops turning, but don't be obsessive with torquing it down or making sure it's hermetically sealed. If it's too tight against the textured ring, it'll bite against the ring and open it a little at the bottom when you reopen the juice flow.

Does that make sense? That's what I do, anyway, and my Penny is perfect for me.

 

[souroull]

I kept the flow control closed, blew out the excess, and kept doing that over and over and ended up blowing an entire tank of juice into a wad of paper towel!

So, obviously I'm doing something wrong here. Any advice?

i've had this happen to me and never figured out why. the only possible explanation is that the wick was not sitting well in one or both the channels and the liquid was escaping to the rebuildable part.

 

[The Hill Giant]

To elaborate on what MemphisRib said, you know the textured ring that pinches your negative coil lead and holds your wick in place? I suspect that when you refill your Penny and reopen the juice flow, that ring is ever-so-slightly unscrewing a fraction of a turn and letting liquid underneath. It happened to me a few refills until I figured out that I had to do the following:

1. Grease the threads a little with Vaseline. Not a lot, just a little, just enough to discourage any liquid from seeping around the threads. If you use too much Vaseline, it could get on your wick and it won't wick any more.
2. Really crank the wick assembly down into the base as far as it'll go. This will help the O ring seal within the base. It also helps to grease that little O ring a little with Vaseline.
3. Really crank that textured ring down as hard as you can twist it when you're installing your coiled wick. Twist the crap out of it until it starts to eat the skin off your thumb.
4. When you close your juice control, don't screw it down too tightly. Just screw it down until it stops turning, but don't be obsessive with torquing it down or making sure it's hermetically sealed. If it's too tight against the textured ring, it'll bite against the ring and open it a little at the bottom when you reopen the juice flow.

Does that make sense? That's what I do, anyway, and my Penny is perfect for me.

All makes sense. I think my issues was a combination of a couple things. I was filling it just a little too much, plus I was tightening the juice control too much to the point where I think it was biting the knurled ring (I have "Lenny from 'Of Mice and Men' syndrome". I have Kir Fanis tanks on the way, so I'll be able to tell exactly what the issue was soon. Either way, in the mean time I haven't had any issues since I stopped filling it to the tippy top and took the other advice in this thread.

 

[imeothanasis]

Keep in mind that you can compress air, and you cannot compress liquid. So if you fill to the top, it does not matter how quickly you screw on etc., a full tank wil never be "compressed" and cause flooding. The speed you close the ring up top cannot be a variable.

But when you loosen and tighten elements, there is a lot of other elements that can move as a result. If the ring on the rebuildable element twists, you could have some flooding. If the base has some loosening on the tail elements, you can have flooding.

So if you drain to empty, that might be a good time to open up and tighten the goodies all along the trail. The fact that some things are supposed to move freely and others shouldn't, this can be the root cause of flooding.

screwing slow the cap allows air to come out of the penelope's tube easy via cap's threads memphis. If you screw the cap quickly then air will not come out and it will pressure the liquid. And because no one can totally fill the tube without messing with liquid, thats why I say that its better to screw the cap slow

 

[Hitch]

I've made the mistake that I had a too long end of the wick in bottom, which somehowmanaged to get into the venting holes. Like this, there seemed to be a direct way for the liquid to go all through the atomizer. I've cut the next wicks way shorter and suddenly the leaking stopped...

 

[The Hill Giant]

I think another issue was that I was filling all the way to the tippy top. I didn't do that the last couple refills, and with that in combination with the slowly closing the top cap, I haven't had any issues.