
How to Prime a Coil?
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The coil is one of the main parts of a vape whose significance cannot be underrated. This is why when installing a new coil, you have to prime it for different reasons. But there’s more that goes into priming the coil in your vape device.
Firstly, priming helps ensure the coil is well-soaked enough to absorb e-liquid from the wick. This is also a mandated step to help achieve optimal flavour and vapour production. Otherwise, you may vape tasteless vapour and risk immediate burning of the newly installed coil if you fail to prime it correctly.
Read on to learn about the importance of priming a coil, how to do it correctly, as well as the common mistakes to avoid when priming a coil.
Importance of priming a coil
Priming your coils before you start vaping is a significant step that any vaper needs to be aware of. Here are some reasons why you must always correctly prime your coils.
Extend the life of the coil
Priming the coil correctly helps with the total saturation of the wick inside the tank with e-liquid. Without total wick saturation, inhaling the vape can cause the coil to burn. This will either make the coil stop working or produce burnt tastes in your vapour. So by priming the coil, you will have helped avoid these issues and extend the life of the coil.
Preventing dry hits
Dry hits result from missed hits when you vape, but there is no sufficient e-liquid around the coils. So other than risking the lifespan of your coil, dry hits are not good for your health. It also has a horrible taste that can destroy your vaping moods. So you really want to prime the coils and ensure you get maximised flavour and vapour production.
Types of vape coils
There are different types of vape coils that you can use for your vape devices. These include:
Disposable coils
Disposable coils come pre-built and wrapped with wire and cotton. Most of these come made with Kanthal and stainless steel wire and are available in various wire resistances and configurations that you can customise for certain vaping styles.
Being disposable coils, once their lifespans end, you will need to replace the coil with a new one.
Rebuildable coils
These coils don’t come prebuilt, so you have to wrap the wire and install the cotton yourself. There are, however, two main types of Rebuildable coils.
These are:
Rebuildable Tank Atomizers (RTAs)
RTAs have a tank section with e-liquid and a build deck to wrap your coils and install cotton. The cotton wicks from the tank section to the coil help to ensure a constant supply of e-liquid to the coil.
Rebuildable Dripping Atomizers (RDAs)
RDAs have a build deck where you can wrap your own coils and install cotton in the wire. Unlike pre-made coils found in tanks or cartridges, an RDA coil is built by the vaper themselves using the wire and cotton. You will then need to drip e-liquid onto the cotton and coils directly.
Step-by-step guide on how to prime a coil
While priming a coil may look like quite an easy task, here is an ultimate guide to help you do it correctly:
You’ll need to prepare the tank by disassembling it from your vape device for you to access the coil. However, different vape devices have different unscrewing methods to access the tank. So ensure you follow the correct procedure based on the type of device you are using.
To prime the coil you should:
Apply a few drops of e-liquid on your new coil and allow it to soak for a few minutes. You must, however, ensure the drops are even all around the coil.
Alternatively, you can submerge the new coil into the e-liquid and let it settle for 5 to 10 minutes, then remove it. Let any excess drops drip off before you install the coil back into the tank.
While reinstalling the coil, ensure the tank base or tank top is snuggly fit but not over-tightened. With the coil inside the tank, allow a few more minutes for the vape to saturate fully. You can then start a lesser wattage vaping and increase it gradually. However, you must be cautious about vaping with higher wattages because it often burns the coil quickly.
What not to do when priming a coil
Priming a coil is a significant activity that benefits your vape. However, there are some common mistakes that you may want to avoid while priming your coil. These are:
Over priming
This is when you add excess e-liquid to the coil. Unfortunately, this often leads to leaks that may affect the general functioning of the vape or even cause a short circuit.
Under priming
This involves adding less e-liquid to the coil and expecting it to saturate. In this case, the results will be vaping burnt hits with flavourless tastes. So you may need to be cautious and ensure you do the priming correctly.
Skipping priming
While the priming process takes a few minutes of your vaping time, some vapers feel the process is too long and instead choose to ignore and skip it. Unfortunately, what happens here is that the coil won’t last for as long as it’s originally intended. Instead, you will have burnt vape tastes, speeding up the coil’s burnout.
In conclusion, priming a coil is an essential step that any vaper interested in flavour-filled experiences needs to be aware of. Always remember how correctly you prime your coils can burn or maximise your vape's flavour and vapour production.