rewicking issues

[sailense]

What you have is most likely a hot spot, which is pretty common on a Protank but really hard to diagnose. Usually what happens is that the nice wick and coil that you just setup will get compressed when you put on the center post. You'll then create a hotspot where there were no indications of one before. I found all this out the hard way over 6 or 7 coil rebuilds.

The easiest way to tell is to remove the top post and the flavor wick and then burn the coil with some juice on the wick while blowing on it. If a portion of the coil starts glowing while the rest stay dark, you know you've got a hotspot. And again, I do this after I've done a full reassembly so that I can tell whether installing center post has deformed the coil.

With a Protank, the learning curve is really finding out how to build a tight coil that won't deform when you put the center post back in. From experience, now I use a 1mm or 1.5mm silica wick and wrap the coil tightly using half of a wooden Q-tip. The 1.5mm wick threads in fairly easily and the coil is small enough that it should be ok with a 1.5mm or even 3mm flavor wick on top.

 

[Spazmelda]

I Was having the same problem. Someone gave me to tip to boil the silica 2x10 minutes, with a water change for each boil. I did that, just boiled the whole hank of silica a few times (both the flavor wick silica and the coil silica). Then I torched the entire coil after I made it (minus the flavor wicks). This eliminated the gross taste.

 

[Soully]

Soully, I'm guessing the wicks are not fully saturated when you fired up your device. It will leave a plasticky, burnt taste which would slowly diminish over time.

Here's what I did after my experience with the plasticky taste :

1) After recoiling, dry suck on the protank (prime it) until you can taste the flavour of your juice. BUT do not suck it too hard or you may cause flooding.
2) Fire at a lower voltage first to test if the pasticky burnt taste is there. It shouldn't. If it does, prime it again.
3) Vape away.

I initially thought this too, after the next day vape was fine, but when I rebuilt the previous coils, they were all translucent in appearance all the way through, which is why I wasn't sure if this was the case or not, but I will remember this for future rebuilds and give it a try.

I set it to a very low voltage before my first firing and before I put my coil on (3.3 Volts), and then I check the ohms (pro vari for the win) before I do a test fire. I hold the button for a second or two, let go, and repeat this a few times to make sure nothing seems out of the ordinary. Then I start moving the voltage up. Usually stopping at 4 Volts (unless the coil is under 2 Ohms as my current one is, then I only go 2 Volts over what the reading is (in this case, 1.7 Ohms, so I stopped at 3.7 Volts), which is USUALLY where I have found I like it around.

But the plastic taste was there through each voltage.

I Was having the same problem. Someone gave me to tip to boil the silica 2x10 minutes, with a water change for each boil. I did that, just boiled the whole hank of silica a few times (both the flavor wick silica and the coil silica). Then I torched the entire coil after I made it (minus the flavor wicks). This eliminated the gross taste.

I REALLY had hoped to avoid doing the boiling, but even with having torched the crap out of the wick before wicking this time, it seems that plastic taste was still there, so I'll probably just end up giving this a try.


UPDATE TIME!

So woke up this morning (same coil as from last night), and the plastic taste is gone, my coconut, rum, vanilla, and that hint of cinnamon flavor is back in full force.

Which is good news! Means I made a coil right!

Which is also bad news! Means it takes nearly 5-6 HOURS for that damned thing to saturate, despite LOOKING fulling saturated.

I'm glad I ordered the genesis style at this point, I will give an attempt to danny's sucking shenanigans (just sounds dirty when I say it that way...so I'm leaving it that way xD ), and see if that helps next time, but grrrrr, no, not up for that at all.

 

[TwentyYrsPlusSmokr]

Greetings,

Silica, Kanthol, Coil .... Formula ???
I've got a question on rewicking...
Clearomizer : Kangertech T3S (BCC)

If I want to get the ohm rating to about 2.5 or less....
What gauge Kanthol do I use ? What thickness Silica is best (without needing a "Flavor wick") ?? How many coils should I make ???

I'm guessing my biggest problem is not having an ohm's rating MOD or device.
Should I even attempt to rewick without an ohm's tester ? ?

Thanks in advance for your response(s)

 

[Soully]

Greetings,

Silica, Kanthol, Coil .... Formula ???
I've got a question on rewicking...
Clearomizer : Kangertech T3S (BCC)

If I want to get the ohm rating to about 2.5 or less....
What gauge Kanthol do I use ? What thickness Silica is best (without needing a "Flavor wick") ?? How many coils should I make ???

I'm guessing my biggest problem is not having an ohm's rating MOD or device.
Should I even attempt to rewick without an ohm's tester ? ?

Thanks in advance for your response(s)

Thread hijacking, gald to see it's still in full swing! xD


Anywho, another update. After vaping, maybe 3-4 pulls...that nasty flavor came back, I'm going to assume at this point something is just not right with this silica itself, because I'm hard pressed to say it's the coil with the current path of events. *sighs* Oh well...

 

[wsteven321]

for 2.5 ohms u want to use 32 gauge a1 kanthal. i linked it in an earlier post on this thread. do 5 wraps....anyway back to OP.

you should never have to boil your wick. i dont know much of it you ordered but please order some of that wick i posted and see if that makes a difference.

 

[Soully]

you should never have to boil your wick. i dont know much of it you ordered but please order some of that wick i posted and see if that makes a difference.

Ordered about 15 feet of it, so hard for me to justify buying more, especially now with my genesis on the way, but doesn't mean I won't, will give it a try later for sure ^^

 

[sailense]

I initially thought this too, after the next day vape was fine, but when I rebuilt the previous coils, they were all translucent in appearance all the way through, which is why I wasn't sure if this was the case or not, but I will remember this for future rebuilds and give it a try.

I set it to a very low voltage before my first firing and before I put my coil on (3.3 Volts), and then I check the ohms (pro vari for the win) before I do a test fire. I hold the button for a second or two, let go, and repeat this a few times to make sure nothing seems out of the ordinary. Then I start moving the voltage up. Usually stopping at 4 Volts (unless the coil is under 2 Ohms as my current one is, then I only go 2 Volts over what the reading is (in this case, 1.7 Ohms, so I stopped at 3.7 Volts), which is USUALLY where I have found I like it around.

But the plastic taste was there through each voltage.



I REALLY had hoped to avoid doing the boiling, but even with having torched the crap out of the wick before wicking this time, it seems that plastic taste was still there, so I'll probably just end up giving this a try.


UPDATE TIME!

So woke up this morning (same coil as from last night), and the plastic taste is gone, my coconut, rum, vanilla, and that hint of cinnamon flavor is back in full force.

Which is good news! Means I made a coil right!

Which is also bad news! Means it takes nearly 5-6 HOURS for that damned thing to saturate, despite LOOKING fulling saturated.

I'm glad I ordered the genesis style at this point, I will give an attempt to danny's sucking shenanigans (just sounds dirty when I say it that way...so I'm leaving it that way xD ), and see if that helps next time, but grrrrr, no, not up for that at all.

Glad to hear you got it sorted out. That's happened to me a few times as well. Thought I stuffed up a coil, left it for a day or so, tried it again and it's good.

 

[crxess]

I use a straight pin to help with wire wrapping, then slip it out after making the final connections. Helps to hole the wick in place while working.
Coil Must make decent contact with Silica of you will get a nasty taste from overheating Wire.
Coil cannot be to tight or it will pinch off wicking.

Always Boil, hot soak or burn off your silica AND wire before building or plan on a tank of liquid before it starts working decent.
Always Verify your work by visually inspecting the Coil Heating before final assembly and Reading the final Ohms resistance.

 

[Soully]

Another update, with good news!

So last night, I took one final vape of that plastic flavor and had enough, and said "screw it, I'll try this juice again later and order more at that time" seeing as that was my last bit of it (still fairly peeved about that to be honest).

I redid the coil again, using a cigar lighter (butane lighter) to burn it, and the silica for that matter. This time though, when I put the coil into the tiny spot it's supposed to fit, I kept it raised much higher...to the point I nearly scrapped it because I thought it was too high (which also kinda started to piss me off, because it was SUCH a pretty coil, all five loops of it).

But I stuck with it, feeding the silica inside, putting a "flavor" wick on top, and shutting it up. Put my eliquid in the tank and gave it 2-3 minutes before testing the Ohms.

Here's where shenanigans ensued a bit. The provari read "low", and my first thought was ".......nit! Why would such a pretty coil short, grrrrrrr!", I gave it a second, and redid the reading...2.3 ohms, huzzah! The provari has been a bit finnicky though, and I'm sure it's the coil, on occasion spouting an E1 or (only once) E4 error. I usually give it a minute or so, drop the voltage or raise it by .1, and it's good to go (so staying between 4.0 and 4.1 volts, where I like it anyway), and it's working great. The green apple flavor is really coming through from this eliquid.

Moral of this story, coil rebuilding on the protank is frustrating, mostly because once it's done, the only tinkering you can do is just flat out rebuilding it.

I get my genesis atty today (yes...I know...assuming usps tracking is always right is a great way to ruin your day, but I can hope damnit!), and to be honest, I MUCH prefer the idea of tinkering with a coil versus having to rebuild the entire damn thing (I like tinkering, rebuilding isn't tinkering, it's starting from scratch).

I put a post up before hand showing 2 sets of prices I found for 400 mesh (the atty comes with ceramic, but that stuffs expensive compared to mesh for what seems to be only subtle improvements) and it's around 10 bucks (the second site being a hair more expensive, but premade coils) for a 12x12 " square, so probably going to go with one of those there.

Thanks everyone for your advice, I do appreciate it!

 

[SpinDr480]

I was having the same problem when I tried to go back to silica. That taste ruins the juice, and it was too dreadful to have to go through a tank or two to burn off that taste. I couldn't do it.

So I went back to the first type of wick I rebuild, and what I think is the easiest and most tasty. I just posted about this in another section the forum, but it is #1/0 Square Braided Cotton that I use exclusively in my ProTank and Evod heads. For me, they seem to be the perfect thickness to fit in the head, and they are solid enough make it easy to wrap my 32 Gauge A-1 Kanthal Wire around. It is thick enough that I don't need to add any flavor wicks, and they don't flood. I actually just ordered these on Monday to resupply: Square Braided 100 Cotton Wick 6 0 4 0 2 0 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 | eBay

 

[Crash Moses]

Alternatively you could just try some standard cotton ball cotton. Sterile 100% cotton from CVS (or anywhere actually) works great. You don't need a lot for a good wick (in fact too much ruins the flavor) and it's easy to rewick without having to rebuild your coil every time.

 

[RobUpNya]

Once the silica is inserted into the coils, did you burn the whole thing again with a blue flame to get rid of whatever lingers on the silica?

 

[LowBattery]

waither its relevent or not with all my Kanger tanks and head i take to first 2, "flavor wicks" out and after i do that amazing flavor and will ever have a burnt taste again!