# Leaking Subtank



## John

Hey folks.

My Subtank leaks when it starts getting toward the lower 1/3 of a tank - which means I lose 1/3 of every tank I fill and get wetspots in my jeans. This is with the OCC Coils.

On the plus side, my (now somewhat soggy) bag smells amazing!

Is this normal?

Reactions: Funny 1


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## capetocuba

Never happened to me after 30 - 40 full tanks I been through. Also have no idea why this is happening. Are you sure its all connected correctly?

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Kaizer

hehe, instead of "bag", i read "balls" .....

Reactions: Funny 2


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## shaunnadan

Coil not screwed in tight Most Probably. 

Also rinse out ur tank and let it dry before filling it up. Juice may be blocking the thread from closing properly


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## John

capetocuba said:


> Never happened to me after 30 - 40 full tanks I been through. Also have no idea why this is happening. Are you sure its all connected correctly?



Yeah man, Its been pretty consistent from since I got it - maybe its a bummed coil? It never leaked with the RBA setup on. It leaks through the coil, into the base and out through the AFC


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## John

shaunnadan said:


> Coil not screwed in tight Most Probably.
> 
> Also rinse out ur tank and let it dry before filling it up. Juice may be blocking the thread from closing properly



I though that could be it too - but I wash it out after 2 fills and it usually stands for a day or two because I rotate tanks that often. I'm at a loss here.


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## shaunnadan

Have u tried rebuilding that occ coil ?


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## John

shaunnadan said:


> Have u tried rebuilding that occ coil ?



Thats what I'm gonna try next, the coil still has some life on it, I've only filled it about 9/10 times already. Have you rebuilt it yet? any tips?


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## shaunnadan

Use less cotton than you think you need , make sure that you can see thru the coil for airflow. Pick at it with a toothpick of you need. 

Take out some more cotton ... 

That's the basis of these.

Pref thin out some organic cotton or rayon, jap cotton tends to prevent juice from flowing properly


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## John

shaunnadan said:


> Use less cotton than you think you need , make sure that you can see thru the coil for airflow. Pick at it with a toothpick of you need.
> 
> Take out some more cotton ...
> 
> That's the basis of these.
> 
> Pref thin out some organic cotton or rayon, jap cotton tends to prevent juice from flowing properly



Sweet, Thanks. I'm out of the organic stuff, Native Wicks should be ok right? that stuff is THIRSTY!


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## shaunnadan

Native works very well

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## Rowan Francis

@John , please inspect all the O rings , leaks come from a split or cracked o ring when the level drops low , or a reversed o ring .

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 1 | Thanks 1 | Informative 1


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## shaunnadan

Also place a towel down and work there. When u strip the occ coil u don't want small parts flying around the room and rolling off the desk

Reactions: Thanks 1


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## John

Rowan Francis said:


> @John , please inspect all the O rings , leaks come from a split or cracked o ring when the level drops low , or a reversed o ring .



I will check that too, Thanks @Rowan Francis


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## John

shaunnadan said:


> Also place a towel down and work there. When u strip the occ coil u don't want small parts flying around the room and rolling off the desk



Haha, thanks. I Learnt that lesson the hard way, and with a 9-month-old crawling around I have to be extra cautious.


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## shaunnadan

I was rebuilding the delta 2 coils today, had the top cap fly behind the couch. Spent forever looking for that bugger

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## Ashley A

I had the same problem a while ago. It's because of the glass as I regularly take it out my pocket by holding the Subtank and tend to turn the glass as I do it. I think it starts to get a little loose and breaks the vacuum seal. I started being more conscious about it and started holding the top metal part as recommended in the manual and also hand tightening again when it's about half and haven't had a leak since.


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## RevnLucky7

John said:


> I though that could be it too - but I wash it out after 2 fills and it usually stands for a day or two because I rotate tanks that often. I'm at a loss here.



I've not had a good first impression of the 25mm tank. When I let the tank stand with juice in leaking does occur, even more so when it's lying on the side. I'm righting it off to an extremely large tank, pressure and flooding of the coil. Someone did suggest I close the air control before I set it aside but by that point I was already done with it.

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## VapingSquid

I gave up on my 25mm, drove me mad, actually made me angry...I found that as soon as I started building my own coils, the problem went away.

After much research I really am sure that there is actually *not enough* cotton, and when rebuilding I stuff the extra side to side in the small side holds. I'm pretty sure liquid seeps into the OCC chamber, down into the AFC chamber and slowly but surely through the top of the AFC ring. Sound familiar?

Since doing this, not a spot. Seriously. 

Give it a try maybe?

Edit, popped in a stock 1.2ohm replacement OCC, hello leaking. Small amounts, but leaking.

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## John

Ashley A said:


> I had the same problem a while ago. It's because of the glass as I regularly take it out my pocket by holding the Subtank and tend to turn the glass as I do it. I think it starts to get a little loose and breaks the vacuum seal. I started being more conscious about it and started holding the top metal part as recommended in the manual and also hand tightening again when it's about half and haven't had a leak since.


Its silly that one has to handle the thing like a bloody egg

But mine definately leaks through the AFC and not from where the glass meets the body


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## John

@RevnLucky7 @jl10101 our symptoms are sounding suspiciously similar


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## John

So I rebuilt the coil, left some cotton sticking out the side and it seems better but i'll give it a day or two just to be sure


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## Ashley A

Mine 


John said:


> Its silly that one has to handle the thing like a bloody egg
> 
> But mine definately leaks through the AFC and not from where the glass meets the body


Mine did too. I used to have to push tissue into the air holes to soak up the liquid since it used to get into the ring and leak from all parts of the ring. It was because air was getting in at the glass seal so liquid was coming out through the AFC. It didn't leak from the glass connection itself.

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## Ashley A

RevnLucky7 said:


> I've not had a good first impression of the 25mm tank. When I let the tank stand with juice in leaking does occur, even more so when it's lying on the side. I'm righting it off to an extremely large tank, pressure and flooding of the coil. Someone did suggest I close the air control before I set it aside but by that point I was already done with it.


I had that problem too on all tanks as I used to rotate 4 and sometimes I freshly filled tank would be completely empty the next morning. I used to think my mAN wasn't tightened enough or a faulty coil. The thing I found strange was that it didn't drain out if I used it soon after a refill.

Eventually I tried something else. I took a few toots, enough to get the atty feeling hot outside. Then left it in sit and it stopped leaking by doing that after each refill. Don't know why but it worked.

Reactions: Like 1 | Optimistic 1


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## Rowan Francis

The reason that works is all these atties work on air pressure . Having a few toots sorts the air pressure out low inside high outside . If you have an air leak anywhere it will equalise the air pressure and it will leak .

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## John

I actually forgot to update this thread, been using the rebuilt coil for a few days now and not a single drop wasted! Even when I ran it all the way below the intakes. Seems the original coil was flawed, possible too little cotton, causing air to get in and liquid to get out. On a seperate note, the rebuilt coil seems to be outperforming the stock coil. Better flavour and clouds, no popping and best of all - no leaks

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## FireFly

John said:


> I actually forgot to update this thread, been using the rebuilt coil for a few days now and not a single drop wasted! Even when I ran it all the way below the intakes.



Was it difficult to rebuild the stock ? Seems so tiny. I have a small leak sometimes on my 25mm Sub Tank, not crazy... but irritating, still on my first .5 coil. have not tried the RBA or 1.2 coil yet.


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## Rowan Francis

There is a coil in situ already on the base . Just needs a wick . Go for it .

Reactions: Agree 1 | Thanks 1


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## Waltervh

They probably pack the cotton so lite so high vg mixes will wick better and not give dry hits. I have noticed that on cheap e-liquids the viscosity is very low, make sure you do not use crap. Just my 2cents


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## John

FireFly said:


> Was it difficult to rebuild the stock ? Seems so tiny. I have a small leak sometimes on my 25mm Sub Tank, not crazy... but irritating, still on my first .5 coil. have not tried the RBA or 1.2 coil yet.


Not hard at all, provided you've some experience building coils etc. I posted some pics above, incase you missed them. There are also a few videos online you can look at, I watched the Riptrippers video prior to starting.


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## John

Waltervh said:


> They probably pack the cotton so lite so high vg mixes will wick better and not give dry hits. I have noticed that on cheap e-liquids the viscosity is very low, make sure you do not use crap. Just my 2cents


Agree 100%, however, I vape 70 or 80VG juices exclusively and it still leaked with the stock coil


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## Waltervh

Must be a bad coil then


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## The Wolf

I found this video when I was researching to buy my Subtank Mini and seem not to hard to rebuild the stock coils.

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## John

Waltervh said:


> Must be a bad coil then


Yeah I think so, the 0.5ohm coil didnt leak at all


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## FireFly

Waltervh said:


> They probably pack the cotton so lite so high vg mixes will wick better and not give dry hits. I have noticed that on cheap e-liquids the viscosity is very low, make sure you do not use crap. Just my 2cents



Not the issue at all, I been using Suicide Bunny and SMAX exclusively in this tank... I aggree with @John, could be crappy coil with not enough Cotton.

Reactions: Like 1


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## n0ugh7_zw

I've found, that there is some condensation that builds up in the base. if i don't clean it out once a day, it looks like the tank is leaking... when its actually just the condensation leaking out.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## John

Definately not condensation in my case @n0ugh7_zw. I do occasionally blow through to purge the coils but not enough for that level of condensation. Also, symptoms stopped when I rebuilt the coil. They should have made that a two-piece base to make cleaning it a bot easier IMHO

Reactions: Informative 1


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## Bonez007

I have been using the subtank mini for about a week now. Used the stock 1.2ohm coil and the RBA base with the perinatal led coil, and wicked with rayon. No leaking at all. The mini that I have is the latest generation with the brown insulators.

Reactions: Like 3


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## FireFly

John said:


> I actually forgot to update this thread, been using the rebuilt coil for a few days now and not a single drop wasted! Even when I ran it all the way below the intakes. Seems the original coil was flawed, possible too little cotton, causing air to get in and liquid to get out. On a seperate note, the rebuilt coil seems to be outperforming the stock coil. Better flavour and clouds, no popping and best of all - no leaks



I have thrown out the Stock .5 a few days ago and using the RBA portion now... No Leaks, Not a drop since and cloudy and tasty as ever.

Thanks @John.

Reactions: Like 2 | Agree 1


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## John

FireFly said:


> I have thrown out the Stock .5 a few days ago and using the RBA portion now... No Leaks, Not a drop since and cloudy and tasty as ever.
> 
> Thanks @John.



Pleasure @FireFly, glad you're enjoying yours 

Just a point to note though, I rebuilt the stock occ coil, I felt the RBA base's draw was a bit too tight for me.


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## Silver

Hi guys

Am going to use this very old thread instead of creating a new one. I did a search for subtank in the title in the RTA subforum and found this.
*
My problem is that my mighty Subtank Mini is leaking*.


First time it happened was a few days ago when i had it in my moms car in the cup holder. It was tilted to the side. When i took it out after a bit of driving around, there was quite a pool of juice in the cupholder.


I am using the *Subtank Mini V2 *(the one with the two air slots) and not the topfill one.


Am using the RBA base with a simple single 28g coil around 1.3 ohms and low power around 12 watts

This tank has worked flawlessly for a very long time - over 18 months or even 2 years. Gets used daily and is my main out and about car device - so its quite an important device for me.

I washed out the tank and the parts. Dried it.
I rebuilt the coil (was due anyway), rewicked as per normal - and it behaved for the first tankful on that new setup.

But then today again, while holding it in my hand and looking on my ipad, quite a big "splotch" fell on my ipad screen.

For the life of me I cant figure out where the juice is coming from. I think its coming out the airholes.

Could this be because the RBA base is shot? Maybe something is wrong with the part that screws into the base?
Or do I need to replace the rubber rings? (Never done that on this device)

Calling all Subtank Mini V2 stalwarts
Also paging @Stosta

Its not leaking like it did in my moms car so its usable at home - and i can wipe it occasionally, but it makes me so sad if this is going to be the end of my Subtank Mini V2.... Because the way it is now, i cant really trust taking it out and about...


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## Dolfie

@


Silver said:


> Hi guys
> 
> Am going to use this very old thread instead of creating a new one. I did a search for subtank in the title in the RTA subforum and found this.
> *
> My problem is that my mighty Subtank Mini is leaking*.
> 
> 
> First time it happened was a few days ago when i had it in my moms car in the cup holder. It was tilted to the side. When i took it out after a bit of driving around, there was quite a pool of juice in the cupholder.
> 
> 
> I am using the *Subtank Mini V2 *(the one with the two air slots) and not the topfill one.
> 
> 
> Am using the RBA base with a simple single 28g coil around 1.3 ohms and low power around 12 watts
> 
> This tank has worked flawlessly for a very long time - over 18 months or even 2 years. Gets used daily and is my main out and about car device - so its quite an important device for me.
> 
> I washed out the tank and the parts. Dried it.
> I rebuilt the coil (was due anyway), rewicked as per normal - and it behaved for the first tankful on that new setup.
> 
> But then today again, while holding it in my hand and looking on my ipad, quite a big "splotch" fell on my ipad screen.
> 
> For the life of me I cant figure out where the juice is coming from. I think its coming out the airholes.
> 
> Could this be because the RBA base is shot? Maybe something is wrong with the part that screws into the base?
> Or do I need to replace the rubber rings? (Never done that on this device)
> 
> Calling all Subtank Mini V2 stalwarts
> Also paging @Stosta
> 
> Its not leaking like it did in my moms car so its usable at home - and i can wipe it occasionally, but it makes me so sad if this is going to be the end of my Subtank Mini V2.... Because the way it is now, i cant really trust taking it out and about...


@Silver I feel your pain. Got my Toptank last year only lasted one day something with the pin they replaced it and i got the broken one for free. Couple off days ago it starts leaking normally its the wicking re wick but no luck change parts around from the broken one still it leaks and then it just stop working. I loved my Toptank but time to move on got myself the OBS Nano and problem solved.

Reactions: Thanks 1


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## Silver

Dolfie said:


> @
> @Silver I feel your pain. Got my Toptank last year only lasted one day something with the pin they replaced it and i got the broken one for free. Couple off days ago it starts leaking normally its the wicking re wick but no luck change parts around from the broken one still it leaks and then it just stop working. I loved my Toptank but time to move on got myself the OBS Nano and problem solved.



Thanks @Dolfie - appreciate it
But i have a very high fondness for this tank - so i will try solve it before retiring it...
But if i do retire it i will keep the obs nano in mind, thanks


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## Dolfie

Silver said:


> Thanks @Dolfie - appreciate it
> But i have a very high fondness for this tank - so i will try solve it before retiring it...
> But if i do retire it i will keep the obs nano in mind, thanks


Jip for me the Toptank was great strange how attached you can get to something. I have Rods and reels that is older than 10years and still they performs flawless if something must happen to them I will have to take family responsibility leave. It will be like death in the family.

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## BumbleBee

With 18 months of hassle free daily use on the clock I'm going to assume you know how to wick this thing but just to be sure, check that the wick isn't coming into contact with the top of the deck surface. If the wick gets over saturated it can create a juice bridge and flow freely down the air hole. 

Failing that, check the glass very carefully for chips or cracks, even the finest crack can cause issues and may not always be clearly visible. It may also be a good idea to change out any seals and o rings that you can as they could just be perished or compressed to the point where they're not creating a proper seal.

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## Max

Hi @Silver - mine did exactly the same thing thing. 

Change all the O-Rings and reverse the glass - bottom to top and top to bottom and let the O-Rings seat again. Don't forget that little one around the RBA Deck.

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## Stosta

@Silver mine started doing this at the meet and wouldn't quit no matter how I built our wicked.

Replaced the o-rings and now back to normal, so refiner definitely give that a go!

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## Silver

Thanks @BumbleBee , @Max and @Stosta 
Much appreciated
I will perform a major overhaul on this special atty soon
Thankfully today it has behaved - but i have trust issues, so I have to sort it out

I have never even removed the glass on this - feel like such a noob. 
lol

@BumbleBee - thanks for the tip about not making a juice bridge 
Next time i rewick i will try remember to take note of that and take a pic for closer inspection, and will examine the glass carefully. I have a magnofying glass somewhere - wish i had @Andre 's special magnifier contraption - grin

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## Neal

Silver said:


> Thanks @BumbleBee , @Max and @Stosta
> Much appreciated
> I will perform a major overhaul on this special atty soon
> Thankfully today it has behaved - but i have trust issues, so I have to sort it out
> 
> I have never even removed the glass on this - feel like such a noob.
> lol
> 
> @BumbleBee - thanks for the tip about not making a juice bridge
> Next time i rewick i will try remember to take note of that and take a pic for closer inspection, and will examine the glass carefully. I have a magnofying glass somewhere - wish i had @Andre 's special magnifier contraption - grin



Hey @Silver, hope you get sorted, I am also a big fan of these tanks. Just a tip when removing glass is to put in the fridge for a while, seems to ease the process a little.

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## Silver

Neal said:


> Hey @Silver, hope you get sorted, I am also a big fan of these tanks. Just a tip when removing glass is to put in the fridge for a while, seems to ease the process a little.



Thanks so much @Neal 
Much appreciated

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## shabbar

Silver said:


> Thanks so much @Neal
> Much appreciated



i have a bunch of these o rings that you may have.

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## Silver

shabbar said:


> i have a bunch of these o rings that you may have.



Thanks @shabbar - much appreciated
I am pretty sure I have some of them in the original package - but will check with you if I come unstuck


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## Kuhlkatz

@Silver, Not sure how 'stuck' the glass will be on your SubTank. 
Using metal or sharp objects is not an option as you will either damage the glass or the o-rings.

I usually wedge a fingernail in between the little ridge where the glass meets the metal of the top cap. Hold & turn it in one hand while you gently pry in consecutive spots with the other till it starts sliding off the top o-ring. You can also pinch it on the open end between your thumb and forefinger to add some extra 'traction', and pry with you middle fingernail while the tank is in your palm like this:


If you work gently, you won't screw up the tank or your nails 

Once it's loosened, just gently slide the glass all the way off as straight and slow as possible. If you yank it or it suddenly gives while you pull on either end, chances are it's going to come off skew and snap a chunk out of the glass end that is still over the barrel.

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## Silver

Kuhlkatz said:


> @Silver, Not sure how 'stuck' the glass will be on your SubTank.
> Using metal or sharp objects is not an option as you will either damage the glass or the o-rings.
> 
> I usually wedge a fingernail in between the little ridge where the glass meets the metal of the top cap. Hold & turn it in one hand while you gently pry in consecutive spots with the other till it starts sliding off the top o-ring. You can also pinch it on the open end between your thumb and forefinger to add some extra 'traction', and pry with you middle fingernail while the tank is in your palm like this:
> View attachment 92624
> 
> If you work gently, you won't screw up the tank or your nails
> 
> Once it's loosened, just gently slide the glass all the way off as straight and slow as possible. If you yank it or it suddenly gives while you pull on either end, chances are it's going to come off skew and snap a chunk out of the glass end that is still over the barrel.



Thanks @Kuhlkatz - i really appreciate this
I was not aware of these things so this will help
Thankfully the subtank mini has not leaked a drop over the last tankful and i just havent had the time to focus on all the above and figure out the issues. But your explanation is very helpful as a caution not to break the glass. Thanks

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## Kuhlkatz

I think the main culprit for leaks on the SubTank is usually a broken / faulty o-ring on the RBA base, or if the RBA is not 100% tight. The juice bridge is also an option as @BumbleBee indicated.
Mine has been rock-solid, even with it's v1 RBA base, and is still in use almost daily since the day I got it. Even if I don't puff on it, it will still have joose loaded and sit on a mod.

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