Why do you have to dry your wicks?

[Train2]

I THINK it's cleared up, but just in case: "dry burning" is not burning in order to dry!
Dry burning is a method of cleaning the coil.
Drying a wick after cleaning is because water inhibits vaping.

 

[Bill's Magic Vapor]

There's only about 50 really good videos on clearos out there. Learn everything from cleaning to clearing to maintaining to rebuilding. And if you haven't watched device specific videos, you need to, as there are many tricks to keep clearos operating at peak performance, to minimize and correct flooding and leaking, to wicking alternatives, dry burning, etc. I use cotton wicks on clearos, NEVER dry burn, always allow cleaned wicks to dry overnight, and simply eliminate 99% of all clearo problems, before they occur. Also, lotsa great videos on cartomizers out there as well. I started watching Phil Busardo videos when I was new and learned everything I needed to know to use all of these toppers without the many problems I always hear described on the new member forum. Check them out on YouTube. Phil Busardo, Grimm Greene, and a host of others....all very good. Good luck and vape on!

 

[hkhailey]

That's about what I've done so far. I've got 2 tanks with juices I've settled on and another that I've been "experimenting" with.

 

[hkhailey]

Thanks Wizard, I'll check them out.

 

[fabricator4]

Anyone know if isopropyl alcohol could be used instead of PGA?

IPA is toxic because it doesn't have the same metabolic by products that alcohol does, and should never be ingested or inhaled. It does evaporate completely however, so is safe for cleaning your PV, circuit boards, and other hard surfaces provided that it is 100% evaporated.

I wouldn't use it on a wick or head, simply because of the extra difficulty of evaporating it off a wick. Presumably you want to use it to speed up the drying process.

To answer the OP, drying is useful because it makes the subsequent process whether it be dry burning or adding e-liquid much easier. Dry burning in particular just seems to work so much better on a completely washed and dried wick.

 

[eHuman]

Water (pure) H₂O

Let's check:
Propylene glycol - C₃H₈O₂
Vegetable Glycerin - C₃H₅(OH)₃
Nicotine - C₁₀H₁₄N₂
Flavoring? Ah who knows, many contain PG as a base though.

Nope, water isn't the same.

 

[Ryedan]

I have watched loads on you tube about washing cleaning and dry burning
I can understand why cartos have to be bone dry but why dose eveyone
dry out wicks sorry if this has been asked before

I don't clean cartos, so I have no opinion on that. I used to use CE4 clearos a lot, rinsed them in hot water and dry burned often (every few tank fulls, depending on the juice). With CE4's you cant reach the wicks to dry them, but I did use short wicks. I just dry them at the beginning of the dry burn process with the coil. Takes a minute and most of the water is gone. By the time the dry burn is done, the wick is completely dry. The whole process takes me 2 - 3 minutes.

With Vivi Nova's with long wicks, which can be taken apart to access the wicks, I dry the wicks as best I can with a paper towel and then dry burn. The dry burn process evaporates what water is left in very little time.

Because I always dry burn, this works very well for me and the advantage is that it's really quick. It's not unusual for me to do a clean in 5 minutes total. If I was not comfortable dry burning, I would probably have to let the wicks dry over time, specially with long wicks because there is so much more water in them. As always, the devil is in the details and if one detail changes all bets are off

 

[WarHawk-AVG]

I've got a bit to learn. I didn't even know that you could clean a tank.

Depends on the type of tank..some tanks can be disassembled easily, making "servicing" the heads and wicks easy...other are not and the best you can do is more or less rinse them out, CE4 is a non-serviceable type head, kanger, vivi nova, CE4S+ and a myriad of other clearomizers are designed for servicing...rule of thumb if the clearomizer is a few bucks it's usually use and toss (if it lists replaceable heads...they are serviceable)...if $10 or more...they usually have replaceable coils

 

[The Ocelot]

I don't dry burn.

 

[Ryedan]

I don't dry burn.

Well, being a pirate, I can understand that the thought of a good burn is probably not the most enjoyable thing to contemplate. But it's different for the rest of us land lubbers, LOL

 

[Vapeaddikt]

If your on silica or Eko-wool then just dry burn it to dry it. You don't "have" to per so to speak but it's not like it hurts it.

 

[basc]

Depends on whom you ask. I'm in the yes camp--provided that you use 91% Isopropyl alcohol from a pharmacy--the kind that has just alcohol and water on the list of ingredients and that you dry it thoroughly afterwards, and I mean thoroughly, or better yet, rinse with plenty of distilled water and dry thoroughly. Others disagree. Please read this thread and draw your own conclusions. http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...ropyl-alchol-cleaning-atty-4.html#post7603234

Thanks for the link. Not sure if I know more than I did before reading it, or less . Anyways, I have some 99.9% pure iso laying around so I'm gonna try it. I'm just cleaning the head/coil of a dripper RBA so it'll prolly be just fine.

 

[Katya]

Thanks for the link. Not sure if I know more than I did before reading it, or less . Anyways, I have some 99.9% pure iso laying around so I'm gonna try it. I'm just cleaning the head/coil of a dripper RBA so it'll prolly be just fine.

Remember to let it dry!!! Or rinse and dry. The 99% Iso will evaporate very quickly.

You could also use denture cleaning tablets--if you have them handy.

I used them before I got my PGA and they work great--just get the unflavored kind. Unless you like minty vapes.

 

[The Ocelot]

Well, being a pirate, I can understand that the thought of a good burn is probably not the most enjoyable thing to contemplate. But it's different for the rest of us land lubbers, LOL

And so it is! I don't like to singe my whiskers.

 

[basc]

Remember to let it dry!!! Or rinse and dry. The 99% Iso will evaporate very quickly. You could also use denture cleaning tablets--if you have them handy. I used them before I got my PGA and they work great--just get the unflavored kind. Unless you like minty vapes.

Well, I soaked the RBA - just a head and a coil - overnight and the coil was still all gunked up with charred juice. I was just trying to avoid having to rebuild every couple of days. This is a dripper, and I change juice a lot, so I do a lot of dry burning. I know silica doesn't burn, but the part of the wick inside the coil ( it's a micro-coil) becomes a solid block of burnt, crusty juice pretty quickly. It gets completely stuck to the coil so dry burning doesn't clean the coil any more. I must be doing something wrong.

 

[basc]

BTW, I split my posts into paragraphs but they keep coming out as a wall-o-text?

 

[fabricator4]

Well, I soaked the RBA - just a head and a coil - overnight and the coil was still all gunked up with charred juice. I was just trying to avoid having to rebuild every couple of days. This is a dripper, and I change juice a lot, so I do a lot of dry burning. I know silica doesn't burn, but the part of the wick inside the coil ( it's a micro-coil) becomes a solid block of burnt, crusty juice pretty quickly. It gets completely stuck to the coil so dry burning doesn't clean the coil any more. I must be doing something wrong.

I don't know, but mine come up looking like new, and taste like new too. My process:

Wash in boiling water
Air dry overnight
Dry burn
Wash in boiling water
Air dry overnight

For a dripper you usually have to forego the air drying stages and just blot them as dry as possible. Under no circumstances skip the two washes though.

There's no point trying to dry burn a wick that is covered in juice, and there's not point trying to vape on burnt ash. The first wash gets rid of juice in the wick, the second wash gets rid of the ash.

ETA: When you dry burn, do it till smoke and smell stops coming off the coil, then keep doing it until the ash stops changing colour - it usually means all the crud has been converted to ash and is ready to be washed away. Pulse the coils for about 1 second each time, or longer if they can handle it. They need to glow quite strongly, and across their entire length.

 

[basc]

I don't know, but mine come up looking like new, and taste like new too. My process: Wash in boiling water Air dry overnight Dry burn Wash in boiling water Air dry overnight For a dripper you usually have to forego the air drying stages and just blot them as dry as possible. Under no circumstances skip the two washes though. There's no point trying to dry burn a wick that is covered in juice, and there's not point trying to vape on burnt ash. The first wash gets rid of juice in the wick, the second wash gets rid of the ash. ETA: When you dry burn, do it till smoke and smell stops coming off the coil, then keep doing it until the ash stops changing colour - it usually means all the crud has been converted to ash and is ready to be washed away. Pulse the coils for about 1 second each time, or longer if they can handle it. They need to glow quite strongly, and across their entire length.

Thanks for this. Tried it your way, worked quite well. Didn't want to wait for overnight drying so I used hot air. Ended up up with nice, clean coils and it hits like new. I like this place

 

[Katya]

Well, I soaked the RBA - just a head and a coil - overnight and the coil was still all gunked up with charred juice. I was just trying to avoid having to rebuild every couple of days. This is a dripper, and I change juice a lot, so I do a lot of dry burning. I know silica doesn't burn, but the part of the wick inside the coil ( it's a micro-coil) becomes a solid block of burnt, crusty juice pretty quickly. It gets completely stuck to the coil so dry burning doesn't clean the coil any more. I must be doing something wrong.

Soaking in alcohol only goes so far--it won't remove the charred crud from the coil and wicks completely. Once your atty gets really bad, use either Fabricator's method (wash and dry burn) or you can use a torch to clean the wick and then dry burn. Either way, always rinse off the ash afterwards. Just be careful not to pop the coil while dry burning--use short bursts of power.

 

[Ryedan]

Well, I soaked the RBA - just a head and a coil - overnight and the coil was still all gunked up with charred juice. I was just trying to avoid having to rebuild every couple of days. This is a dripper, and I change juice a lot, so I do a lot of dry burning. I know silica doesn't burn, but the part of the wick inside the coil ( it's a micro-coil) becomes a solid block of burnt, crusty juice pretty quickly. It gets completely stuck to the coil so dry burning doesn't clean the coil any more. I must be doing something wrong.

So, this is a rebuildable dripping atty and you are using silica wicks and micro coils on it. I use a IGO-L with the same setup, except I use cotton or gauze wicks. Cotton doesn't last anywhere near as long as silica, but when it gets gunked up I just take the old cotton out, which is very easy, dry burn the empty coil which was wrapped over a eyeglasses screw driver and use that screw driver to clean out the hole in the coil. Then I put fresh cotton in the coil. It's really quick. I was having to do it every couple of days with cotton though so I tried gauze and that lasts a few days at a time. I have not replaced the coil for over a month now and I suspect it will last a lot longer. I never wash the RDA, just wipe with a Q-tip when I re-wick.

You can't dry burn this, so would have to change juice without doing that. I have done it and find the juice change only takes a few drags to complete if you dry the wick with a Q-tip first, but YMMV on that.