# Wicking : Is it needed to put cotton over the whole base?



## Scorocket22 (7/3/15)

This is probably a very stupid question but I'll ask anyway. 

I've been watching RDA builds and in most of them people pull a long piece of cotton through the coil and then they stuff the rest of the cotton around the coil but sometimes it's not even near the coil itself. Does the e-liquid magically work it way towards the coil or does the whole base heat up enough for the rest to vaporize as well?

Sorry if I'm not very clear, engels is nie my taal nie 

Attached a pic for clarity.


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## Andre (7/3/15)

Good question. The heat of the coil will draw the juice on the outskirts in by drying out the wick around the coil. Then vaporize. Until you have used all the juice, then you have to drip again.

Reactions: Thanks 1


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## shaunnadan (7/3/15)

the coil heats up when u push the button. The coil is situated over the airhole that then leads to your chimney or top cap to your drip tip. So when you inhale then you are breathing in the vapor that's created. 

This action with the heat draws the juice through the wick towards the centre of the coil and gets vaporized! 

Now the wick is threaded through the coil or around the coil and the ends (tails) are left touching the base of the deck. This is the part you highlighted in your picture . Some decks have a groove in then allowing for more juice to be held . 

You fill up the juice well which the tails of the wick is touching and once you fire up that coil and breath in the juice gets absorbed .

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## DoubleD (7/3/15)

Good question, I've found for my builds, less is more. Even so with single coils, using the Atomic, I drip 10 drops and that seems to give me loads of 'toots' before I have to drip or sqounk again.
When I see loads of cotton stuffed in a dripper, I also see a loads of unvaped juice and I'm 'holy' about my juice  Minimal juice spillage happens around me

Reactions: Thanks 1


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## shaunnadan (7/3/15)

DoubleD said:


> Good question, I've found for my builds, less is more. Even so with single coils, using the Atomic, I drip 10 drops and that seems to give me loads of 'toots' before I have to drip or sqounk again.
> When I see loads of cotton stuffed in a dripper, I also see a loads of unvaped juice and I'm 'holy' about my juice  Minimal juice spillage happens around me




When you have too much wick then what tends to happen is the centre of the wick where the coil is drys out first and the tails are too saturated for any juice to flow up. 

In the case of rebuildables, less wick is best

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 2


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## Scorocket22 (8/3/15)

Thanks for all the answers! Seems like one has to find a balance between too much and too low amount of wicking. Makes much more sense now guys, thanks! Love this community!!

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## shaunnadan (8/3/15)

Roll your wick loosely and thread it through your coil, then cut off the ends just on the edge where your deck is. Then I like to make a loop and place it back under the cool but leaving a space underneath the cool for air flow. 

Il post a pic In a few min


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## shaunnadan (8/3/15)

So start with you wick threaded through your coil. It should be firm enough to have a little bit in tension on it but not too thick that It moves ur coil around. 



Then trim you wick a little bit over then edges of the deck. So it should be a smudge longer on either side than what ur deck stick out. 




Then tuck it into ur juice wells 




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This is how I explained tucking the wick under your coil and leaving a gap for some airflow . Think of it like a loop





* coil 1 is a twisted 24g on the magma dripper 

* coil 2 is a parallel 26g on the hobo v2

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## shaunnadan (8/3/15)

Btw! My finger Nail got slashed cutting onions this morning

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## Silver (9/3/15)

ScorpionL2K said:


> This is probably a very stupid question but I'll ask anyway.
> 
> I've been watching RDA builds and in most of them people pull a long piece of cotton through the coil and then they stuff the rest of the cotton around the coil but sometimes it's not even near the coil itself. Does the e-liquid magically work it way towards the coil or does the whole base heat up enough for the rest to vaporize as well?
> 
> ...



Hi @ScorpionL2K , not a stupid question. Better to ask. Thats what the forum is for!

The other guys have explained it well

I will just add that the wicking material is to transport the juice from the ends of the wick to the part that is inside the coil. When the juice at the coil has been vaporised, then it becomes dry and more juice in the adjacent parts should flow into the part that is dry. If you drop some juice on a dry wick, you will see it moving from where you drop it to "try reach all the dry parts". So to answer your question, the base does not heat up and vaporise the juice in the tails of the wick. The vaporisation only happens at the coil.

The ideal length of wick depends on many factors inluding the type of atty and the power you are vaping at. If you have a bit more wick, there is likely to be more juice available to vaporise. But many also observe that too much wick is not good. You need to experiment. The coil diameter also comes into play. The wider the coil diameter, the more wicking material per length, but the wide diameters tend to be better for higher power vapes. Also, the vape itself varies. I have found that the wider diameters tend to produce a less "crisp" vape.

If the wick is just long enough to go out the coil and touch the deck, that may be just fine for you. If you drip in the well, it may just be good enough to pick up the liquid and transport it to the coil. But then you can try a bit more that sits on the deck and see. Or many other permutations of going under the coil etc. You need to try a few types and see what works best in your setup.

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## kimbo (9/3/15)

ScorpionL2K said:


> This is probably a very stupid question but I'll ask anyway.
> 
> I've been watching RDA builds and in most of them people pull a long piece of cotton through the coil and then they stuff the rest of the cotton around the coil but sometimes it's not even near the coil itself. Does the e-liquid magically work it way towards the coil or does the whole base heat up enough for the rest to vaporize as well?
> 
> ...



It is a law of nature, everything must be equal. So when the juice inside the coil gets vaporized there is a low density in the wick inside the coil but a high density outside, so the juice will flow to the area with the low density to correct the balance

Reactions: Like 2 | Agree 1


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## zadiac (9/3/15)

kimbo said:


> *It is a law of nature, everything must be equal.* So when the juice inside the coil gets vaporized there is a low density in the wick inside the coil but a high density outside, so the juice will flow to the area with the low density to correct the balance



Lies!! I tell you! Lies!!

When my bank account is empty, there's nothing that flows towards it to balance it out!

Reactions: Funny 8


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## shaunnadan (9/3/15)

epic reply!!! @zadiac

Reactions: Agree 2


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## kimbo (9/3/15)

zadiac said:


> Lies!! I tell you! Lies!!
> 
> When my bank account is empty, there's nothing that flows towards it to balance it out!


 Maybe you have the flow wrong way round it suppose to flow out to equal the outside world and not be all in one place

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## shaunnadan (9/3/15)

salary ---> vape gear and juices ---> happiness

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 2


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## zadiac (9/3/15)

shaunnadan said:


> salary ---> vape gear and juices ---> happiness



Very true...but in my case.....salary ----> vape gear and juices--->happy poverty..........sigh

Reactions: Funny 1 | Can relate 1


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## shaunnadan (9/3/15)

i can live with poverty.. this morning i vaped some coffee, tonight il vape some apple pie and then maybe some cheesecake... who needs to go buy groceries

Reactions: Funny 4


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## johan (9/3/15)

Geez! @zadiac "jy's vandag weer so pittig soos 'n plaas longdrop in waterlemoen tyd"

Reactions: Agree 1 | Funny 3


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## shaunnadan (9/3/15)

johan said:


> Geez! @zadiac "jy's vandag weer so pittig soos 'n plaas longdrop in waterlemoen tyd"

Reactions: Funny 7


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## johan (9/3/15)

LOL what a k@k translation!

Reactions: Agree 3 | Funny 1


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## annemarievdh (9/3/15)

zadiac said:


> Lies!! I tell you! Lies!!
> 
> When my bank account is empty, there's nothing that flows towards it to balance it out!



Your very "skerp" today hay


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## shaunnadan (9/3/15)

annemarievdh said:


> Your very "skerp" today hay



google translate : your very "sharply" today hay 


really learning the language today... hahaha

Reactions: Funny 4


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## zadiac (9/3/15)

annemarievdh said:


> Your very "skerp" today hay



Got off my last shift this morning and off for 4 days, so I'm in a good mood

Reactions: Like 1


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## John (9/3/15)

kimbo said:


> It is a law of nature, everything must be equal. So when the juice inside the coil gets vaporized there is a low density in the wick inside the coil but a high density outside, so the juice will flow to the area with the low density to correct the balance



Law of Diffusion: "Matter moves from a region of high concentration to a region of low concentration until dynamic equilibrium is reached"

Edit, replaced 'Osmosis' with 'Diffusion'

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## kimbo (9/3/15)

John said:


> Law of osmosis: "Matter moves from a region of high concentration to a region of low concentration until dynamic equilibrium is reached"


that one


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## Andre (9/3/15)

John said:


> Law of osmosis: "Matter moves from a region of high concentration to a region of low concentration until dynamic equilibrium is reached"


But I think in a wick it is a matter of capillary action.


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## kimbo (9/3/15)

Andre said:


> But I think in a wick it is a matter of capillary action.


Dont you have to have a very thin tube for that?


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## John (9/3/15)

Andre said:


> But I think in a wick it is a matter of capillary action.



Sure, but capillary action relies on both *diffusion* and cohesion/adhesion - without either, capillary action (defined as the ability of liquid to flow within a space without the assistance or opposition to any external force) would not be possible. What makes it possible are the internal forces, viz *diffusion* and Molecular cohesion

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## John (9/3/15)

kimbo said:


> Dont you have to have a very thin tube for that?



Also a very valid point. Can one consider it to be capillary action in the absence of a tube, or void-like space?

Edit: Capillary action can actually happen in the abscence of a void; 


Wikipedia" said:


> The effect can be seen in the drawing up of liquids between the hairs of a paint-brush, in a thin tube, in porous materials such as paper, in some non-porous materials such as liquefied carbon fiber, or in a cell.


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## shaunnadan (9/3/15)

So is it osmosis that the juice from the deck flows to the centre of the wick ? 

Or capillary action from the dry wick pulling the juices upwards ?


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## kimbo (9/3/15)

shaunnadan said:


> So is it osmosis that the juice from the deck flows to the centre of the wick ?
> 
> Or capillary action from the dry wick pulling the juices upwards ?


 Vape Fairies

Reactions: Like 2 | Funny 3


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## John (9/3/15)

shaunnadan said:


> So is it osmosis that the juice from the deck flows to the centre of the wick ?
> 
> Or capillary action from the dry wick pulling the juices upwards ?



Both actually, In this case the capillary action would be as consequence of *diffusion* - the heated coils evaporate the fluid and cause a low concentration of fluid in that section of wick, causing fluid to move from a concentrated region (further down the wick) to that point of the wick. The form of the wick defines its movement as capillary action. Think of capillary action as a consequential reaction instead of primary one.

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## shaunnadan (9/3/15)

So it's not just cause it's dry...


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## John (9/3/15)

shaunnadan said:


> So it's not just cause it's dry...



Read my previous post


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## kimbo (9/3/15)

@John you should change your name to Bill (Bill Nye the Science Guy)

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## John (9/3/15)

kimbo said:


> @John you should change your name to Bill (Bill Nye the Science Guy)



I watched his show religiously as a kid  

I just realised I used the wrong term here, please ignore my references to *OSMOSIS*, what I meant to refer to was *DIFFUSION*


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## kimbo (9/3/15)

John said:


> I just realised I used the wrong term here, please ignore my references to *OSMOSIS*, what I meant to refer to was *DIFFUSION*


Bill Bill Bill Bill Bill

Reactions: Funny 2


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## kev mac (11/5/15)

As for less is more, check out sxmxdrifter on YouTube the man displays his mad wicking skills on his collection of reo mods.

Reactions: Agree 1


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