Top fill anti-leak technique found

[Firecrow]

I'm not sure if its been posted before but I am putting it out there.

I've been struggling with top filling a kayfun 3.1 clone and I was down to leakage out of the drip tip. I've tried a few things and I've come up with a simple method that works every time.

Saran wrap/plastic wrap - remove the drip tip, take a piece of wrap, make sure its cut oversize in proportion to the drip tip seating hole, lay it flat over top and press the drip tip back in, pinching the wrap between the drip tip and the seating hole and push the tip back in. This seals the chimney. Then follow the normal refilling techniques. Once done, remove the tip and the wrap, reinsert the tip and vape-on.

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Note: this just shows placement - when filling for real you probably will be holding it, covering the airholes at the base with your thumb.

No fuss, no muss, no liquid loss.

 

[twall]

Hmm. I thought top fill on a 3.1 meant taking the top off and dumping juice in, then screwing the top back on, and then emptying the condensation cup. That's how I do it. Don't understand what the tip has to do with it.

I could just be doing it all wrong.

 

[Frenchfry1942]

Me either. Don't forget to pressurize.

 

[twall]

Me either. Don't forget to pressurize.

LOL. "Pressurize". That was cute.

 

[Firecrow]

Found a video on how I do it to get the pressure (vacuum).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Fy3ptjro4k fast forward to 1:25

In addition to covering the airhole, I also cover the air regulation screw so there is no possibility of air getting in via it either.

When you screw the top in upside down it pushes air out the airhole and when you flip it, the weight of the juice and liquid surface tension don't allow it to drain out the airhole.

It took me a few tries to get this right - don't give up - I was ready to bin the Kayfun until I finally figured it out.

Hope that helps.

 

[twall]

I like that glass tank. However, I just fill it, put the top on and dump the condensation cup back into my bottle, then vape it. If I really dilly dallyed, I may have a gurgling hit or at most, two. Two lung hits will build the normal vaccum. Going by supercharger/turbocharger definitions, you either have vaccum, or pressure (boost). Perhaps the semantics are different for the vaping world. That's why I thought the term "pressurized" was being cheeky. To pressurize it, you would have to blow into the tip.

Glad your system works for you.

 

[Firecrow]

I like that glass tank. However, I just fill it, put the top on and dump the condensation cup back into my bottle, then vape it. If I really dilly dallyed, I may have a gurgling hit or at most, two. Two lung hits will build the normal vaccum. Going by supercharger/turbocharger definitions, you either have vaccum, or pressure (boost). Perhaps the semantics are different for the vaping world. That's why I thought the term "pressurized" was being cheeky. To pressurize it, you would have to blow into the tip.

Glad your system works for you.

Admittedly its not the only method, but with this HeatVape clone, I was having stupid amounts of liquid coming out the drip tip, and I am cheap, I don't like loosing liquid. I found with this minor adjustment to the standard technique shown on many YouTube videos, it completely eliminates the tip discharge and there is no gurgling or adjustment time - it just works right on the first draw with no liquid loss.

I don't know what the word is but this common design relies on negative pressure above the liquid line within the tank. Its the only thing that stops liquid from flowing out the air hole at the bottom of the tank. As long as that negative pressure is held, the liquid stays in the tank until a greater negative pressure is supplied via inhalation, which draws the liquid into the vaporizing chamber.

This would be dead simple if they simply designed it with a bottom fill screw hole, but with the Kayfun 3+ design, the expanded base has an air chamber taking up the entire diameter of the base - I suppose this helps with air supply as it seems to be a preferred design element in the Kayfun 4 as well as many other RTAs going forward - negating a bottom screw hole fill method.

Can't wait to get my hands on a Kayfun 4 - looks like they went to a lot of trouble engineering a bulletproof top fill method so long as you follow the fill instructions on isolating the air feed system while filling.

 

[twall]

Agree on the K4. I want one.

The term should actually be "depressurizing" since we want negative pressure - a vaccum. I know this is splitting hares, but I try to be precise in my terminology.

Where did you get that glass tank?

 

[twall]

Ahh, I see now. To get your vaccum, you flip it upside down, and thus your juice loss. I simply endure a wet hit or two. Totally get where you are coming from now.

We just have two different techniques.

They couldn't put a direct bottom fill in the 3.1 because of the condensation cup. The lite did away with the cup, and does have a direct bottom fill screw, like a Fogger.

Sorry for the misunderstanding, man.

 

[Frenchfry1942]

I like that glass tank. However, I just fill it, put the top on and dump the condensation cup back into my bottle, then vape it. If I really dilly dallyed, I may have a gurgling hit or at most, two. Two lung hits will build the normal vaccum. Going by supercharger/turbocharger definitions, you either have vaccum, or pressure (boost). Perhaps the semantics are different for the vaping world. That's why I thought the term "pressurized" was being cheeky. To pressurize it, you would have to blow into the tip.

Glad your system works for you.

Or screw the top back on while the air flow and AFC are covered. It is increasing pressure in the juice chamber.

 

[Firecrow]

Where did you get that glass tank?

Its actually just clear poly. I haven't seen a glass one (yet). The only Kayfun glass I've seen are ones that replace the whole tank section with the visible red or black o-rings at the top and bottom which to me is a little cluttered. If I could do away with poly I would in a heartbeat - it has no business being in a tank IMHO and I like to see the juice level so the stainless steel section is useless to me.

 

[Firecrow]

Or screw the top back on while the air flow and AFC are covered. It is increasing pressure in the juice chamber.

That forces the liquid into the vaporizating chamber, supercharging the wick until it weeps and you get the tip discharge problem. Liquid or gases always travel from high pressure to low pressure. As you screw the top back on it will push the liquid into whatever low pressure area you leave and the result is pressure equalization - something you want to avoid - you are relying on the pressure differential to keep the liquid stable in the tank. If it equalizes thats when you get flow out of the air hole.

 

[twall]

My poly center stripe stripped when I dropped it, so I am down to stainless only. Indeed, blind tanks just suck.

 

[twall]

Or screw the top back on while the air flow and AFC are covered. It is increasing pressure in the juice chamber.

Kayfuns are a vaccum system, not a pressure system. Just by using it, it creates vaccum, and that's how the juice stays put. Otherwise, pressure would pump your juice right out the AFC. Not pressure, but vaccum. Which is a LACK of pressure.

 

[Firecrow]

My poly center stripe stripped when I dropped it, so I am down to stainless only. Indeed, blind tanks just suck.

I've got so many spare parts from other Kayfun failures its a non-issue for me.

I'm thinking of swapping out this poly tank on the heat vape just to get more capacity...

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[twall]

Quite honestly, you don't need to build any kind of pressure, positive or negative. If your o rings are good, you are essentially just putting your finger on a straw. You build negative pressure by hitting it. That pulls juice up onto the deck, and the wick sops it up. That's why the o rings are so crucial. You really don't have to flip it or anything. Just hit it. It'll gurgle, because you broke the vaccum (took your finger off the top of the straw), and that floods the deck. A couple of hits takes care of it. The excess ends up in the condensation cup, which can be poured right back into the bottle, most of the time.

But, everyone has their own way of doing it, and that's all cool with me.

 

[twall]

That's pretty cool. Looks like a lite.

 

[3mg Meniere]

That would also resolve the problems I have with my bottom-fill method. No need to block the driptip hole with my finger, and no need to clear the chamber.

 

[Firecrow]

That's pretty cool. Looks like a lite.

That it is. The HeatVape gives more flavor though with the exact same nickel/cotton build - I am not sure why but I've pretty much been using the HV exclusively. I have a couple or Orchid 4's coming from Fasttech (Slowtech). Should be here in a month. I really like those, I have a V2 that hits like a hammer with Kanthal. Since I got the VS rDNA40 I've been using TC setups almost exclusively.

 

[twall]

I like my Fogger. But I do have my Kayfun all figured out. Squirrelly things. They have bested more than one good soul. My local shop won't carry them anymore, because the builder says they are more trouble than they're worth.