So dry! AiV liquid? Bad coil? Or my tank?

[MaraF]

I'm having a bit of an annoying problem and am wondering if anyone can help me identify the source.

I am getting extremely dry hits out of my new-ish Protank 3 Mini. My fella and I also have a Mini 2 and are not having a problem with that one, BUT it could be the juice. I just got my first samples from Alice in Vapeland, which we have only had in our mini 3 so far. I've heard they use a heavy PG blend, but I also have heard nothing but good reviews so I'm not sure that's it. I also know I am completely overdue to switch out the head/coil on the Mini 3, and only haven't because I'm waiting on the mail for my replacements. Right now we have a 50pg/50vg blend from Vape Joose in the mini 2, and it is OH SO smooth! I love the AiV flavors so far so I'm hoping that isn't the problem...

So it boils down to this: painfully dry freakin hits. Is it the Protank 3 (dual coil vs the Mini 2's single coil)? Is it Alice in Vapeland's juices? OR, is it the old coils?

We're using about 3.8 on the ego twist with both tanks. Until we have our new atomizer heads I don't really want to put our lovely AiV samples in the other tank since we've had a very strong espresso flavor in there recently. Has anyone had problems with the Mini Protank 3? Or AiV juices? Or do dying atomizer heads always produce dry hits like this?

Thanks folks!

 

[stevegmu]

I can't imagine it is the juice. All of the AIV juices I have vaped- which is pretty much all of them, wick well. You said your coil/wick is overdue for replacement. Have you tried washing it?

 

[Cchalesse]

I vape AiV too. Also have never had a wicking problem. I second the washing it out. Maybe it just needs to be taken apart and put back together?

 

[MaraF]

What is the best method for washing out wicks? Soaking in alcohol? Sorry, lol, kind of new to the scene. I'm glad to hear it's not the juice. Do you guys use a single or double coil with your PV? I've taken the whole thing apart between each flavor I've tried but haven't really washed out the wicks just rinsed them with hot water. I'm almost wondering if I got a knock-off tank at this point; it's been really disappointing compared to the Protank 2 Mini we have.

 

[Susan~S]

If you want better performance out of your Kanger coils I suggest you periodically clean AND dry burn them. When they finally don't work well (or at all) replace them (but save the non-functioning ones). You may at some point want to learn to rebuild them.

How to Clean & Dry Burn... Kanger ProTank II & Mini ProTank II, Protank 2 Tutorial
Mini Protank Micro Coil Rebuild

 

[MaraF]

If you want better performance out of your Kanger coils I suggest you periodically clean AND dry burn them. When they finally don't work well (or at all) replace them (but save the non-functioning ones). You may at some point want to learn to rebuild them.

How to Clean & Dry Burn... Kanger ProTank II & Mini ProTank II, Protank 2 Tutorial
Mini Protank Micro Coil Rebuild

Thanks! Holy cow there was such a lump of crud on my coils that I didn't even realize I was looking at them at first. I also had a ton of wick bits floating around where they don't belong which I'm sure didn't help. After two rounds of burning and rinsing I'm still getting an awful taste (the way it smells when I'm dry burning the dang thing) BUT the vapor production was GREAT for the two disgusting puffs I took. Definitely going to keep that trick in my back pocket, though with the wick completely falling apart I this this one is toast. The biggest lesson I've learned is not to order from FastTech haha...that name is NOT accurate! Gonna suck it up and get some overpriced replacements down the street. Very glad to have taken one apart though; I plan on making the next round last longer.

 

[danny4x4]

I haven't tried a factory coil in a long while. Decided to try one in a kanger mini 3. Performance was stellar. Used it for 2 weeks without any dry hits or leaks. I decided to pop in a new factory head and was terribly let down. Dry hit after dry hit.

Turns out that the wicks weren't fully touching the coils. So it's a hit or miss affair with factory coils.

Since you can see some of the silica floating in your tank, it's likely you'll get dry, hot hits. You might be drawing/sucking too hard on the clearo, causing the silica to be dislodged. Or it might just be that that particular coil was not making full contact with the silica. Hence the silica falls out easily.