Leaking tanks are another completely avoidable vaping mishap and understanding how to combat it can save you quite a bit of money.
Vape juice is sticky, and it can stain your clothes if you let it. Your favourite white dress or that vintage denim could be tainted for life because of a completely avoidable mishap. Now, dropped e cigs are one thing, but a leak in you tank doesn’t necessarily mean the bin for your favourite sub ohm mod. Instead, some detective work might help you to find the culprit for your sticky fingers and vanishing vape juice. Below are some of the causes of premium e liquid leaks and how to defend against them.
Vape tanks left on their side
This one’s a no brainer. If you leave your vape device on its side for too long, you’ll see vape juice start to trickle out of it’s various holes. Whether it’s the airflow hole or through the drip tip, make sure that you never leave your device on its side for too long.
Solution?
Do your best to fight gravity. Keep your vape device upright so that the vape juice in your tank doesn’t start oozing into your device and begin to flood your device.
Overfilled tanks
Another no brainer. Like a bath, if you start to fill it up too much puddles and leaks will inevitably start to form. Vape bottles come with pipettes and being even a little over generous in your dripping of e liquid can lead to a waste of juice.
Solution?
To make sure you’re not wasting vape juice, remember that a vape tank only holds a maximum of 2 ml of vape juice. Drippers only need drip around 2 to 3 drops of vape juice onto the atomiser to fully saturate the wicking cotton for up to 20 vape hits.
Damaged O rings
Usually made of rubber, O rings are protective rings which fit together pieces of metal. Your vape device may very well use O rings to connect the tank to the main body of your device. If these are broken, damaged or have fallen off, then your tank runs the risk of being unsealed and leaking.
Solution?
O rings are very cheap to replace and are incredibly easy to reinstall due to their flexibility. That’s the beauty of rubber, although to go as far as to say that an O ring is one size fits all would be an overstep. You must always make sure that you purchase the right size O ring for your devices needs.
Unsealed e cigs
RTA’s, or Rebuildable Tank Atomisers are known for their versatility and their potential to be highly personalised to the needs of the vaper. This means that users can take apart their circuits and add their own components, whether that be a different material coil or a more efficient atomiser head. However, with these rebuildable devices comes the potential for leakages through improper sealing of the vape components.
Solution?
Whenever you rebuild or replace parts of your device, double check that you’ve sealed each bit on correctly, including the tank. What’s more, improper sealing can lead to the vape device not working at all, let alone leakages.
Open airflows
An airflow refers to the twistable collar on your vape device which allows more or less air into your hit. The more open your airflow, the bigger the hit of vapour. Tighter airflows will mean your hit is less powerful, but hotter in the throat hit. If you have left your vape device on its side as previously warned against, then an open airflow can leak vape juice.
Another problem comes in too narrow an airflow. If you are vaping e liquid flavours with a vape device with a narrow airflow, you might be at risk of inhaling too hard to get the hit. This could suck up vape juice from your tank and floor the vape device, causing leaks through your drip tip.
Solution
Keep an eye on the forcefulness of your vape inhale with a narrow airflow. If you’re forced to store your vape device on its side, ensure that when you do so, the airflow is closed.
Cracked devices
There’s very little you can do about a cracked device except replace the tank or the specific cracked element. Of course, if the devices body itself is cracked then sadly, there’s not much you can do but replace the device.
High PG juices
Propylene Glycol is one of two of the organic compounds at the heart of any premium e liquid. whilst the vegetable glycerine controls the viscosity, the propylene glycol controls the taste and nicotine content. Higher PG juices are therefore thinner and waterier, making them more likely to leak.
Solution
Switch to higher VG juice if you think your device might be prone to leaking. Anything with over a 70/30 VG/PG ratio will be at less risk of leaking from your device.