Pro tank problems
- Thread starter Bluebirdburgess
- Start date
VaperCaper
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- May 21, 2013
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- 1,973
How hard are you sucking?
If you draw on an e-cig too firmly you get a much worse experience. It's the opposite of smoking a cigarette in this regard. It works by a heating coil heating up liquid and turning it into vapour. the harder you draw the more liquid is drawn into the heating coil, which cools the coil down. Also more air is being drawn across the heating cool at a faster speed and that cools it down too.
Eventually you get to a point where the heating coil can't keep up and the whole thing floods in liquid and little to no vapour is produced.
When you smoke a cigarette if you draw faster then more oxygen is getting to the bit that's burning and it burns faster and hotter.
when you use an e-cig the best (and also the most efficient way to deliver nictotine from it) is to take longer slower draws. This means more liquid gets turned to vapour as the heating coil stays hotter.
On a bottom coil tank, like a ProTank flooding it is especially bad. If you get to the point where the device floods then you start getting a gurgley vape, and then no vape, and then you start sucking e-liquid into your mouth like a straw.
ProTanks and other bottom coil devices work using air pressure. Inside the centre post that runs down from the mouthpiece to the coil there is air. Imagine a drinking straw and a glass of water, if you put your finger over the end of the straw and push it down into the water, no water gets in there, but if you take your finger off the end of the straw and do the same thing the straw fills up with water quickly.
the same thing is happening to your ProTank, only what causes it to flood is too much liquid getting into the coil at the base of the centre post. It's probably happening cos you're drawing too firmly, though it might also be the case that not enough airflow is getting to the heads.
The good news is that it's easy to fix. You need to do something called "blowing out" which restores the right amount of air in the middle post and means the tank wicks in the right amount of e-liquid to vapourise and not so much that it floods and turns into a gurgley drinking straw. When you replace the coils, what you're actually doing is inadvertently resetting the right amount of air in the centre post. (You could actually take the old coil out and put it back in again and you'll probably fix it as well)
To "blow out" you unscrew the tank from the device, hold it upside down (this bit is very important) and blow through the mouthpiece, using paper towel to catch any drips that come flying out of the threaded end. You must hold the tank upside down when you do this as the liquid must not be covering the wicks. If you do this the right way up with the base pointing downwards and the wicks covered in liquid then all you're doing is forcing even more liquid into the centre post and it makes the problem worse instead of better.
When no more liquid comes out of the base end while you're blowing the tank is good to go.
ProTanks have a quirk too where if the tank is almost empty the air balance inside is upset and it'll just keep flooding no matter what you do, I try to keep mine always topped up to more than 1/4 full to avoid this.
If you draw on an e-cig too firmly you get a much worse experience. It's the opposite of smoking a cigarette in this regard. It works by a heating coil heating up liquid and turning it into vapour. the harder you draw the more liquid is drawn into the heating coil, which cools the coil down. Also more air is being drawn across the heating cool at a faster speed and that cools it down too.
Eventually you get to a point where the heating coil can't keep up and the whole thing floods in liquid and little to no vapour is produced.
When you smoke a cigarette if you draw faster then more oxygen is getting to the bit that's burning and it burns faster and hotter.
when you use an e-cig the best (and also the most efficient way to deliver nictotine from it) is to take longer slower draws. This means more liquid gets turned to vapour as the heating coil stays hotter.
On a bottom coil tank, like a ProTank flooding it is especially bad. If you get to the point where the device floods then you start getting a gurgley vape, and then no vape, and then you start sucking e-liquid into your mouth like a straw.
ProTanks and other bottom coil devices work using air pressure. Inside the centre post that runs down from the mouthpiece to the coil there is air. Imagine a drinking straw and a glass of water, if you put your finger over the end of the straw and push it down into the water, no water gets in there, but if you take your finger off the end of the straw and do the same thing the straw fills up with water quickly.
the same thing is happening to your ProTank, only what causes it to flood is too much liquid getting into the coil at the base of the centre post. It's probably happening cos you're drawing too firmly, though it might also be the case that not enough airflow is getting to the heads.
The good news is that it's easy to fix. You need to do something called "blowing out" which restores the right amount of air in the middle post and means the tank wicks in the right amount of e-liquid to vapourise and not so much that it floods and turns into a gurgley drinking straw. When you replace the coils, what you're actually doing is inadvertently resetting the right amount of air in the centre post. (You could actually take the old coil out and put it back in again and you'll probably fix it as well)
To "blow out" you unscrew the tank from the device, hold it upside down (this bit is very important) and blow through the mouthpiece, using paper towel to catch any drips that come flying out of the threaded end. You must hold the tank upside down when you do this as the liquid must not be covering the wicks. If you do this the right way up with the base pointing downwards and the wicks covered in liquid then all you're doing is forcing even more liquid into the centre post and it makes the problem worse instead of better.
When no more liquid comes out of the base end while you're blowing the tank is good to go.
ProTanks have a quirk too where if the tank is almost empty the air balance inside is upset and it'll just keep flooding no matter what you do, I try to keep mine always topped up to more than 1/4 full to avoid this.
stephenfletcher
Postman
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- Dec 5, 2013
- Messages
- 66
Try not to let it get below 1/3 full, ive experienced this before with mine.
Waspy
Postman
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- Jul 11, 2012
- Messages
- 825
Invest in an Aspire Davide. I'm guessing you don't want to risk yet more money, but they work really well.
Or any of the Aspire range really, these eVod size ones are only £5.99
http://www.safercigs.co.uk/Aspire_BDC_Glassomizer/p705283_11019874.aspx
Or any of the Aspire range really, these eVod size ones are only £5.99
http://www.safercigs.co.uk/Aspire_BDC_Glassomizer/p705283_11019874.aspx
frasco
Postman
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2014
- Messages
- 88
Been experiencing the same problems with my protank 2. Been good for a while but now and then this happens and I can go through 2 or 3 coils trying to fix the problem. Cheers for the advice above, will have to try this out next time.
On the plus side, vivi nova and IGO-L ordered so will probably only use the protank as a back up.
On the plus side, vivi nova and IGO-L ordered so will probably only use the protank as a back up.
I have used a pro tank before, and when I first started with it I was fairly new to vaping and it was constantly gurgling, spilling juice into my mouth. I left it alone for a while but then had to use it one day as had no other clearo available. I thought I'd give it a good cleaning as I hadn't used it for some time. I used ear buds to thoroughly clean the center pipe which as you'd guess collects condensation as something hot is going against something cold as with the build of the pro tanks. After I did this it worked perfectly for a whole refill of the tank, so I got into doing this each time I refilled and since then worked perfectly with little to no gurgling and hasn't leaked since. This along with a better draw technique as others suggested could fix the problem
Vapingmonkey
Postman
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2013
- Messages
- 286
I have several protanks and not had any problems with gurgling or leaking
Often imho im sorry to say it is user error
Protanks only leak for the following reasons
1. The atty is not screwed down tightly enough
2. The wick is not sufficient enough to plug the gap it comes out of
3. The rubber grommet at the too of the atty is not making contact with the wick or the centre pole of the protank
4. A flavour wick has been removed which is the same as insufficient wick
5. You got juice in the centre post when filling
All can be remedied easily. Once you start building protank heads you kearn alot about how they work.
Often imho im sorry to say it is user error
Protanks only leak for the following reasons
1. The atty is not screwed down tightly enough
2. The wick is not sufficient enough to plug the gap it comes out of
3. The rubber grommet at the too of the atty is not making contact with the wick or the centre pole of the protank
4. A flavour wick has been removed which is the same as insufficient wick
5. You got juice in the centre post when filling
All can be remedied easily. Once you start building protank heads you kearn alot about how they work.
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