How to Fix Vape Pen Atomizer Problems (No Atomizer, Atomizer Short, Check Vape Coil, and Others)

Here’s a situation you can probably relate to as a vaper – after a long and stressful day, you’re finally home and want to relax on the sofa while puffing on your favorite vape juice. You’ve changed out your coil and topped up your vape tank, and you’re just about to take that first sweet hit when your vape pen screen flashes to let you know that there’s “no atomizer” detected! 

What the heck!? And you’ve just put in a new coil or a cartridge and everything…

This is the equivalent of visiting your favorite website only to find it locked behind a “404 Not Found” error. It’s frustrating and puzzling. It’s also a very common problem. And, most vapers don’t really know how to deal with it quickly and efficiently.

The “no atomizer” error is not the only vape atomizer problem you’re likely to encounter in your vaping career, regardless of whether you vape on e-liquid, wax, dry herb, or oil. There’s a slew of atomizer issues that can potentially plague you – from a message saying there’s no atomizer detected to various messages saying that the atomizer is “low” or urging you to “check atomizer”.

You can check some of the fixes here in this video:

But… if it ain’t there, make sure to read this post.

Since different brands often use a variety of messages to warn users about different problems (or just one to warn them about all atomizer problems), we don’t want to go into specific messages (and how to solve their underlying issues). Instead, we’ll focus on the actual reasons behind these messages, as well as give you a step by step process that can help resolve things.

Fixing 6 Common Atomizer Problems

If you want to learn how to fix a vape atomizer, here are the six most common issues behind error messages and our tested and tried solutions!

Your Chipset is Fried

Higher-end vape mods come with a lot of little fiddly electronic parts. This is especially true of those that boast to have temperature control options. 

And, like everything else that’s packed with electronics, these mods can occasionally fail. That’s why it’s important that you register your purchase for warranty purposes, or, better yet, buy from companies that offer a lifetime warranty on electronic defects even without registration (you can check Kind Pen’s lifetime warranty policy here). 

If your mod is giving you an atomizer error message that simply won’t go away no matter what you do, it might be down to a faulty chipset.

How to solve this problem: Other than replacing the chipset or the mod, there’s not much that you can do here.

When your chipset is responsible for an “atomizer short “or a “no atomizer” error message, it means that it’s preventing firing on the basest of levels. There’s nothing here that you can fiddle with or adjust to fix this. Your heating chamber and atomizer head are simply not getting the juice they need because that little computer is not telling your e-cigarette to send it there. A good idea would be to reach out to the manufacturer (or the dealer) to try to get a replacement device. Just keep in mind that some companies are better at customer service than others – often, if the manufacturer is stalling you, it’s best to cut your losses and buy another mod. Of course, before purchasing any of these high-end mods, do your research and check online to read what other vapers are saying about them.

Damaged Vaporizer

It’s no secret that after the initial honeymoon period has passed, a lot of vapers mistreat their mods. Accidents do happen but that’s no excuse for tossing your vaporizer on the table (especially because it often ends up on the floor). If you’re one of the vapers who handles their mod with less care than is warranted, there are several reasons why you could be getting a no atomizer error message.

• There’s vape juice in your vape pen – leaky atomizers are damaged atomizers. When juice seeps into your circuitry, the connector, and the contact points, and it can damage them and cause your vape pen to show error messages when there’s actually nothing wrong with the atomizer.
• You keep dropping your pen – one drop too much and you’re risking rattling the insides of your device. Those connections might be well-soldered but there’s no guarantee that one of them won’t break off, and then it’s bye-bye vape mod! Seriously, keep dropping that pen and you’ll be in a world of technical issues.
• You’re over-tightening your atomizer – you should be gentle with your atomizer. Over-tightening it can break the 510 connection, as well as snap the wires that are connected to it.

How to solve this problem: This is solvable but it’s going to be a lot of hassle even if you have substantial knowledge of internal wiring and soldering.

If you’re someone that’s used to tinkering with small wires and chipsets on a daily basis, you might be able to fix a detached internal wire. But, you’re going to sweat for it! Soldering tiny vape components requires a working knowledge of their electronics and a steady hand. For example, you’ll want to check the base of the tank to make sure that there is no connection issue with the pin. And you’ll want to check your post screws – sometimes they don’t connect well to the coil and that’s causing the error [or you might have a short circuit issue going on]. Often, it just pays more to invest in a new mod and take better care of it.

There’s a Problem With Your 510 Connection Pin

In short, a tank’s 510 connection is that little bit with threads that protrudes and is screwed onto a vaporizer. It has a little pin that’s movable and that carries the positive charge from the vaporizer to the tank. It’s that little pin that can go haywire sometimes, and fail to connect. Usually, this is fixable but it doesn’t have to be – sometimes you just get a faulty one that’s either too deep or too shallow and it won’t work for your mod.

How to solve this problem: If the problem is indeed solvable, then it shouldn’t take you more than a few minutes of fiddling with your pin to sort it out.

The first thing that you need to do is detach your tank from the mod. Identify if it’s an adjustable or non-adjustable pin. You can get a non-adjustable pin to extrude a bit more by pressing on the inside of the base. For an adjustable pin, you will need a flathead screwdriver and you can do the same thing by rotating it counterclockwise. Play with the pin a bit and try to connect it to your mod to see if you got it right. If you’re not sure how to do it, just watch this super short video and you’ll see it’s not that big of a problem.

Also, the problem might just be that the pin is dirty so it’s not making a good connection. There are ways to fix this quickly. Simply take a paper towel – or a q-tip – put some isopropyl alcohol on it, and gently clean the point of contact. If there’s vape juice or other gunk or debris baked on there, take a paper clip and scrape it off. This should do the trick.

You’re Using (Too) Low Resistance Coils

There’s one thing that vapers tend to forget when it comes to these messages, and that’s that they are there for a reason. They were added by the manufacturer to protect you from faulty atomizers, and to prevent firing mishaps that can cause damage or injury. 

So with that in mind, it pays to know that these messages will display if you attempt to fire a coil that has a very low resistance. This usually happens in rebuildable atomizers, and when vapers are pushing the limits of what’s considered safe when it comes to resistance. If you’re getting a “check atomizer” or “no atomizer” error message and you’re trying to fire a 0.05 ohm coil, that low build is precisely the reason why it won’t fire – your vaporizer is doing its best to save your life!

How to solve this problem: It’s simple really – check the lowest coil’s resistance that your vaporizer will fire and don’t build coils below that recommendation!

Keep in mind that if you’re building coils[because you’re using a sub-ohm tank or similar], using them will lower their resistance after a while (this is due to heat being continually applied). If that happens, try to add a few more wraps to them so that the resistance increases. If we’re talking about a pre-built coil, there’s not much that you can do here. You can either find a higher resistance coil to use with your mod or a mod that can safely fire ultra-low resistance builds (this is not advisable unless you have a working knowledge of Ohm’s Law and are well-versed in vape battery safety). 

Your Coils Are Shorting 

A coil short happens when your coil is touching the sides of your tank, or anything else that they are not meant to touch. This can happen for both factory coils and those that you build yourself but it’s more common if you’re a DIY coil rebuilder.

Here’s an example of a rebuildable coil shorting – the positive pin is attached to one end of the coil and the negative pin is attached to the other. However, once you put your top cap on, the sides are touching the coil (usually because it’s either too large or protrudes to one side too much), and that causes your mod to show you a “no atomizer” or “short atomizer” error message. But, it should only touch your heating element.

How to solve this problem: If you’re using a factory coil, the problem might be in how the coil is attached to the base of your tank. It needs to sit flush, without tipping to either side or touching any of the other tank components. Take out the atomizer and try to fit it in properly. If it still doesn’t work, try a different atomizer – if that one works, just toss the previous out as you’ve probably gotten a dud in your batch.

For rebuildable coils, check the coil and the connection and make sure that everything is tightly screwed so it’s not wobbling when you put the top cap on. Also, check the size of your coil – if it’s too big and touches the sides, you will keep getting an atomizer error message. Build a slightly smaller coil that can fit neatly on your build deck and you should be fine.

Your Insulators Are Giving You a Hard Time

Insulation between positive and negative pins needs to be airtight on your mod if you expect it to work properly. That’s why all of these devices have PEEK insulators built in – they’re the best of the bunch and will keep you safe. However, this doesn’t mean that they can’t get damaged during use, and cause your vaporizer to show you that dreaded “no atomizer” message that prevents you from vaping.

How to solve this problem: It’s pretty simple – just check your insulators from time to time for any signs of wear and tear. The insulator that’s mostly problematic is the one on the center positive post. Remove the post if possible and check if the little plastic thing that goes around it is intact. If it isn’t, there’s a real possibility that it will create a hard short, which means that you will get an atomizer error message and there’s an increased likelihood that your battery will vent. If the insulator is damaged, make sure NOT TO USE THAT rebuildable deck or coil. If the insulator looks intact, then it’s probably not what’s causing your error message (it’s going to be one of the other five things further up on this list).

In fact, it’s a good idea to periodically check your entire e-cig, vape device, or box mod for signs of deterioration. There’s a lot that can go wrong here, especially if you have a more advanced device so every once in a while, check everything from your fire button to your mouthpiece to your 510 thread battery. It’s easier to catch things this way and they fix it in seconds, then to wait for your vape device to go totally bust. Proper care and simple solutions beat having to buy a new device every time.

Fix Your Vape Device Error Messages in Seconds!

Well, some of the tips we shared here should technically help you fix those “atomizer low” messages and other vape atomizer issues relatively quickly. Best way scenario, you will just need to fiddle a bit with your setup, take it apart so you can identify the problem, and then prod it a few times to fix it!. No big deal, right?

Unfortunately, this won’t be 100% of the time. Occasionally, you will just get a bad coil (or a faulty vaporizer) that won’t budge no matter what you do. If that happens, you’ll most likely need to light a candle to the god of vaping and pray that your supplier has a reasonable return policy.

Or, you can just order from Kind Pen!

We offer a lifetime warranty on all of our products, and that warranty covers factory errors and other atomizer issues. Keep in mind that in, most cases, you won’t need to use it – we make sure that our products are inspected for quality to reduce any hassle for our customers down the road. Still, a lifetime warranty is guaranteed to put your mind at ease, right? If you have any questions about The Kind Pen, make sure to reach out to one of our vape specialists. They’ll be happy to answer all your questions and help you pick out a vaporizer that suits your vaping style!