Black/gunk on coil, what's causing it.

samed23 · Apr 7, 2015

My equipment: Subtank Mini and IPV mini 30W

Coils: Kanthal 26g, 3mm, 5 wraps, coils touching, 1.0-1.1 resistance.

Juice: I've used Epic Clouds "Doughnut Pounder", Cyclops "Colossus", and The Vapor Hut "Strawberry Fields"

What in the world am I doing wrong to gunk up the coils. This one is less than 12 hours old and I've burned about 6ml of juice. If I take the wick out and dry burn it and dip put it in water, all that black gunk comes right off. It happens with all of those juices. I stay at 21 watts. Any ideas?

ej1024 · Apr 7, 2015

U have to go lower in wattage, subtanks are at best with low watts, 10-15 slow long draw... 21 watts? Unless you let it rest for half an hour it will be good, U CANT CHAIN VAPE ON SUB TANKS
BIGBOYVAPER

samed23 · Apr 7, 2015

Oh wow ok. I haven't been taking long pulls at 21 watts. Usually about 3 seconds. Do you think I was cooking the liquid and that was the gunk?

zaroba · Apr 7, 2015

Doesn't really have anything to do with using a subtank specifically.

Pulling the wick and firing the coils to red hot to burn off the gunk is called 'dry burning' and many RDA/RTA users will tell you they do it anywhere from weekly to several times a week. It's basically the sugars in the VG/PG caramelizing on the coils due to the heat, juice drying on the coils when left unused for a while, and residue from other ingredients in the ejuice your using.

Useing a lower wattage to slow down the gunk build up would work, but then you wont get as much flavor, vapor, or nicotine. It also depends on the juice itself. The darker the juice, the faster it will gunk up a coil. The sweeter the juice, the faster it will gunk up a coil. I have juices that can gunk up a coil and turn the cotton dark after just an hour of vaping. I have others that will let me vape for over a day without any build up.

Hey! it's just Ray... · Apr 7, 2015

My E-grips do the samething at 10 to 12w's. Wicks never gets a chance to get nasty due to needing to burn off the crusty black coils.

I come up with a little soft platic brush for dusting off the white chalky shit after I burn the coils. Burn it again and rewick. Not much choice I guess.

Valkyrie · Apr 7, 2015

its sugars from your eliquid...
think thats bad...try some liquids from nicoticket (your coils look pristine compared to coils that see some nicoticket liquids)

Hey! it's just Ray... · Apr 7, 2015

Valkyrie said:
its sugars from your eliquid...
think thats bad...try some liquids from nicoticket (your coils look pristine compared to coils that see some nicoticket liquids)

So we can run the coils (wicks and all) under hot water and get a little more time out of'em? Now that'd be the shit! I'll try it next time.

samed23 · Apr 7, 2015

Dang that sucks! Thanks @zaroba for the info. I thought it was just me. I am using the "sweeter" tasting liquids and I'm having to dry burn 1-2 times a day. Is there any particular VG/PG ratio that would help my issue? Going from 21w to 15w kills the flavor almost to the point that it's not enjoyable. Even 18w is like blah. I could care less about what size cloud I make. It's all about flavor for me.

Would yall recommend that I look into a different style of RTA or an RDA? I don't really want to drip but if i have to i'll look into that. I imagine i'll have the same problem though, right?

ej1024 · Apr 7, 2015

On a tank use 50/50 60/40 that's it...
BIGBOYVAPER

Valkyrie · Apr 7, 2015

ej1024 said:
U have to go lower in wattage, subtanks are at best with low watts, 10-15 slow long draw... 21 watts? Unless you let it rest for half an hour it will be good, U CANT CHAIN VAPE ON SUB TANKS
BIGBOYVAPER

ej1024 said:
On a tank use 50/50 60/40 that's it...
BIGBOYVAPER

wow...just wow...
kanger subtank mini rebuildable deck...max vg everydaydrips blackberry custard ... 37 watts all day long...no customization to the tank at all...
let the guy learn how to wick a coil... thats what the rebuildable section is for...learning...
buttkicker on youtube might be a good place to start for him to get his tank tamed...just sayin'
this forum is chock full of knowledgeable folk that can help...you...not so much...

zaroba · Apr 7, 2015

ej1024 said:
On a tank use 50/50 60/40 that's it...
BIGBOYVAPER

Never had trouble with using 80% and higher VG mixes in my tanks.
Full sized Nautilus and Atlantis though, so don't know if there is a difference in using them in mini tanks.

efektt · Apr 7, 2015

samed23 said:
My equipment: Subtank Mini and IPV mini 30W

Coils: Kanthal 26g, 3mm, 5 wraps, coils touching, 1.0-1.1 resistance.

Juice: I've used Epic Clouds "Doughnut Pounder", Cyclops "Colossus", and The Vapor Hut "Strawberry Fields"

What in the world am I doing wrong to gunk up the coils. This one is less than 12 hours old and I've burned about 6ml of juice. If I take the wick out and dry burn it and dip put it in water, all that black gunk comes right off. It happens with all of those juices. I stay at 21 watts. Any ideas?

That looks like alot of wick. Are you using cotton balls? You want a slight resistance when you thread the cotton but not tight.

Hey! it's just Ray... · Apr 8, 2015

Hey! it's just Ray... said:
My E-grips do the samething at 10 to 12w's. Wicks never gets a chance to get nasty due to needing to burn off the crusty black coils.

I come up with a little soft platic brush for dusting off the white chalky shit after I burn the coils. Burn it again and rewick. Not much choice I guess.

It did work for one and the other one damn near was good but I changed out the wick anyway.

ej1024 · Apr 8, 2015

zaroba said:
Never had trouble with using 80% and higher VG mixes in my tanks.
Full sized Nautilus and Atlantis though, so don't know if there is a difference in using them in mini tanks.

O yeah dude there's a big difference between kanger coils and aspire coils!!!

Cloudboss · Apr 8, 2015

Most likely you are running to high watts, another thing to make sure the cotton is expanded. If the cotton is to compact it won't wick and it will gunk up then start burning

dave/jayce · Apr 8, 2015

samed23 said:
Dang that sucks! Thanks @zaroba for the info. I thought it was just me. I am using the "sweeter" tasting liquids and I'm having to dry burn 1-2 times a day. Is there any particular VG/PG ratio that would help my issue? Going from 21w to 15w kills the flavor almost to the point that it's not enjoyable. Even 18w is like blah. I could care less about what size cloud I make. It's all about flavor for me.

Would yall recommend that I look into a different style of RTA or an RDA? I don't really want to drip but if i have to i'll look into that. I imagine i'll have the same problem though, right?

Yes it a problem that we all deal with depending on the juice being used. I make a coffee vape that does it so I have to clean it daily. For me it depends on how much I like the juice if I want to deal the quick gunking.

GrayVaper · Apr 8, 2015

Gunking is part of the game unfortunately. I ordered a spare Sub Tank Mini RBA. I keep the spare wicked and ready and carry one with me in a small 1" sq. zip baggie for quick change outs on the road if necessary due to either wick or coil malfunction. It beats doing a rebuild in the front seat of my truck.

samed23 · Apr 8, 2015

@efektt No I'm using Samurai Japanese Organic Cotton. The wicking in that picture was a little too tight, but it still moved back and forth. I have dremeled out the juice channels, so I can can use a lot more cotton than someone with factory size juice channels. It wicks like a champ even with max VG. With the factory size juice channels, max VG wouldn't wick even with minimal cotton.

I also dremeled the channels because getting the right amount of cotton with the factory juice channels was like trying to balance a pencil on a razor blade. Now I can pretty much put the wick on and in the juice channels. It makes life a lot easier. While I am new to vape building, but I build/fab things for a living.

A little update, I've been firing at 16.5w and that seems to help a lot on the gunking.

webbb82 · Apr 8, 2015

http://olympiavaporworks.com/e-juice-gunk/
Its gunk and caused by sugar based sweeteners

kingworm · Apr 8, 2015

thats the sugar and coloring and other gunk from your juice caramelizing i dont think theres really a fix for it except maybe diluting your juice or switching.

UncleRJ · Apr 8, 2015

IMHO, it's just a fact of vaping life that you just have to deal with.

Every other day or so, I take my RBA's apart, dry burn and install new wick.

Not a biggie.

zaroba · Apr 8, 2015

Look at it in a positive way.
The gunk isn't ending up in your lungs like if you were still smoking cigarettes.

Kent Brooks · Apr 12, 2015

Valkyrie said:
its sugars from your eliquid...
think thats bad...try some liquids from nicoticket (your coils look pristine compared to coils that see some nicoticket liquids)

On the "sweet scale" - our liquid is a 7-8 on a scale of 1-10. Got Cookie is a particularly bad offender (we are actually going to take it off the line for just that reason!) The rest of the liquid burns as clean as you might expect from a sweeter liquid. As VG levels increase, so does coil buildup.

Black/gunk on coil, what's causing it.

samed23

ej1024

samed23

zaroba

Hey! it's just Ray...

Valkyrie

Hey! it's just Ray...

samed23

ej1024

Valkyrie

zaroba

efektt

Hey! it's just Ray...

ej1024

Cloudboss

dave/jayce

GrayVaper

Drips in Public

samed23

webbb82

kingworm

UncleRJ

Will write reviews for Beer!

zaroba

Kent Brooks

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