Ive been vaping Billows for years, never a dry hit. Ive been vaping rayon for over a year or more, never a dry hit.
I dont know wtf I am doing wrong but Ive been getting dry hits since friday and Ive rewicked 50x since to no avail.
Bubbles arent rising unless I loosen the tank from the deck, but even then it doesnt do it on its own.
Ive got 3 v2 tanks and its happening to 2 of them, havent tried the 3rd.
I switched back to cotton to try and rule that out, same same.
I spent much of the morning watching Billow wicking videos to get a refresher, maybe I forgot something, but they do a worse job wicking than I do.
My juice has not changed 25/75 pg/vg, same adv. My builds are the same.
What the hell am I doing wrong?
And why now??
2 Likes
BILLOW?! more like PUDDLE amirite??
1 Like
Never a puddle, like I said, Ive been vaping Billows for years, never puddled on me, never a leaker.
1 Like
Hmmm. Odd. Have you not used your billows for awhile and you forgot how to wick them?
If itās your daily driver I wouldnāt be much help. I know my daily drivers really well and never have a sudden issue. But if this is the case then I would blame a o-ring or something dumb like the juice flow control is off or your vaping in the middle of a snow storm.
4 Likes
Iām a fellow Billow lover, V2 and V2.5 in particular. About the only two things that I can think of are:
-
Wicking is clogging the juice flow ports. Iāve always rested my wicks on the deck top directly above the juice ports and never in the ports themselves as I find this doesnāt allow for air to pass from the deck chamber to the tank. If youāve been using your Billow for as long as you have, then Iām guessing that you do this as well, but it never hurts to cover all of the bases.
-
Have you replaced your o-rings? If not, now might be a good time to do so. Crappy rings cause all sorts of shenanigans, be it in vaping, cars or plumbing so maybe give that a go.
-
About the only other thing that I can think of is that thereās something blocking air from getting into your deck chamber. If you havenāt pulled the base apart for a good cleaning then itās probably time. Just make sure that you do so over a cloth/rag to keep small parts from bouncing into limbo(The positive block insulator is tiny!) Unscrew the 510 positive pin from the airflow base, lay the positive post and itās insulator aside and then you can unscrew the deck from the base. Thereās an o-ring(possibly two) in there as well(Itās been a while since I did a full teardown on my V2)
Those are about the only things I can think of that could be causing an issue. Hope something here helps!
EDIT: OK, OKā¦I said two, typed threeā¦I didnāt expect the Spanish Inquisition!
5 Likes
I get a bit of popping on hits, I know its gonna be a dry one, I also get a good amount of after sizzle.
Bout to just walk away from these and give v2.5 a few days of useā¦and come back to these later.
Id considered replacing the orings, but cant imagine them all going at once.
Ive tried all sorts of different wich lead placements etc.
2 Likes
First thing that popped in my head was a O ring as suggested above, but then I read your post five more times, and maybe Iām reading it wrong, but youāre having that issue all the sudden with more than 3 atomizer at a time?
If so I would like to suggest something that probably sounds stupid, but could it be the heat?
We discussed that some weeks prior in a other thread, were a lot of us, including myself explained how a 80/20 or even max vg is thinning out.
I vape like you at 75/25 (the lowest) mostly higher, and it was looking like a 50/50 blend due to the heat. I would get dry hits, no flavor, leaks and all the stupid things Iāve normally never have an issue with, at random times lol.
As I said maybe itās just stupid, but maybe this could be helpful, if you ruled everything else out, try raising the vg/pg ratio a little while itās that hot out, or use way less cotton than regular if that doesnāt lead to leaking.
3 Likes
Just cooked it on v2.5ā¦this is rayon, its supposed to be squeeky and it shrinks unlike cotton.
Ive tried various amounts all with similar results.
My juice is my adv for ever since I started mixing. And its 25pg75vg.
I worried maybe my mod was at fault, so Im now using my old Roloā¦same. fml
1 Like
How tf do I suddenly forget how to wick properly???
1 Like
Meh, could just be like athletes who lose their mojo for a little while. Itās not likely that all the different gear youāve used has all gone teats up at the same time. Shake it off, re-focus, and let it come naturally. If you have some spare cotton laying around, try that and see if it helps grease the skids. Youāve been vaping a long time and seems you have a fair idea what youāre doing, so itās just a little cold streak. No worries!!
5 Likes
Lord knows I had plenty of wicking practice over the weekend!
And whats moreā¦6 hour car drive yesterday where Id like to have been chain vaping, but instead cruising reststop to reststop rewicking.
4 Likes
Yeah that sucks. I know Iāve āforgottenā how picky the Boreas can be, and had a lot of misfires with either leaking or dry hitting, to the point where I had to ask myself āWTF, is this amateur hour or something??ā Good luck; Iām sure this will be past you soon enough.
Crap, you did mention you tried cotton, sorry.
Hey, maybe if there is something with the attyās, they could just need a nice thorough cleaning, maybe a little gummimg up around the juice/airflow holes causing trouble? Have a USC?
4 Likes
I boil a coffe cup of water in the microwave, and then soak my attys til it cools. I do this regularly.
Right now Im working on various states of looseness/tightness with my wickingā¦but I kinda went through that yesterday.
3 Likes
I guess I should ask, have you tried fresh coils too?
1 Like
If you crack the top of the V2 or the V2.5, are you getting a rush of bubbles at the juice flow ports? If so, then itās either the wicking or the juice not wicking properly due to the heat as @eStorm suggested. Iāve had this issue-As a matter of fact, I just had it with my V2.5 yesterday. Hereās what I did to resolve the problem.
After placing the wicks and juicing them up, after youāve placed the chamber ring on the deck, take a piece of 24 gauge or folded 26 gauge wire, poke it through the wick where it touches the chamber ring and go all the way through to the juice flow port. Iāve had to do this since the heat really came on, since the juice is so thin it blocks air from travelling from the chamber to the tank via the wick. Poking thru the wick will give a small channel for air, but should be small enough that you wonāt have any flooding issues(I usually do all 4 ports just to ensure air passage/proper wicking)
If this isnāt really clear, let me know and Iāll snap a few pics and post them here or on imgur. Good luck!
6 Likes
Iāve been having issues with juice getting too thin from the heat(Normally use 70/30 VG/PG, switched to 80/20) and getting dry hits. Iām thinking that since itās less viscous itās not playing nice with my routine wicking. Ensuring that thereās a little extra air channel thru the wick has been helping my RTAās wick better.
3 Likes
Oh thereās no logic behind this, neither does common sense apply here. Iām not kidding itās like magic lol.
Someone would assume having ultra thin juice would wick better right? But somehow it doesnt.
As I mentioned above a 80/20 all the sudden looks like a 50/50 and the moment you then heat the tank, that juice becomes thinner than even water. I know impossible but thatās how it looks like.
I always say the cotton has nothing to grab onto at that point, leaving you with what looks saturated wicks, but after a 3 second hit, this turns into dry. Not sure why but it does lol.
Only way of fixing it is raising vg/pg, thinning out cotton and yes I understand normally that will cause the opposite but not in this heat, or vaping at extremely low wattage, like a 0.3 normally at 42watts, now at 28 kinds bs lol.
4 Likes
@5prock3t I donāt think this applies to you, BUT, had to drop it anyway. Had a friend with an IDENTICAL situation. Different setup, used cotton only, BUT, out of the BLUE, totally stopped wicking. Same cotton, same coils, no o-ring problems, one had had been vaping on for almost a year. HE made the mistake when cutting his cotton (pads). Accidentally cut AGAINST the grain !!!
You said you were not using cotton, but switched back to it, to no avail. His symptoms were EXACTLY what you are experiencing. Not sure how he started rotatng his cotton pads against the grain, then cutting off wicks from it, but he did. As he grew more and more frustrated, he didnāt even notice. I asked from some pics, and we cleared it up.
Passing it on, for what itās worth.
5 Likes
@paingawd I can see an issue if youāre raising your VG level, but even thenā¦ Iām surprised that going from a 70/30 to an 80/20 can have such a big impact. The only time Iāve ever experienced issues like that was with commercial coil heads, especially the ceramic ones.
@eStorm I was just asking because I have have no clue what youāre talking about. Iām not saying I donāt believe it or anything, just that I donāt understand. I do have the experience that in winter, wicking is a little bit harder if you spend a lot of time in the coldā¦ but even with temperatures of 38Ā°C that weāve had here the last few days, Iāve had no issues with the viscosity of my liquids (70/30). On more normal days, letās say around 20Ā°C, a tank that is vaped is getting way over 40Ā°C so Iām really a bit puzzled by that the ambient temperature would cause so many issues.
2 Likes