What to do when nothing works right?

[donwuan]

Using phone to type so sorry for typos/grammar

Been vaping a few months and started out like most. Blu cigs then ego type batteries and now evic and seigli zmax v3. Been using protank, davide tank, kanger t3s, kanger evods and some smoktech dc cartotanks.

Started off using 33% vg but been using 100vg, 50/50 and 60/40 type juices recently.

Dry hits galore or very weak vaping.

Protank-tinkering like a ..... Never had a great good experience with this tank. From leakage to gargling and playing with flavor wicks is driving me crazy.

Little better with evods/t3s. Get a little better experience but eventually dry hits.

Davide Tank worked fine. Went to change coil and the bottom part wouldnt screw off. Must be strong in the process of trying to remove I bent the base. And this was with bare hands. Only lasted 2 days.

Smoktech dc cartotank. Started off great with stock carto and first 2 fills. Been chasing that experience since. Bought some boge and smoktech cartos and both perform horribly. Very inconsistent and just plain weak.

Bought a dream tank clone from classifieds and it leaked like no other. Also the zeigli zmax I bought from here is weird. Cant vape on anything past 3.7v for the most part.

So all in all things are getting frustrating. Im a chain smoker and this is not helping. What did people use before rda/rba started getting popular. Just want to puff on my gorilla juice and goodlifevapor stuff without tinkering forever.

Any help appreciated.



Sent from my SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 2

 

[degnr8]

You're going to have days like that with tanks no matter what you do. My advice would be to take up dripping so that even if you don't decide to do it full time you have a dependable fall back.

 

[ScottP]

VG is thicker and just doesn't wick as good as PG. My guess is the problems started after you moved to the higher VG concentrates. I have heard that you can thin it up a bit with a few drops of distilled water to help that.

 

[Thrasher]

What to do when nothing works right?

realized the cheap stuff is just that and got real gear.

What did people use before rda/rba started getting popular

suffer through it and tinker, play and finaggle it to work best we could.

In all honesty if the original stuff worked well much of what we have now wouldnt have been invented.

most of the rba gear you see now was invented on forums much like this one (as well as this one) by frustrated vapors who had enough of cheap junk not working. I remember when the carto tank was actually just a syringe body with orings someone threw together.. and peeps took cartos apart and stuffed them with blue foam and tea bags

 

[zulufactor]

DON'T THIN WITH WATER. Water, even distilled, can be a breeding ground for bacteria and could lead to ammonia. Get some 100% PG and thin it out with that.

 

[ScottP]

DON'T THIN WITH WATER. Water, even distilled, can be a breeding ground for bacteria and could lead to ammonia. Get some 100% PG and thin it out with that.

That kind of defeats the purpose of using 100% VG don't you think? I have head of people thinning with Vodka but I would think that would add some throat hit. I have not ever tried it though. Besides adding a couple of drops to a tank (not to a bottle) I doubt any bacteria would have time to grow before it was gone. Not to mention I doubt any living organism could survive the vaping process.

 

[Myrany]

I use 60/40 and 50/50 juices all the time in protanks, CE5s and carto tanks (and my AGA-T2s and drippers).

With carto tanks I have yet to find a prepunched carto that I did not have to add 1-2 extra punches to myself. FOr me they are dry hit and eventually fried carto without them. I never had a problem with cartos in carto tanks gurgling until summer hit. There is just something about higher temps affecting the juice. Even then they seemt o only do that to me 3-4 days in of heavy vaping so I suspect the cartos might well be at end of life and I just replace them.

Protank I never took out flavor wicks and never had a problem. Now I recoil my own so I have more control of things.

CE5's like any top coil you have to be extra careful to do the tilt and swirl with or the thick liquids we prefer will never make it to the coil. Not doing this enough is probably what is driving dry hits with top coil devices.

 

[Racehorse]

DON'T THIN WITH WATER. Water, even distilled, can be a breeding ground for bacteria and could lead to ammonia. Get some 100% PG and thin it out with that.

Ammonia is a colorless gas, not an illness.

Distilled water in eliquid is not a breeding ground for bacteria and many people are sensitive to PG.

Your post contains many errors and mis-information.

 

[DasBluCig]

READ THE INGREDIENTS of many juices:
Distilled water is already IN there!!!
NOT ALL....but MANY!!
If I had a PG allergy....I'd be a LOT more concerned about THAT than "contamination" from a few drops of H2O!!!!
VAPE ON!!! And don't sweat the small stuff!!

 

[RedForeman]

You're probably creating half your problem by chain vaping and the other half by not sticking with one thing long enough to figure out it's quirks. It can be frustrating. Good suggestions already posted.

Any solution can only feed liquid at a certain rate. You're probably vaping faster than your setup can supply the liquid, then getting dry hits. A few ways to address this. Put the PV down more frequently to let it wick. Use liquid with more PG (I use 50/50, it's been the best compromise). Punch another hole in cartos. You can get them pre-punched with two holes if you don't DIY.

Personally, I really like carto/tank setups but they're too fiddly for me. I've been using Vivi Nova top coil tanks for the past year. I use 3.2Ω heads at 4.3V. Not quite as solid a vape as the carto tanks, but way more trouble free. Pretty much fill and go. Atomizers usually go 3-4 weeks before replacing. You can just about chain vape on a full tank. Once down about 1/2 you have to refill or just give it a rest to wick more often. I've had the same two tanks in use for almost a year with no signs of problems and only a little seepage around the connector. You get that with pretty much anything.

Yes, way better than cutting up tea bags for a 510 cartridge. I hope you get it worked out.

 

[SissySpike]

Off the shelf items are made as cheaply as possible in most cases. They work ok but require some fiddling. Modded stuff highend or small quantity stuff is expensive it also requires some fiddling but usually works better. IMO the best hassle free delivery system is a carto tank but it has its learning curb also.

I missed the teabag area but we had to peel and punch our own carts when I started. Glass tanks were a rarity. and Provaris and Lava tubes were the thing. The only thing that's the same is the Provari

I have been vaping a the same dual micro coil set up on my Ithaka for 2 months now I take it to work 6 days a week 10 hrs a day. but it took me at least that long of experimenting to get to that point.

The dump and vape with no issues ever has yet to be invented.

 

[SissySpike]

Never herd of water causing ammonia or pneumonia sounds like another wives tale to me.

 

[XeniaMike]

Had this just this morning. Of course, on a Monday morning when I'm already pressed for time. Had to do a clean out and reset on all 3 of my Protanks. 2 were flooded and one was almost empty with an unvapable liquid. I have been using protanks since they came out and rarely have problems, but when I do, it hits like a storm. The best support I can offer is keep plugging away, that is all you can do. It happens, but it still beats stopping at the gas station and forking out $5 for a pack of smokes. Yesterday I had a perfect vaping day, all 3 of the aforementioned tanks worked beautifully all day and got dysfunctional overnight.

 

[Spazmelda]

100% vg is pretty thick, and can lead to wicking problems. As others have said, you can add some distilled water or high proof ethanol (vodka, PGA, etc...) to thin it out a bit, I DIY, and my normal recipes contain a percentage of vodka at 50/50 pg/vg.

 

[r77r7r]

If you don't want to thin your juice, some people just rotate 2 PV's. Dry hitting a carto works OK, yet you'll certainly need more holes punched.

 

[peterforpats]

I don't think the problem is your tanks. the problem is your technique- learn how to vape correctly. vaping isn't smoking.it is not the same thing with new equipment, it is a new thing with new equipment. learn how to draw correctly and your problems will correct themselves. I have never had a problem with any tank or any combo of juices once I learned how to vape correctly. if you don't adjust get equipment suited to your style of vaping like and rba or rda.............

 

[danny4x4]

Try this for the evods and t3s: prime it by dry sucking it gently to help the juice travel to the coil. But bear in mind that if you suck too hard, you may end up with leaks. It takes a bit of trial and error to know when and how much to dry suck.

As you progress and recoil your own coils, you'll soon discover the best way to coil and position the wicks such that you don't have to dry suck anymore. I would recommend micro coils with cotton as wicks when you decide to recoil.

Keep at it! Don't give up! Understand the intricacies and quirks of each device and you'll find it easier over time. Good luck!