Coils: Is Cleaning Really Worth It?

Hello everyone!

I did this pretty interesting experiment on using a set of coils for years.
I own a Digiflavor DROP RDA, on which I installed dual "Flat Alien Clapton" coils, each running 0.45ohm's on paper, and when measured, it was 0.21~ ohm's together.

Almost everyone says, when a coil turns black, trash it. But you can also burn the excess gunk, wash them, and reuse them a couple of times!
But what if I were to clean them all the time and vape further?

Well, after around 2 to 3 years of vaping, cleaning, and reusing the same coils, I can finally answer.

The coils are always on some kind of a flavour, even if you didn't drip a flavoured e-liquid. I ran through 20ml of pure sweetener mix juice, you still get a previous flavour, in my case which was chocolate.
The Ohm's over these years increased from 0.21~ to 0.24~ (Measured today).
The coils are always black or dark brown. Never to be cleaned like new. Each drip is full of taste, even after cleaning/burning excess off.

If you have any questions, be sure to ask!

That's all for today!  

Hi there,

so I got this idea to reuse coils. My coils are expensive and some people on Youtube reuse successfully because it saves money and works.

If you reuse your coils, HOW do you do it?

Can I use surgical spirit (and water later of course) to clean them?  

I clean the contacts of my mods about once every 2 month with a little bit of metal polish. It has been working well so far. My problem is the batteries. There are marks where the contact points of the mod touches them. Can I clean that with metal polish as well? I tried scratching them out with my fingernails but it doesn't work. If I can't use metal polish then what other cleaning agent can I use? Thanks in advance.  

I was looking for the pod for the new mesh coils for my Lost Vape Orion last week because my local shops only have the coils so far. I ordered from a place called Perfect Vape. My package arrived on Saturday and I opened it to find a strawberry banana flavored disposable device that was meant to go to New York, judging by the invoice inside. I contacted them and instead of "We're so sorry, we'll get your order out to you immediately. Can we send you a label to ship the other product back?" They wanted me to print out a label and wait for USPS to scan it before they would send me my actual order. Now, I would understand if it was something worth more than what I spent with them, but this thing lists for $4.72 on their site, which means it cost them like $2. It's going to cost them more to ship it back than it's worth. I explained that I don't have access to a printer until Thursday and I shouldn't be punished for something that wasn't my screw up. She was adamant. I then asked for a refund then. No refund until you ship it back. I finally decided this company wasn't worth any more of my time and said refund everything but the stupid $4.72 right now. She did do that. Maybe I'm being a Karen, but this seems like a stupid way to lose a customer over $5.  

Im new to external battery mods but have been vaping for 3 years and I know how to prime a coil with e-juice. I go the extra mile after I prime the coil and let it sit for a minute. Then I fill up the tank put it back together and do not touch it for at least an hour or two just to make sure. I just got my now verified as legit sigelei sobra with the moonshot 120 both of the coils from that taste like those knock off BS eBay fake coils. I started off at a very low wattage and I don't know what's wrong both coils are disgusting. It's not exactly a burnt taste or a dry taste it's like a sour off taste and I can't use them. It also makes me feel like I have something in the back of my throat. What in the heck is going on? Do these coils take awhile to become usable? They're the coils that came with the mod and I verified the mod so I assume the coils are also okay. I even went so far as to try the second coil on a different mod but with the same tank just in case the mod was frying things the very first hit. Can anyone give me an idea of what's going on so I know what I need to do and also if anyone could tell me whether or not the Cascade baby coils will fit in the moonshot 120  

I've read many of the hysterical posts about the wick material in Aspire BVC coils. But I've gotten used to all the chicken little hysterical threads on ECF over the years. In the case of Aspire BVC coils I believe the hysteria to be unwarranted. If you believe it then read no further.

I've been using a Nautilus and Naut mini for a few months now. I can afford the BVC coil replacement cost but decided as an old school vaper to try to recycle them rather than just tossing them. I realize that some have managed to rebuild them but I decided to attempt simply re-using them in stock condition. I certainly don't expect many people to adopt my method but here it is for those who might. You'll need an ultrasonic cleaner.

In retrospect my first step was likely overkill but I'll find out with the next batch. My first step was to force warm water through each coil assembly with a dental water pik. I then placed all the rinsed assemblies in a small ultrasonic cleaner having filled the tank with hot tap water. The ultrasonic cleaner was purchased a few years ago in an attempt to recycle cartos. That attempt was doomed to failure.

My inexpensive ultrasonic cleaner runs three minute cycles and shuts off. Given that I probably went through enough cycles to equal 60 minutes total cleaning cycles with 4 or 5 water changes. When the tank water started to remain clear the coils were allowed to air dry for ~48 hours.

The result is that I am vaping one of these recycled coils and the performance is identical to a factory fresh coil. The first 10 or 12 hits carried a somewhat off taste but then cleared completely. This is FWIW. YMMV.  

Tuesday will be two months since my sincere commitment to vaping.

Tonight, I dug out my stash. I cleaned two tanks, rotated a few coils into the everclear bath and topped off the other tanks for the work day tomorrow.

Then, for grins, I got out the "other" stash, the neglected one from under my desk that had been my dearest friend for 3/4 of my middle aged life.

I pulled out the (surprisingly) still fresh red pouch of American Spirit. I dropped a Zen filter and a pinch of tobacco in the Rizla paper and twisted it up.

I uncovered the ashtray. It reeked. BAD. I applied a flame and drew.

It now feels almost foreign. The draw is all wrong. the taste is south of dirty diaper. Little flecks of ash flying through the air. It's just nasty all around.

I am happy to report that I was less than half way through when I decided it was not worth my time.

For those of you still flip flopping from smoke to vapor, you really owe it to yourself to put that distance between you and the smoke just long enough for your senses to reboot. It makes a world of difference.

To quote a good friend of our community, "Smoking is dead. Vaping is the future and the future is NOW!"

Have a lovely day.

Jay  

the nautilus mini for me was a godsend, simple, repeatable, no playing around etc etc.. Well all of a sudden I have noticed the coils are different in there actions, real muted taste, very hard draw and generally last me about 2 days before they are useless. I happened upon a youtube video that mentioned they have changed the wick material, any truth to this? If so I need to change to something else because these coils are garbage comparatively speaking to the old ones.  

Recently, I developed a pretty nasty cough, and I suspect vaping, since it usually happens right after I exhale, and at night when I'm in bed, it's a LOT worse. The problem seemed to start shortly after I got my Kanger SubTank Mini, which was about 4 months ago or so. I've been using 50/50 liquid for the past year or two and haven't changed the flavor in a couple years. I've also been using the same brand for about 4 years. The cough is brutal, and sometimes it hurts and makes me feel like I have to throw up. It's a lot like that tickle in your throat you get when you have a cold.

Things I've tried to remedy this:
- Gone all the way down to 20% PG, suspecting this may be a culprit.
- Tried many different coil lengths. I've built everything from 0.3 - 1.5 ohm.
- Tried using the OCC heads that are built for the subtank mini
- Changing airflow on the tank
- Building "looser" coils
- Building coils with different diameters

None of these have fixed the cough. The last step I guess I could try is a new tank or something, but I don't really want to do that.

Also worth noting, sometimes it's completely fine. No coughs.

Any ideas?  

Hey folks,

Have been getting into vaping on temp control (DNA40) devices with Nickel Wire builds in RDAs. Does anyone have experience with cleaning these builds to extend life? You can't dry-burn Nickel Wire the way you can Kanthal so I haven't figured out a way to clean these builds other than rinsing as well as possible and rewicking.

Hate the idea of having to rebuild every time but if that is what needs to happen I'll do it.