Intro
As a vaper, you may have experienced a few unpleasant, burnt hits (also known as dry hits) and you may be wondering how or why this occurs. There are a few potential causes for this and generally, it is to do with the coils in your tank.
Before we get into it, you will need to understand how a coil works and why your coils may be giving you a burnt taste.
Understanding what a coil is
First of all, the coil is your heating element within your tank or atomizer. Your battery within you vape mod will transmit an electrical current to heat the coil up. Around your coil will be some wicking material (usually organic cotton), and as you heat the coil it will begin to vaporise the e-liquid that has been saturated within the cotton.
You generally would get a burnt hit when the wicking material is dry or has some dry spots due to the cotton not being saturated completely. However, you can still get a burnt hit even when you have a full tank of e-liquid. This is where you need to ensure that you have correctly primed your coils.
To prevent your coils burning out you will need to ensure that your wicking material is kept saturated by e-liquid. This means that you shouldn’t dry burn your coils from new as this will ruin the wicking material causing it to not hold the e-liquid efficiently and you will get a constant taste of burning.
5 ways to stop your coil from burning
1.Prime your coils before vaping
It is very important to always prime your coils before you start vaping. Priming means placing a couple of drops of e-liquid onto the coils and wicking material.
How much do I prime it?
You should be priming your wick enough so that it looks wet, but not completely soaked. This could lead to some e-liquid leaking out of the tank. Over-saturating the cotton can cause the coil to become flooded which may cause leaking both instantly and further into the lifespan of the coil.
A common problem is that users may still get a burning taste even after priming. This normally occurs with atomiser heads. When the user tries to prime it, they’re most likely just putting in a couple of drops where they can just see the wick. In order to do it properly, you will need to drip e-liquid on the wick and also around the coil making sure it is fully saturated.
But priming is not just putting e-liquid onto your wick. You also need to take primer puffs to ensure the correct flow of juice to your coils. By taking primer puffs you are making 100% sure that your coils are primed and you should get no dry/burnt hits. To take primer puffs simply inhale without pressing the fire button and if possible cover the airflow slots: take a few puffs on your device, as if you were vaping. This will absorb the e-liquid into the wick faster. Just take care when you do this as too many puffs or pulling too hard can flood your coil.
2.Stop chain vaping
Chain vaping simply means continuously vaping one puff after another. By doing this, you are drying out your wick quicker than the e-liquid can re-saturate. You need to ensure that the wick is constantly saturated in e-liquid to avoid dry/burnt hits.
A way of knowing when you are about to experience a dry hit is by how much flavour you can taste when you vape. When the flavour fades, the wick isn’t holding enough juice and you will risk burning your coil.
3.Reducing the power settings
Vaping at the correct wattage is very important, and everyone has their own sweet spot so it can be a matter of trial and error. Most manufacturers now suggest an optimal range of wattages for certain coils, making it more user-friendly if you don’t know much about vaping.
Consider the resistance of the coil you are using, as some are advised to be vaped between certain wattages. If you are vaping at too low a wattage you are going to end up flooding your coils, and if you vape too high you can burn it out.
By lowering the power you will vaporise less juice, thus reducing the risk of burning out and prolonging coil life. If you are vaping at higher wattages, yes, you are getting more cloud and sometimes more flavour from your e-liquid but you are also drying out your wick quicker. This is similar to chain vaping as you need to allow time for your wick to re-saturate with e-liquid.
4.Keeping your tank topped up
Vaping from a tank and an RDA are similar in some ways, you are not going to vape from your RDA without checking how much e-liquid is left on your wicks, are you? When vaping from a tank, you need to do something similar, by ensuring that the juice level doesn’t go below the juice wicking holes. Below this, your wicks will not be effectively saturated with e-liquid and you may end up burning your coils.
A simple solution is to ensure that your tank is always as topped up as possible. Alternatively, you can tilt your tank from one side to another to ensure that the juice is going into the juice hole but let’s be honest, “ain’t nobody got time for that!”
5.Temperature control
This function is able to detect changes in resistance that occur when certain coil materials are heated up. TC devices such as the UK ECIG STORE One Box Mini which allows you to set a maximum temperature for your coil. When it reaches this temperature, the e-cig regulates the power delivered to the coil preventing it from exceeding the set temperature. This can be slightly complicated for a beginner vaper, but once you get it going, it works pretty well!
On some devices, you can also set the wattage - determining how quickly it will reach maximum temperature. When your tank has no liquid inside, the device will prevent the user from firing it up. Temperature control only works with certain wires such as Nickel, Titanium and Stainless Steel Coils.