Let’s face it; there are few things more frustrating after you’ve bought yourself some new exciting E-liquids and trying out their fabulous new flavours than to discover your E-cigarette has somehow sprung a leak. Bad news. Not only can constant leaking prevent regular vaping, it may also mean you have to buy a new E-cig. But is that actually true? Well, if you know how to address a leaky E-cig and put things right; maybe not.
First off, it’s important you properly familiarise yourself with your device – this involves taking a good gander at its parts. For instance, most E-cigs feature a mouthpiece, a tank (or atomiser), a coil and a base that holds all the other bits together. Armed with this knowledge then and having given your E-cig a good looking over, you’re now ready to try and put a stop to that irksome leak…
Clean the tank/ atomiser of dust and grime
First up, a very simple possibility – could your E-cig be leaking because it’s clogged up with gunk? If so, you might want to give the thing a clean:
Unscrew and remove the tank/ atomiser from the battery
Separate the coil head from the tank/ atomiser
Run a tap and give the tank/ atomiser a quick rinse under it
Shake any standing water off it and then leave it to air out for a short while before replacing it and putting the E-cig fully back together.
Loosen the tank/ atomiser
It’s only natural that when putting your E-cig back together you tighten the tank (or atomiser) as much as you can in order to prevent any of your precious e cig liquid from leaking out. That makes sense, after all. The trouble is it can actually help cause a leak – thus you should approach tightening the tank, yes, counter-intuitively. That’s because overtightening the tank might eventually damage the O-rings (which are factory-fitted to both ends of the tank and the coil, deliberately to try and prevent leakage) and so potentially make the tank crack – and cracking inevitably leads to leaking. So tighten the tank enough that it fits in place snugly, but no more.
Don’t fill the E-cig with second-rate liquids
Could the E-liquid you usually go for be a ‘tank cracker’? Yes, it is possible, should you tend to fill your device with a low-quality (or even a supposedly high-quality) e-juice that suits your E-cig so poorly, it’s actually damaging the tank and causing the thing to leak. It’s important then to do your research; only purchase E-liquids from reputable, highly recommended and well-reviewed manufacturers and outlets (such as No. 1 Ejuice). And, along with that, don’t just choose a liquid on flavour and nicotine level alone; find out – if you can – whether it genuinely will work well with your E-cig model. In this instance, it’s definitely better to be safe than sorry!
Don’t overfill the tank/ atomiser
Overfilling your E-cig’s tank (or atomiser) can put undue pressure on the device’s coil, which eventually can flood the entire E-cigarette and so, yes, inevitably lead to leaking. The lesson here is to stop this from happening by resisting the temptation of filling it right to the very top (beyond its highest measurement marker, should it have one printed on it) – it’s tempting to do this because the more liquid the tank contains in one go the more vaping and less refilling you’ll have to do. But think before you fill and refill!
Don’t vape so vigorously
Finally, consider your E-cig’s airflow. As E-cig tanks operate according to pressure (thus they feature a vacuum), a combination of over-vigorous inhaling and too low an airflow will generate copious suction – more than is necessary – drawing excess E-liquid into the coil and so potentially bringing about flooding and, again, leakage. So be mindful when you vape – it doesn’t do just to absent-mindedly vape away to the extent that you’re damaging your E-cig and liquid’s leaking out of it!
To sum up then, by examining your E-cig and doing a bit of troubleshooting there’s a good chance you’ll be able to diagnose why your device is leaking – and hopefully fix the leak so you can carry on vaping to your heart’s content.