Wicking issue?

[escapetovape]

Evening All,

Been a while since I've posted, since my last though the shinyitis has been strong (sooooooooo strong). However, had a bit of an issue with wicking that I can't seem to pin down as to what might be causing it.

If you look at the photos you'll see snaps of freshly wicked vs. the wick about 3 or 4 drags after wicking, and to be honest it gets waaaay worse after that. I thought it might be the coils or the juice itself, I make a point of avoiding overly sweetened juices to avoid clogging the coils, and the coils themselves are high-wire aliens running around 0.11ohm. Those coils I should add are less than 2 weeks old, and the aliens before that did the same thing after about a month.

It's bugging me because of how quickly the vape experience quickly deteriorates from a smooth "full" hit to a sensation that I can only describe as "crammed" where the flavour is bland, the cotton seems to be dense and not really be pulling much in the way of juice and wicking. You can see the discolouration showing quickly, so you can imagine after 3 days what it would look like (spoiler alert - crusty coils and hard-packed cotton).

Oh and the mod is the Kennedy Vindicator 21700 with the 25mm Atomiser. Looking forward to any feedback on this.

 

[SupplyDaddy]

Don't you clean your coils?

I do use a heavy eliquid in a few of mine, double chocolate @ about 5.5% flavors and .5% sweetener so I clean my coils about every 4 to 7 days.

From the looks of yours, you should be cleaning yours at least every 7 to 10 days.

 

[escapetovape]

Don't you clean your coils?

I do use a heavy eliquid in a few of mine, double chocolate @ about 5.5% flavors and .5% sweetener so I clean my coils about every 4 to 7 days.

From the looks of yours, you should be cleaning yours at least every 7 to 10 days.

The cleaning is a strong consistent dry burn and tightening of the screws (in case they have come loose). Those coils are less than a week old brother, and I changed out the cotton in 3 days as it was unusable. Agree with what you're saying, and for flavour reasons (with the added bonus of not clogging up coils...usually) I avoid overly sweet stuff (Botany Bay stuff anyone?)

 

[SupplyDaddy]

Commercial eliquid may have more than just PG/VG Nic and flavor, it may not matter if a sweetener is used in it or not.

So up your cleaning schedule to suit your tastes. Might also help if raise your ohms and lower your power. The wires you use have a lot of surface area and are going to get dirty and pull every little thing into those hot coils.

If your flavor is perfect for you as it is, then just clean them more often.

 

[escapetovape]

Commercial eliquid may have more than just PG/VG Nic and flavor, it may not matter if a sweetener is used in it or not.

So up your cleaning schedule to suit your tastes. Might also help if raise your ohms and lower your power. The wires you use have a lot of surface area and are going to get dirty and pull every little thing into those hot coils.

If your flavor is perfect for you as it is, then just clean them more often.

Bit hard to do in a mech mod unless I'm going with dead batteries, my question was more around the way the cotton go so black so quickly, not something that I've seen before.

 

[Dr. Seuss]

Yeah that looks more like dirty coil black than caramelized sugar from juice. Have you tried other juices to see how they end up? Have you tried a different cotton as well as making 100% sure you’re keeping the cotton fully saturated?

 

[escapetovape]

Yeah that looks more like dirty coil black than caramelized sugar from juice. Have you tried other juices to see how they end up? Have you tried a different cotton as well as making 100% sure you’re keeping the cotton fully saturated?

Thanks. I honestly didn’t think it could be a dirty coil (given how new they are).

I haven’t tried any other juices yet, got a new shipment arriving tomorrow (fingers crossed), which should give me a good idea. The flavours are all different too, so hopefully it shows a different result.

Cotton I haven’t changed yet from my standard cotton bacon, which I have a replacement in mind that I’ll be using next time - a hemp/cotton blend so maybe that will make a difference. As for juicing, yes I keep it pretty soaked and top up regularly, and I keep the batteries changed regularly too, more to avoid a weak burn (which I thought might have caused clogging, opposed to a proper burn).

 

[Tabac man]

That pic of it freshly wicked. Why are the coils that colour if they have been dry burned? I've never seen black clean coils before.

 

[puffon]

Wicks look like they are touching the copper cap and discoloring from the copper.

 

[escapetovape]

That pic of it freshly wicked. Why are the coils that colour if they have been dry burned? I've never seen black clean coils before.

Different type of coils to what I normally use. The ones in there now are an Anon build, I think (I'd have to read the tin) they're an Ni60 core, usually I'm used to seeing a blue after first wick change (with straw colours as well). Also to note that they'd been doused in juice, so I'll have to put that down too.

 

[escapetovape]

Wicks look like they are touching the copper cap and discoloring from the copper.

I think you're onto something there, the sides of the top cap are a bit black where the seals are, I hadn't thought they'd pick up anything though. Probably need to give the internal section a good polish as well.