Cleaning & Reusing Coils

[kaynet]

Can i do that? Is it safe? I have a TFV8 Baby tank w/ (Alien 220) and the coils it came with ( 0.4 quad core & 0.15 oct core) and replacements for them but I never threw out my old ones. I saw a youtube video of people cleaning their coils and that's where I got the idea. I'm really skeptical of doing that though. I've vaped for a while but i'm still a newbie to all things technical. I don't build so I don't know my mod inside out and I don't know my limits. I need to know if it's safe and a well known thing to do. If it is okay to do I'd also like some instructions if you guys don't mind.

Thanks!

 

[The Cromwell]

Cleaning and reusing factory coils can be done but the results pretty much suck.

 

[skt239]

I tried a lot of different methods that people swear by and like Cromwell, my results were shit.

Your best bet is an RTA or RDA.

 

[Khassy]

Better just to buy an RBA deck for it. If you aren't comfortable making your own coils, you can buy premade coils for it and just wick it yourself. A lot cheaper and easier to do than trying to clean factory coils.

 

[MWorthington]

Once the cotton gets dirty in these factory coils, they're pretty much done for. No amount of cleaning will bring them back to where they were when new. I've heard of people cleaning them with vodka and getting a few more days out of em, but I've never had any luck with it. In my case they ended up being worse than before cleaning. They not only wouldn't wick, but now they leak like a screen door.

 

[BCBuch]

I've tried it several times. Basically rinsing the coil out thoroughly under a hot water tap and then plugging the air holes and blowing the gunk and water out. At best it is only half assed successful every now and then. I was trying it because of short coil life of Smok Big Baby coils. You need to keep in mind that Smok coils and tanks aren't big flavor producers. Once you clean the coils the flavor is diminished from what it originally was. My fix was buying a couple of Maganus Cloud Blasters with top airflow. The come with two coils plus an RDA.

The only coil I have successfully rinsed and reused that was really good was one of the .20 coils that came with the Cloud Blasters. I over primed and flooded it, plus had it do a long fire in my pocket because I didn't shut it off. Kind of gunked stuff up and burned some juice. I rinsed it and blew it out several times and then let it sit for over 24 hours to completely dry out. It recoverd to about 95%. I was only on my second tank though it so not all of damage had been done other than some burnt taste now gone.

If you are going to Smok through one of their tanks then be prepared to spend some money on coils. I like my Smok mods. I hate the tanks and coil systems that came with them.

 

[CJ-3]

When I was using the TFV4 I could rinse a cool to get 3 or 4 more days out of it if I was out of new replacements. It will certainly get you through but not something I personally would want to do on a regular basis.

 

[Canadian Vaper]

Once cotton gets wet the structure changes so if you clean them with something that isn't ejuice, then dry them out completely they will be prone to leaks and hot spots, only thing I can think of is to clean them with an ultrasonic cleaner in PG instead of water but I don't even know if that will work, really depends how bad the cotton is burned..

Get the RBA for it and problem solved though..

 

[The Cromwell]

And it is not just the dirty cotton but the buildup on the coil wires....

Only coils that can be cleaned with any degree of success are the older silica wick coils. They can be dry burned and soaked to clean them.

 

[Misfit47]

The cotton breaks down to mush. You can't heat the coils hot enough to burn them clean without torching the cotton. Get the rba and be done with it.

 

[MWorthington]

The cotton breaks down to mush. You can't heat the coils hot enough to burn them clean without torching the cotton. Get the bra and be done with it.

Bra?

 

[fozzy71]

I have never done it and wouldn't bother. Get a RTA (or 20 or 30 of em like me) and just re-wick (with rayon ftw) when the flavor goes downhill. I go 100 - 150ml per wick with rayon and usually get 3 or 4 re-wicks per SS coil with my sweetener free DIY juice.

Everybody's fave reviewer just posted a video about this:

 

[Misfit47]

Oops!

 

[Misfit47]

Bra?

Damn autocorrect! RBA! LOL

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[The Cromwell]

Bra?

Must be using a Nipple atty?

 

[Misfit47]

Ha!

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[JuicyLucy]

Must be using a Nipple atty?

Can't wait to see the bra dry burning

 

[Misfit47]

Can't wait to see the bra dry burning

True story lol!

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[The Cromwell]

I remember the wonderful days of bra burning and such.

 

[MWorthington]

I have never done it and wouldn't bother. Get a RTA (or 20 or 30 of em like me) and just re-wick (with rayon ftw) when the flavor goes downhill. I go 100 - 150ml per wick with rayon and usually get 3 or 4 re-wicks per SS coil with my sweetener free DIY juice.

Everybody's fave reviewer just posted a video about this:

I can see that working and if you had several coils to clean at once, it might be cost effective. I don't know how much the everclear costs as I haven't been in a liquor store in almost 30 years. It would certainly be cheaper than a couple of packs of tfv12 coils though.

But I agree with you. Before I'd go through all that, I'd buy a rebuildable. Or 4!

 

[Misfit47]

I've tried that and for all the trouble it wasn't worth it to me. Same with my crown 3. Instead of ordering more coils for either I bought a troll v2 and a sample pack of premade coils. Haven't looked back.

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[Khassy]

I have never done it and wouldn't bother. Get a RTA (or 20 or 30 of em like me) and just re-wick (with rayon ftw) when the flavor goes downhill. I go 100 - 150ml per wick with rayon and usually get 3 or 4 re-wicks per SS coil with my sweetener free DIY juice.

Some people really hate rayon. Most that I've talked to do. YMMV.

 

[The Cromwell]

Some people really hate rayon. Most that I've talked to do. YMMV.

Yep no Rayon for me.
Good ol American bleached non organic cotton for me.

And I vape diketones and antifreeze and charge my batteries at night with a Trustfire TR2 charger.

All truth.

 

[fozzy71]

Some people really hate rayon. Most that I've talked to do. YMMV.

I don't recall any noticeable difference in the vape/taste when I switched to rayon from cotton except for the fact I could go 100+ ml's between wick changes with rayon instead of only 30 - 40mls with cotton, and that was when using store bought juice mostly still. I will admit there is a bit longer break in period for rayon when you first put in a new wick but that can be mostly mitigated by priming and firing the wick a few extra times before you put the tank together and fill it.

 

[Letitia9]

With my 1st few tanks I rinsed and cleaned coils every 3rd day. I agree newer tank coils doesn't seem to work well. I vote rta. Serpent SMM good one to start with. Easy deck and wick to learn. Buy some prebuilt claptons and enjoy.

 

[The Cromwell]

With my 1st few tanks I rinsed and cleaned coils every 3rd day. I agree newer tank coils doesn't seem to work well. I vote rta. Serpent SMM good one to start with. Easy deck and wick to learn. Buy some prebuilt claptons and enjoy.

I clean my RBA's about every 2 weeks when I recoil.rewick.
Have not cleaned the inside of the tank for over a year I guess

I only clean a tank if changing flavors in it.

 

[Khassy]

I clean my RBA's about every 2 weeks when I recoil.rewick.
Have not cleaned the inside of the tank for over a year I guess

I only clean a tank if changing flavors in it.

Same here. I've cleaned the tanks in the ultrasonic but only when changing flavors to something completely different. Like fruity to desserty or vice versa.

 

[MWorthington]

With my 1st few tanks I rinsed and cleaned coils every 3rd day. I agree newer tank coils doesn't seem to work well. I vote rta. Serpent SMM good one to start with. Easy deck and wick to learn. Buy some prebuilt claptons and enjoy.

You mean you're supposed to clean tanks?

Seriously, I only wipe off my subohm tanks if I spill juice down the sides when I refill. The coils get tossed when they quit producing vapor.

My rda gets rinsed under hot water when I rewick and wiped off if I overdrip. My rta gets wiped off every fill because I do a crappy job of wicking and it leaks pretty bad most of the time. I'm gonna pick up some cotton bacon tomorrow and see it I can manage to wick with that.

 

[Letitia9]

I cleaned coils. I clean tanks every few weeks in usc. Mostly.

 

[BCBuch]

You mean you're supposed to clean tanks?

Seriously, I only wipe off my subohm tanks if I spill juice down the sides when I refill. The coils get tossed when they quit producing vapor.

My rda gets rinsed under hot water when I rewick and wiped off if I overdrip. My rta gets wiped off every fill because I do a crappy job of wicking and it leaks pretty bad most of the time. I'm gonna pick up some cotton bacon tomorrow and see it I can manage to wick with that.

I give the tank a hot water rinse when I change coils. The rba thing has me guessing. I will get it figured out at some point.

 

[Khassy]

I give the tank a hot water rinse when I change coils. The rba thing has me guessing. I will get it figured out at some point.

What are you guessing about?

 

[The Cromwell]

I give the tank a hot water rinse when I change coils. The rba thing has me guessing. I will get it figured out at some point.

An RBA deck is like a rebuildable coil used in place of a factory coil in a tank.
And RTA is a rebuildable tank that will not accept factory coils.

 

[Khassy]

An RBA deck is like a rebuildable coil used in place of a factory coil in a tank.
And RTA is a rebuildable tank that will not accept factory coils.

And there's the RDA, which has a rebuildable deck but not a tank, so you drip liquid directly onto the cotton.

 

[The Cromwell]

 

[BCBuch]

An RBA deck is like a rebuildable coil used in place of a factory coil in a tank.
And RTA is a rebuildable tank that will not accept factory coils.

Yep, I got that. I actually have some pre-wound coils and cotton. I just need a day to kill to figure out the wicking and stuff.

 

[Misfit47]

Yep, I got that. I actually have some pre-wound coils and cotton. I just need a day to kill to figure out the wicking and stuff.

Wicking takes all of 5 mins.

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[Letitia9]

On the other hand, might take 5 times to get right.

 

[Khassy]

On the other hand, might take 5 times to get right.

Yup, but once you get the hang of it (which doesn't take long), you can slap new wicks in pretty fast.

 

[BCBuch]

On the other hand, might take 5 times to get right.

The getting it right is what I'm working on.

 

[Raymcconn]

On the other hand, might take 5 times to get right.

Very true. I was out of cotton in my "work kit". I ran home at lunch and rewicked. Had to do one coil twice. Still was done in 15 min and back at work in no time.