Unusual problem with clearos - what am I doing wrong?

[TamiP]

For a couple of years, all I wanted to use were clearos (as they developed over time) and ego batteries. I finally earlier this year switched to mods and RDAs. I love my RDAs, but when out and about the constant dripping can be a relative PIA, and storing an rda can be messy when on the go too, so I invested in a few Kayfuns since they seemed all the rage, and even one orchid... I have had nothing but problems getting a decent vape on them, and a lot of burning no matter how many help videos and threads I look at. So, I decided to do a little 'retroing' and bought some T4s and a few trusty old CE6s that I used to use all the time... I figured that would solve the problems immediately. I never used to have a problem with CE6s, and the T4s looked like they'd be even better.... nope. Same problems with ALL of them, and those were factory ready, no build to cause me a problem. Did I forget some fundamental thing in the months I've been dripping? (I don't have a problem with builds and cotton with the RDAs as a rule, of course the occasional crappy build, but most are fabulous).

I even tried thinning my juices (DIY and mostly VG) with a little distilled water, and then some with a little PG, thinking maybe it was the juice I was making, even though it's the same basic recipes I'd been making back in my ego battery/clearo days... nope. I am getting a little frustrated.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[Susan~S]

What problems are you having? Dry hits and/or flooding?

 

[TamiP]

Dry hits/burning.

 

[Lessifer]

Have you tried adjusting your voltage down? Most clearos require less power than an rda.

 

[Susan~S]

Dry hits/burning usually means your wick cannot pull the eliquid fast enough to keep up with your battery. There are a couple of things you can do:

1. Dial down your voltage. This will vaporize the eliquid at a slower rate (if your battery allows you to do this)
2. Decrease the airflow, if your tank has adjustable airflow. The decrease in airflow will increase vacuum inside the tank's atomizer, which should increase the flow of juice to the wick..
3. Take a sharp draw (or two) on your drip tip (without engaging your battery). This will pull more eliquid into the coil so that it will be available when you press the battery button and take a draw.

You will get the feel of this over time and develop a sense of how often you will need to do this to avoid "dry hits".

 

[TamiP]

Thanks, I'll try, but the problem is, I'm even having trouble on my old ego batteries as well with them. That's when I got really frustrated. If it had been something I was doing with one of the mods it still should have worked like the ones I used to use on the egos. ?

 

[TamiP]

THANK YOU GUYS. Problem solved! (does not answer why they wouldn't work on the old egos, except maybe it is the ego fault on that one, haven't really used them in months). Turning down the volts (down to 3.7 worked!!!)

 

[Lessifer]

Thanks, I'll try, but the problem is, I'm even having trouble on my old ego batteries as well with them. That's when I got really frustrated. If it had been something I was doing with one of the mods it still should have worked like the ones I used to use on the egos. ?

Is your draw technique different now that you've been using rda's? Remember with the clearos you want a light slow draw.

 

[TamiP]

Yeah, I did think to readjust my draw and I wasn't expecting the same hit as I get with the great RDA hit, but I wasn't getting ANYTHING before.

Also, do you guys think that might have been the problem I was having with the kayfuns as well? I'll have to dig them back out. I got tired of trying with those due to almost the same problem. I was actually getting some vapor with them, but the quick burn was aggravating as heck with them too.

 

[Lessifer]

Yeah, I did think to readjust my draw and I wasn't expecting the same hit as I get with the great RDA hit, but I wasn't getting ANYTHING before.

Also, do you guys think that might have been the problem I was having with the kayfuns as well? I'll have to dig them back out. I got tired of trying with those due to almost the same problem. I was actually getting some vapor with them, but the quick burn was aggravating as heck with them too.

The usual suspect for kayfun dry hits is the wicking. If you were using cotton wicks, sometimes it's as simple as having too much cotton in the coil, choking it. You want just enough for slight resistance when pulling it through, but not enough so it distorts the coil, and not too loose so that it slides without resistance. You also want it just laying on the deck, not in the juice channels. Even with that I always had to do the occasional pull with my finger over the airhole to help suck some juice into the chamber. That being said, too much power will give you dry hits as well. Delicate balance between coil/power/wick/airflow, I find kayfuns want less power than an rda, since there's not as much airflow.

 

[Frenchfry1942]

I had the dry hits on my first Kayfun, too. Read things and tried things, but, what worked was finding the airflow balance. I wanted big billowy hits and so left the airflow way open. Well, instead of drawing juice through the wick, I was getting only, non-billowing, air.

Its a great hobby.

 

[TamiP]

The usual suspect for kayfun dry hits is the wicking. If you were using cotton wicks, sometimes it's as simple as having too much cotton in the coil, choking it. You want just enough for slight resistance when pulling it through, but not enough so it distorts the coil, and not too loose so that it slides without resistance. You also want it just laying on the deck, not in the juice channels. Even with that I always had to do the occasional pull with my finger over the airhole to help suck some juice into the chamber. That being said, too much power will give you dry hits as well. Delicate balance between coil/power/wick/airflow, I find kayfuns want less power than an rda, since there's not as much airflow.

Thanks, I'll have to dig them out and give them another shot re-checking my build quality, and lowering the power down to about the same level as I'm using for the
CE6s (the T4 I ordered is still not working, that might just be a bad clearo though... if just one of them hadn't been working before I wouldn't have thought much of it, but all of the ones I ordered were not doing anything.)

Thank you so much everybody. I'm very happy

 

[TamiP]

I had the dry hits on my first Kayfun, too. Read things and tried things, but, what worked was finding the airflow balance. I wanted big billowy hits and so left the airflow way open. Well, instead of drawing juice through the wick, I was getting only, non-billowing, air.

Its a great hobby.

With the kayfuns it could be this as well. I was kind of expecting to get more thank to the adjustable air and had them wide open. Perhaps I was just asking too much of those.