When to clean your RBA's coil/wick and how to do it?

[Lhartman89]

The title pretty much sums it up. I have an AGA-T+ and and AGA-T2 and was wondering when you should clean your SS wick and coil and how to do that? Should I just do a dry burn? Should I eventually take the wick out and boil it? How often are you guys cleaning yours and what are tell tail signs it is time? I am guessing low vapor and flavor production. This might be good for other people new to rba's. I tried to search for a thread similar to this and fond nothing. Thank you for any input/experiences you have to share.

 

[vanillagurilla]

When I vape my tank just about dry I will hold my mod vertically and dry burn it untill the coil glows even again then fill it back up and vape away!

 

[Jimmyhat]

I clean my set up every 2 tanks. The way I do it is I take the wick out and run it under water then I use my mouth and blow on the wick to get the water, juice and debri out, I repeat this about 4 times. While the wick is out I rinse the atty with water if possible. I then dry burn the coil and blow on it to make sure all the gunk is off of it, I repeat this 3 times. I then reinsert the wick, make sure all the hotspots or shorts are out, fill it up and vape away. It's like a brand new wick and coil after I clean it this way. There is a catch with this method however, it can really only be done if you set up your wick and coil with the petar k method or something similar otherwise if your wick isn't able to be removed then vanillagurilla's way will work best without taking your gennie fully apart and risk messing up the coil.

 

[KraKsX]

I clean my set up every 2 tanks. The way I do it is I take the wick out and run it under water then I use my mouth and blow on the wick to get the water, juice and debri out, I repeat this about 4 times. While the wick is out I rinse the atty with water if possible. I then dry burn the coil and blow on it to make sure all the gunk is off of it, I repeat this 3 times. I then reinsert the wick, make sure all the hotspots or shorts are out, fill it up and vape away. It's like a brand new wick and coil after I clean it this way. There is a catch with this method however, it can really only be done if you set up your wick and coil with the petar k method or something similar otherwise if your wick isn't able to be removed then vanillagurilla's way will work best without taking your gennie fully apart and risk messing up the coil.

every two tanks, wow... now i wonder more about whats avg. With SS, i would expect much less maintenance once setup

 

[Jimmyhat]

every two tanks, wow... now i wonder more about whats avg. With SS, i would expect much less maintenance once setup

I use all vg liquids so my wick and coil gunk up pretty quickly. I'm also .... haha, I like my setups to run perfect all the time so I tend to be a little overboard with cleaning and maintence but to me it pays off to spend a little more time

 

[KraKsX]

I use all vg liquids so my wick and coil gunk up pretty quickly. I'm also .... haha, I like my setups to run perfect all the time so I tend to be a little overboard with cleaning and maintence but to me it pays off to spend a little more time

Sweet, going off what you say, id do once a week, because i want that same thing, but im not as ....
also once a week gives me a day that ill do all ecig cleaning, regardless of how many tanks i use...

its still awesome to know

 

[Rule62]

I rarely take my Gennys apart. When I see that the coil looks a little gunked up, I dry burn, with my device laying horizontal, so that the whole wick dries out at the same time. Once the gunk on the coil turns to an ash, I gently brush the ash off with a little Dentek brush. You can get them at any drug store, in the tooth care section. As I'm dry burning, I look at the coils, and adjust, if necessary. How often I do this depends on the juice. Some juices gunk up quicker than others.

 

[Thrasher]

i do like rule but after the dry burn i force water through the wick with a syringe in the fill hole with the atty tilted to kind of power wash the wick a bit. maybe around 4-5 days or when the buildup gets nasty. (70/30 pg/vg here) i notice since switching to unoxy wicks it takes longer to get gunky.

 

[budynbuick]

every two tanks, wow... now i wonder more about whats avg. With SS, i would expect much less maintenance once setup

It doesn't take long at all. I dry burn every 2 tanks & twist wick out & clean about once a week. I use a tank a day.

 

[daventura]

budynbuick...4480/64 = 70 analogs a day?

3 and a half packs?

Damn.

 

[overall]

I use clear juices 70/30 pg/VG and only have to dry burn my coils every few weeks. I get very little build up with my DIY juices. When I do need to clean I remove the wick and dry burn the coil. Then I use a soft baby toothbrush on the wick. Roll the wick on a piece of paper towel then reinsert. I just use a quick jack frost to oxidize my mesh and avoid over torching as this will leave me with nasty black gunk in my tank.

 

[Rymarski]

I use clear juices 70/30 pg/VG and only have to dry burn my coils every few weeks. I get very little build up with my DIY juices. When I do need to clean I remove the wick and dry burn the coil. Then I use a soft baby toothbrush on the wick. Roll the wick on a piece of paper towel then reinsert. I just use a quick jack frost to oxidize my mesh and avoid over torching as this will leave me with nasty black gunk in my tank.

I have a similar situation. Have been vaping only lighter juices and a higher VG %.

Just curious, so far my wick is tasting great and I have been using the same coil and wick for about a month. When do you guys know when it's time to change the wick and coil?

 

[Thrasher]

i usually change it when cleaning wont bring back the performance, hits seem lighter, wicking gets crappy etc. the coil? i leave it till i either destroy it or it pops. usually i mess it up playing more then i need to lol

like the others i use a lighter juice, and my two current wicks are weeks old and show no signs of problems as of now.

 

[Rymarski]

i usually change it when cleaning wont bring back the performance, hits seem lighter, wicking gets crappy etc. the coil? i leave it till i either destroy it or it pops. usually i mess it up playing more then i need to lol

like the others i use a lighter juice, and my two current wicks are weeks old and show no signs of problems as of now.

This lol. Playing to much with the coil or wick and then you have to change it!

I really want to try 28g coming from 32g but right now it is tasting great still.

 

[TheToxic_jon]

I usually replace coil everytime I clean a wick. about once a week, but I go threw alot of juice in a day.

 

[st0nedpenguin]

I vape it until it stops working or falls apart then toss a fresh one in.

I'm not faffing about cleaning a 20c piece of mesh and wire.

 

[CountSmackula]

I do it this way now. Whenever the juice starts to taste funky - maybe every third tank or so. (Fruit flavors @ 50/50)

I've got one of those 'instant' hot water dispensers in my sink. It puts out water @ about ~195° F. I flush the tank & wick out with two 10ml syringes full through the fill hole. Then I turn the atty upside down & force two 10ml syringes of air through it. Burn it dry (until the wick doesn't sizzle) & then refill. A few good tokes & the flavor is back where it belongs.

i do like rule but after the dry burn i force water through the wick with a syringe in the fill hole with the atty tilted to kind of power wash the wick a bit. maybe around 4-5 days or when the buildup gets nasty. (70/30 pg/vg here) i notice since switching to unoxy wicks it takes longer to get gunky.