How to Prolong the Life of Your Vape Device

A vape device is an investment. Even if it's not a high-end mod, you're still going to drop a lot of money on disposable pods, coils or e-juice. Besides, nobody wants to spend money on replacements.

Unfortunately, though, wear and tear is a thing, whether you like it or not. Even the simplest vapes succumb to the damage of time.

The good news is that there are always things you can do to keep your device alive and kicking for as long as possible.

Because of the various components, prolonging the life of a vape requires maintenance on several levels. Let's see what simple measures you can take.

Vape Battery

The battery is the heart of your vape in many ways. For the best experience (especially with direct output, where wattage depends on charge), you'll want your battery functioning at its full capacity.

What you may not know is the simple mistakes people make on a daily basis that are actually causing damage.

Fortunately, these are easy to avoid.

Keep Your Vape Fully Charged

While this isn't always an option, it's a practice you should do as much as possible. This is especially true if it's a spare battery that you won't use for a while.

Storing batteries for long periods of time gradually drains them. If you don't keep them topped up, they'll lose their ability to hold a charge and end up disappointing you when you need them.

Don't Overcharge the Device

While undercharging your vape is an issue, overcharging it is just as bad. Some devices take hours to reach a full charge, so sitting around and waiting for them to hit full capacity is tedious.

However, this doesn't mean you should plug in the e-cig and head out for the weekend. Not only is this a fire hazard, it could seriously damage your battery. Regularly Use Your Vape

A battery needs regular use to stay in tip-top shape. Leaving it idle for extended periods causes the device to gradually lose its charge.

If you happen to have an old vape that you decided to keep as a backup, it won't hurt to take a few puffs every day to maintain its performance.

Turn Off the Vape After Use

This may seem pretty obvious, but a lot of people don't do it. Many vapers think that the device only uses power when firing. This simply isn't the case. While it's true that power use is minimal when your e-cig isn't firing, there's still power flowing through it.

Think of it as leaving a car idle vs. driving. The former may not use up much gas, but if left running, the fuel will burn off.

Coils

Coils can get pretty costly. The key to keeping them going as long as possible is to minimize the strain on them.

Unfortunately, sometimes you can't avoid putting your coils through the ringer. Perhaps you like to vape at high wattage, or the e-liquid you use burns them to a crisp within two or three days.

Whatever the reason, straining your coils also inevitably strains your wallet. If you want to keep them going for as long as possible, try making some changes or practicing a little maintenance.

Change Your E-Juice

If you're thinking about trying a new e-juice, now is as good a time as any. If your coils get gunked up or burnt out quickly, there's a good chance your e-juice is at least partially to blame.

Higher VG e-liquids are thicker, making absorption a lot harder. This increases the chances of dry hits and leaves behind burnt residue.

Another thing to watch for are extra ingredients. Ideally, e-juice is perfectly transparent, containing only PG, VG and (if needed) nicotine.

But some liquids use sugar, which is a huge problem for your coils. Sugar tends to crystallize and leave residue, so avoid these types of liquids if you don't want your coils to burn out quickly.

Wash Your Coils

Not everyone is aware of this little vape hack, but it's known to help extend the life of coils by at least a day or two.

There are two ways to go about this. The first is to run the coil under warm water until the cotton regains most (if not all) of its white color. Then, leave it to dry on a paper towel for 24 hours.

A more effective way, however, is to let the coils soak in clear alcohol. A common choice is Everclear or some other grain alcohol. If you don't have that handy, vodka is another acceptable option.

NEVER use darker alcohol, such as whiskey or rum - these are actually sugary and will only deposit their sugar into the coils.

Leave the coils to soak for at least an hour - the longer the better - then rinse with warm water and leave them out to dry for 24 hours.