Any way to avoid popping due to mix, alien clapton, etc, coils?

[joe o sullivan]

So I think I've got a handle on the "physics" of popping but I'm wondering if there's any way to avoid it when the sole reason is juice seeping into the gaps of multi-wire coils?

I've made several builds using different coils from a set of Demon Killer premade coils, and it seems that the more gaps in the coil wraps, the more they pop. It's not random popping either, it's like there's always a few nasty pops when the coils heat up.
With these builds I've generally started preheating the coils with the mod far away from my face, to avoid getting my mouth blasted from the mini volcano. And, yea, it does kind of look like a volcano, usually with a few large ejecta flying as high as the ceiling!

At the moment I've reverted to building some plain 26ga single wire coils and everything is rosy with them. Just some normal light popping. No volcanoes..

Why do people make all these crazy multi-strand coils if they're just going to get their mouth blasted off every time?

Or is there some way to avoid it besides firing it off away from your face every time?

Do the air gaps between windings have anything to do with it? Should multi-wire coils be totally snug with no gaps for liquid to seep through?
Or does it depend on the type of wrapping?

 

[Rickster]

I have not experienced the pop for ages..... I think it's a wicking thing, perhaps a tad too tight.

 

[Mr Ripple]

I think this is caused by moisture.
Seems worse with anything wound with ribbon.
Leave your tank all day and it's worse for the first few pulls till the moisture has evaporated.
Not sure if juices with aqueous glycerine is worse but vg is a humascant so draws moisture naturally.

 

[harumph]

It varies. Sometimes it's the wicking (most likely causing oversaturated coil), Sometimes it's the tank (not causing it but some just are more prevalent, where you might not notice as much with a coil further away vs your mouth is virtually on it so it does.) Sometimes it's just a coil that does it. Try spacing it. Try making sure it's tight together. Put it higher. Put it lower. It's mostly going to be wicking/filling issues where it's just becoming oversaturated. Try purging it. breathe into the coil instead of out whilst heating it a few times. If this doesn't work, go for a serious purge. wrap some tissue around the airflow loosely and purge it hard. some liquid will come out onto the tissue and it should be less saturated and less popping.

It's not a guarantee with complex coils, just more likely. You can build a 4mm+ complex coil that don't spit a bit. Pretty much all of my single coilers are 4mm complex, all my dual coilers 2.5/3mm complex and I don't get very rarely get spitting in 6 different tanks and it's always fixed by purging. Once in a blue moon I'll just build a coil that spits and nothing to be done for it. but we're talking once or twice a year if that.

 

[mattyk2010]

I use multi strand coils all the time and never experience popping, try moving away from demon killer (dogshit) which are made of kanthal and get some coilology ni80 or SS coils and it shouldn't happen again and if it does turn the power up to the right level and it definitely won't happen

 

[joe o sullivan]

I have not experienced the pop for ages..... I think it's a wicking thing, perhaps a tad too tight.

I thought this initially, I'm pretty new to vaping and rtas, but the pops seem to be related to the amount of "twistiness" of my coils. Ie, with bare wire and claptons, no loud pops, but anything more twisty and it gets bad. It only happens after the coils have been left for over 30-60s or longer. For excmple, if I chain vape then it's fine.
For me, when I don't have enough cotton in between the coils it seems to spit and pop and bubble and hiss a lot more.
Maybe I just have to find the happy medium, perhaps I was forcing too much cotton through.

But, yea thanks, at least now I know it's probably just me!

I think this is caused by moisture.
Seems worse with anything wound with ribbon.
Leave your tank all day and it's worse for the first few pulls till the moisture has evaporated.
Not sure if juices with aqueous glycerine is worse but vg is a humascant so draws moisture naturally.

Yea, I've learned that they pop when left alone for a while alright. Can be a bit of a shock first thing in the morning!
But, no this seems to be over a shorter timespan, like as soon as the coils have cooled down.
Granted the last build I had issues with, I used tiger coils, with big gaping holes all over the place!

Maybe I'll stick to simpler coils until I get better at wicking.. Even if it is fun to scare the cats.

 

[joe o sullivan]

It varies. Sometimes it's the wicking (most likely causing oversaturated coil), Sometimes it's the tank (not causing it but some just are more prevalent, where you might not notice as much with a coil further away vs your mouth is virtually on it so it does.) Sometimes it's just a coil that does it. Try spacing it. Try making sure it's tight together. Put it higher. Put it lower. It's mostly going to be wicking/filling issues where it's just becoming oversaturated. Try purging it. breathe into the coil instead of out whilst heating it a few times. If this doesn't work, go for a serious purge. wrap some tissue around the airflow loosely and purge it hard. some liquid will come out onto the tissue and it should be less saturated and less popping.

It's not a guarantee with complex coils, just more likely. You can build a 4mm+ complex coil that don't spit a bit. Pretty much all of my single coilers are 4mm complex, all my dual coilers 2.5/3mm complex and I don't get very rarely get spitting in 6 different tanks and it's always fixed by purging. Once in a blue moon I'll just build a coil that spits and nothing to be done for it. but we're talking once or twice a year if that.

Yea, I had a bit of oversaturating last week alright on my first one or two builds on the Zeus Dual, lots of gurgling and spitting, but this is different, it seems totally fine except for one big pop about half a second after pushing the button. And it was totally predictable, I'd know the split second when it was going to pop. Same time, every time.

Yes I've done a bit of purging alright, the first time I didn't really think i through and just sprayed crap everywhere and filled the room up with vapour!

There was a few gaps between some of the loops alright. I don't yet have ceramic tweezers so I couldn't manipulate them very well. I should have a pair arriving in the post soon.

Would I be correct in assuming that complex coils should have no gaps between them? Ie, enough for vapour to get through, but not enough for liquid to get through and pop?

 

[joe o sullivan]

I use multi strand coils all the time and never experience popping, try moving away from demon killer (dogshit) which are made of kanthal and get some coilology ni80 or SS coils and it shouldn't happen again and if it does turn the power up to the right level and it definitely won't happen

Ah right. I didn't know they were considered crap. They did seem a hell of a lot better than the coils that came with my Zeus Dual though. Those seemed to have a lot of different strands, and there was a horrible metal taste from them. No idea what they were made of. I just assumed they were Kanthal, and not something that needed TC, as it wasn't specified anywhere.

Pretty hard to get the wattage very high for some builds. The first build with those stock coils it was impossible; the vapour was roasting hot at 40-45w, with no taste, and lots of gurgling and spitting too. It was all a right mess!

But, I suppose if I can't get the power high enough, then there's something wrong. like too much resistance, too many coils, bad connection, or just a bad build, etc..

I am getting more used to building and wicking though.. probably better to get all my mistakes out of the way early on!