Can squonking go wrong?

[Cliffyboy1962]

Hi all you squinky squonkers.

I just received my lovely new Athena squonker from Geekvape and I am loving it to bits. Despite a few negative reviews, I can honestly say I am very impressed with the quality of the product and the vapour and flavour production form the Athena RDA.

Being newish to squonking (Coppervape BF and PICO squeeze owned but not kept) I don't know how perfect, the squonking process should be. I am not sure that the squonking is working so good.

When I first used it, a relatively small squeeze positively flooded the deck, which seemed ideal. After a few vapes I went for a re-squonk and it made all the right noises but, with the top cap off and looking at the deck, I wasn't seeing the juice in the deck so much, if at all. With the covers off and looking at the bottle and the tube, I could see juice going up the tube but it didn't seem to be coming onto the deck.

After a lot of squeezing, it did seem to be working, i.e. wicks nice and saturated but I was kind of hoping for a very instant response from squeezing, in the hope that once confident of it's squonkiness, I wouldn't need to look at the deck every time just to make sure something has happened. It seems a bit hit and miss.

Can anybody tell me if there is anything I should look for to tell me why, some squeezes don't seem to do anything.

 

[Simon G]

the more liquid is in the bottle the less you need to push.

I don't let my wicks dry out either, if you do that then obviously you'll have to keep squonking until they are saturated again, I just squeeze a little in a lot to keep them 'topped up' as it were.

 

[keepitgoin]

Possibly look for a "softer" Squonk bottle. I've not had problems with any of my Squonkers (yet!) but I do know that "softer" bottles are recommended on a lot of Forums.
As above, don't let your wicks dry out.

 

[Cliffyboy1962]

Possibly look for a "softer" Squonk bottle. I've not had problems with any of my Squonkers (yet!) but I do know that "softer" bottles are recommended on a lot of Forums.
As above, don't let your wicks dry out.

Well, I am using the hard plastic bottle and not the soft one that came with it as some reviewers thought the soft one was too soft but I think it makes sense to try it. thanks.

 

[Cliffyboy1962]

the more liquid is in the bottle the less you need to push.

I don't let my wicks dry out either, if you do that then obviously you'll have to keep squonking until they are saturated again, I just squeeze a little in a lot to keep them 'topped up' as it were.

OK dokey, sounds good.

 

[eyeball kid]

OK dokey, sounds good.

Sounds like you could have air ingress somewhere in the system. Bottle cap and where the tube meets the 510 are prime candidates. When you next refil take everything off (bottle and tube). Hold your finger over the open tube end and squeeze. If it squeezes you should see where air is leaking. If not try putting a small cable tie around the tube/510 joint. It's possible it's just gulping air from the deck if the rda is of poor squonking design.

 

[zouzounaki]

I don’t squonk. What happens when you’re more than say, halfway down the bottle? Does it still work or do you need to fill it up? I can’t see how it would work right to the bottom of the bottle.

 

[Simon G]

I don’t squonk. What happens when you’re more than say, halfway down the bottle? Does it still work or do you need to fill it up? I can’t see how it would work right to the bottom of the bottle.

There's a tube that comes down to the bottom of the bottle

 

[zouzounaki]

Ah ok, I din’t even think of that.

 

[Cliffyboy1962]

Sounds like you could have air ingress somewhere in the system. Bottle cap and where the tube meets the 510 are prime candidates. When you next refil take everything off (bottle and tube). Hold your finger over the open tube end and squeeze. If it squeezes you should see where air is leaking. If not try putting a small cable tie around the tube/510 joint. It's possible it's just gulping air from the deck if the rda is of poor squonking design.

It definitely does seem to be gulping air from the deck. The Athena RDA, in theory, is specifically designed to be squonk friendly as it is part of a squonk kit. Could it be because the bottle is very hard? It also seems to work really well when it is full of juice but gets very hit and miss after the first 1/4 of a bottle is used.