If you’re on the hunt for a bigger and better vaping device from a company like V2 Cigs UK, there’s a good chance that your next device will be something with a refillable tank. Compared to devices with plastic pods, glass vape tanks deliver infinitely better flavor along with much bigger vapor clouds. Tank-based vaping devices also have another significant difference from pod-based devices in that the atomizer coil – rather than the entire pod – is the component that you’ll need to replace periodically.
If you’ve never used a vape pen or mod with a glass tank before, the idea of replacing your atomizer coil may seem a bit intimidating on the surface. The good news, though, is that changing a vape coil is actually quite easy and will quickly become second nature for you. Reading this article, you’ll learn how to change a coil in any vape tank. You’ll also learn how to know when it’s time to replace your coil and what you can do to make your coils last longer. Let’s begin!
When Should You Change Your Vape Coils?
More than anything else, the atomizer coil in your vape tank is what determines the quality of the flavor when you vape. Over time, the coil’s cotton wick may start to develop some charring. The heating wire in the coil will also develop a residue from the compounds in your e-liquid that don’t vaporize cleanly. We’ll discuss coil residue at greater length shortly. In either case, though, the end result is that the coil’s flavor quality will start to degrade. When an atomizer coil is new, you’ll have no trouble tasting the subtle nuances in your e-liquid. Over time, though, you’ll begin to taste changes in your e-liquid’s flavor.
- Your e-liquid may begin to taste overwhelmingly sweet, overpowering the more subtle notes in your e-liquid.
- You may begin to taste a flavor resembling caramelized or burned sugar.
- You may experience a burning or smoky sensation that irritates the back of your throat.
When your vaping experience changes in such a way that you no longer enjoy the flavor, it’s time for a new coil – and as you’re about to learn, the amount of life that you get out of your coils can vary drastically.
How Long Does a Vape Coil Last?
On average, you can expect a vape coil to last anywhere from a few days to about a week. However, it is possible for a coil to last multiple weeks with little to no discernable performance loss. It is also possible for a coil to last as little as a day.
Why is there so much potential variation in how long a vape coil lasts? The life of a vape coil is primarily a function of these three factors.
- The level of sweetness in your e-liquid. Sucralose is the most common e-liquid sweetener, and while it is a potent flavor enhancer, it also leaves a residue that dramatically shortens coil life.
- The operational wattage of your vaping device. If your vape coil operates at a very high temperature, there is a higher chance that the coil’s cotton wick will burn or char. Even a very small burned spot in the wick will severely degrade the coil’s flavor.
- The volume of e-liquid that you use per day. If you use an e-liquid that tends to leave residue on your coil, the rate at which the layer of residue forms depends on the amount of e-liquid you use.
How to Change the Coil in Any Vape Tank
Vape tanks may look like fairly complex gadgets on the surface, but replacing a vape coil is actually a simpler procedure than you might think. You can use this procedure to change the coil in almost any tank on the market.
- Remove the tank from your device. You usually need to do this when the tank is empty because replacing the coil will cause the tank to dump its contents.
- Unscrew the bottom metal component of the tank. The coil is attached to the tank’s bottom hardware.
- Unscrew the coil from the tank’s bottom hardware and discard it.
- Screw a new coil into the tank’s bottom hardware.
- Use the tip of an e-liquid bottle to “paint” the coil’s exposed wick openings with e-liquid until you can see no more dry cotton. Wet the wick through the top of the coil as well. This process primes the wick and helps to ensure that it’ll become fully saturated with e-liquid.
- Reassemble the tank and fill it with e-liquid. Allow the tank to rest for several minutes before you begin vaping. Waiting ensures that the wick is completely soaked with e-liquid and will not burn.
How to Make Your Vape Coils Last Longer
As you’ve probably surmised from reading this article, modern e-liquids and vaping hardware are not at all conducive to long-lasting coils. If you have a high-wattage vape mod with a big glass tank, you’ll go through a lot of e-liquid – and if your e-liquid is one of those heavily sweetened flavors in big plastic squeeze bottles that are all the rage these days, then it’s going to leave a lot of residue on your coils.
If your favorite e-liquid is one that’s heavily sweetened – and you make heavy use of a vaping device that produces very large clouds – it is entirely possible that you’ll notice a significant flavor change after using a new coil for less than a day. Some people aren’t willing to change anything about their e-liquid and aren’t willing to give up their cloud-chasing vaping setups, so they either put up with extremely short coil life or start building their own coils. Using a rebuildable atomizer and building your own coils won’t improve coil life, but it will be significantly less expensive than using pre-built coils.
If you don’t want to build your own coils, though – you want to use pre-built coils, and you want those coils to last longer than they currently do – then you should strongly consider using e-liquid without added sweeteners. Although almost all e-liquid flavors will leave residue on a vape coil to a certain extent, nothing ruins a coil more quickly than sucralose. It might surprise you to learn that unsweetened e-liquid can still taste quite sweet – and if you stop using e-liquid with sucralose, your coils will last dramatically longer than they do now.
