Perfect timing to ask! i had a suspicion that it could have been air causing this to happen, and i may have confirmed it today. i pulled a tank out (one i had known to leak) and there was a BIG air bubble in there; plenty of fluid. it hadnt started to leak yet. just to see what would happen, i shook the tank lightly to the side. the bubble popped, and most of the fluid (little less than a ml, i think) shot to the floor. at least it didnt happen in the atomizer.
so seems to me that the fluid leaks out of the hole. i havent seen any run into the battery well or out of the threaded end of the atomizer. i must credit you, while the leaking tanks are a problem, the atomizers can stand up to it quite well. it just gets messy turning them upside down when theyre flooded, as should be expected.
thanks much for your concerns, alex. i hope you guys figure out whats wrong!
I think you have air getting in somewhere else. I have the clear tanks from TW. So you can see everything that is going on with the liquid and bubbles. The section that holds the fluid should not leak if held level. Pressure will hold the liquid in. Air has to get in to displace the liquid. Maybe the cap on the bottom of the cart is compromised.
As far as leaking issue, I think alot of the issues are condensation inside the cone rather than fluid leakage. A simple solution to this is to clean out the atomizer as needed. With the clear carts, you can see exactly what is going on. The tip where the vapor comes in has a little compartment that will sometimes fill with liquid after prolonged use, usually after the atomizer has processed 4 to 6 mL of liquid. If you have the clear carts, you will notice that the liquid that seeps into the mouthpiece is darker than fresh liquid, or the liquid in the tank. Since the inlets for the vapor are on the side, condensed vapor will build up and get sucked into the mouthpiece. Also, that condensed vapor will run down the cone, pass through the atomizer chamber and out the hole and around the threads and battery contact. (Or out the air inlets on the base of the cone).
I haven't dissected one of of these atomizer cones yet, because the two I have are still working great. I have more ordered, so soon. Regular rinsing or air blasting will prevent this condsation effect from happening. The wicks on 510 can hold back a significant volume of liquid. As the liquid is vaporized and recondenses, it gets thicker and darker. The heavier, thicker liquid settles into the wicking material of the atomizer and the newer lighter fluid rests on top. With more and more build up of thicker liquid, you will have leaking. Your atomizer in a sense becomes plugged up and flooded, because the condensed liquid is harder to vaporize. As you use the device, it tries to pull the new liquid through, rather successfully, but processes less in to vapor because the build up is not vaporizing as well. So you are just pulling more liquid on to more liquid with less efficient vaporizing, resulting in flooding.
Moral is clean you atomizer regularly. I vape about 4-5mL a day. So I clean mine daily with a hot water rinse. I blow out the excess water and rerinse. The wipe dry with a paper towel tip on both ends. Blow from the top and hold a paper towel tip and the battery contact end to wick out excess water. If you are still getting dark staining on the paper towel. Repeat the processes. A quick dry burn will prevent excess corrosion from building up on the heating coil. The whole process takes about 2 minutes, if that.
