When to top up juice?

[Hbuddha]

Hello, I started vaping yesterday. I am not convinced that I should 'top up the juice as and when I can see it finish'. Looking to get good flavor and to extend the coil life as much as possible.

With my basic understanding, if the cotton is not soaked in juice then the wic/coil is going to burn the cotton, right ? So based on that, my understanding is I should top up my juice when the juice reaches the top most line in this pic.

But that seems to defeat the purpose of a 5 ml tank - so am clearly misunderstanding something here.
When should I be topping up my juice ?

Edit: I pasted a link from imgur to the pic, but the pic doesn't appear for some reason.
Essentially, do I need to top up my juice the moment some part of the cotton is exposed (without juice) ? Or half way through ? Or ?

 

[Frenchfry1942]

Keep the cotton always in the juice as a minimum.

Some tanks like a small amount of air in them, so...I never fill to max possible. I usually fill only to 80-90% line.

 

[Shadav]

more or less personal preference.... just make sure that you have enough juice in there to keep the wick wet....
I don't use tanks because (and well this has been several years) but almost every time my tanks got less than half full they would start leaking.... so just keep in an eye on it....or if left over night they would leak...keeping the tank upside down over night usually helped stop that...

if you let the tank run down, the first vape that you get that starts tasting off (burnt or not much flavor) then either top it off with the same juice or a new juice, keeping in mind a new juice will taste funny for the first 5 to 10 vapes until the first flavor gets completely out of the wick

 

[englishmick]

Think it depends on the tank. I have a STM and you can see the holes where the juice goes into the head, they are about 1/4" up from the bottom of the glass. On those I fill them before the juice gets close to the level of the holes. With older gear like Pro Tanks the manufacturer recommended not letting them get less than 1/3 full because the vacuum would become less effective or something.

I've always tried to stick to the 1/3 rule myself. Can't do any harm and it might help. On the other hand I've let the juice level get really low sometimes and nothing terrible happened.

You mentioned keeping the juice above the level of the cotton. Don't know what tank you have but I can't see the cotton on any of my tanks. And generally the wick picks up the juice below the level of the coil and wicks it up to the coil, so as long as juice is getting to the bottom end of the wick you should be good. If you post the name of the tank someone who is familiar with that tank should be able to give you better advice.

You could just let the juice get low and see what happens. If you go on getting a good vape with lower levels you will know you don't have to worry about it. My guess is you will be fine.

 

[bombastinator]

Assuming that’s a voopoo Uforce, you will notice the slots in the coil go all the way down to the bottom of the tank. As long as that cotton is wet it shouldn’t burn. It also wicks though, so as ong as there is juice available to the coil, once it’s wet capillary action should keep it wet. Also the cotton is pretty easy to see on that mod so as long as you keep an eye on the cotton to make sure it’s still wet you should be fine.

 

[SupplyDaddy]

Ensure you don't suck the tank dry... anywhere in between is your call.

 

[Hbuddha]

Thanks for replying guys - although I still got mixed replies
I guess I will have to burn through a few coils to see what works the best.

 

[ScottP]

But that seems to defeat the purpose of a 5 ml tank - so am clearly misunderstanding something here.

It's no different than the gas tank in your car or truck. If you read the manual it probably says you have a 19-20 gallon tank but when the gas gauge says it's empty and you fill it up, it only takes 15-17 gallons. You never get to use the full capacity and if you did there would be problems. A larger tank means you get to use more between refills, but no matter the size you still can't run it empty.

 

[ThrashNeon]

Here's your image:

 

[Katya]

Thanks for replying guys - although I still got mixed replies
I guess I will have to burn through a few coils to see what works the best.

Keep coils saturated at all times. You don't want to experience dry hits, trust me. It's very unpleasant and will ruin your coil (burn the cotton, unless you're in temperature control). It's not easy to answer yes or no without knowing what tank you're using, how your coil is wicked, how long the wicks are (do they reach the very bottom of the tank?), RTA, drop-in coil, etc. But it's generally better to be safe than sorry. Just refill when the eliquid is low. With some practice, you'll soon know when your tank needs to be refilled.

 

[ranjen617]

Rule of thumb that has worked for me and my friends whom I've told since 2013 was no less than a 1/3 tank then fill it on up!

Seems to have worked out pretty decently since then. But if you think you're going to leave the house or whether and just need to top off, go ahead and do so but leave a pocket (small bubble) of air at the top for vacuum.

 

[Hbuddha]

Here's your image:

Thanks for that. Makes it easier. So if I start vaping with this tank, then the cotton between the top line and the middle line is going to burn. Right ?

 

[Eskie]

Based on that photo I personally would refill at that point. I like my wicks kept wet, and I don't like leaving it up fate that enough will track up from the bottom to saturate the exposed cotton. Everyone is different but that's my two cents.

 

[englishmick]

Based on that photo I personally would refill at that point. I like my wicks kept wet, and I don't like leaving it up fate that enough will track up from the bottom to saturate the exposed cotton. Everyone is different but that's my two cents.

Yeah. Looks like the exposed cotton is wrapped around vertical coils. They are high wattage coils so they could dry out quickly, I wouldn't want to rely on wicking to get juice up to the top of the coils fast enough to keep them wet.

 

[wackygt]

That looks like a Voopoo U2 coil. My other half found that she goes through one every 3-5 days despite not letting the liquid level drop below the wicking ports.

As others have said it's personal preference but I personally refill before the cotton is exposed. And if that is a U2 coil I would look at maybe replacing it with one of the Voopoo N series coils or a Fireluke Mesh (not pro) coil as in my experience they last longer and give better flavour. This is assuming I have identified your tank correctly.

Just my 2 cents of course

 

[QcVaper]

Back when i used tanks, i topped it up whenever it was on the cotton holes (where it absorbs the liquid basically)
Never had dry hits or any issues that way, then again you could probably go lower or not wait that long.

 

[Coyote628]

Thanks for that. Makes it easier. So if I start vaping with this tank, then the cotton between the top line and the middle line is going to burn. Right ?

No. When you vape the tank dry, the wick will burn. If that were mine, id fill it back up but its nowhere close to burning your wick yet.

 

[ranjen617]

Thanks for that. Makes it easier. So if I start vaping with this tank, then the cotton between the top line and the middle line is going to burn. Right ?

Definitely no less than that. I'd stay above the cotton myself. Once you get to that line, fill up or you start running a real risk of burning the cotton. Especially on longer puffs and higher wattage.

 

[ranjen617]

That looks like a Voopoo U2 coil. My other half found that she goes through one every 3-5 days despite not letting the liquid level drop below the wicking ports.

As others have said it's personal preference but I personally refill before the cotton is exposed. And if that is a U2 coil I would look at maybe replacing it with one of the Voopoo N series coils or a Fireluke Mesh (not pro) coil as in my experience they last longer and give better flavour. This is assuming I have identified your tank correctly.

Just my 2 cents of course

Those coils didn't work out for me even whenever I put pin holes in them. Just the way the Uwells are. Fireluke's are preferred here. Much better.

Also whenever you change out coils you want to run a lesser temp/watt for a few puffs and increase in increments. That's another little trick. The higher the watt the quicker the burnout, not sure what she's vaping on but that could be a culprit as well.

I build but whenever I first got the tank on a kit mod I used it until I ran out of coils, then retired the atty. Something I just do since I'm one to build my own coils.

My thinking is I didn't get one of the Uwells much over a week and that was using the mod with others.

 

[DaveP]

I usually wait until my tank liquid level is approaching the bottom of the chimney before filling unless I'm about to leave the house for a while. Then, I top it off. I also carry a ziplock in my vehicle with a 10ml bottle of juice, a spare 18650, and a mini screwdriver just in case I get tied up away from home for longer than I thought. When I smoked, I could pull over anywhere and buy a pack. Not so with vaping.

As long as the juice ports in the bottom of the chimney are covered, juice is still being delivered to the coil deck. Once you tip it up and uncover one of the chimney ports juice flow diminishes.

More liquid in the tank is better for vape quality. There's nothing wrong with topping off a tank when it's half full, IMO.