No vaping device is completely silent when you use it. It’s normal to hear a bit of a hissing, whooshing or fizzing sound while you vape. The sound comes from a combination of the air rushing through the device and from the heating coil, which needs to generate a great deal of heat in order to provide the near-instant vapor production that you expect.
If your disposable vape hisses after you hit it, though, that’s a completely different story, and you’re definitely going to have some concerns. Is it dangerous? Is there any possibility of your vape exploding, and is there anything that you can do to fix it?
In this article, we’re going to answer all of your questions. You’re about to learn why your vape is hissing and what you should do if you can’t make it stop. Let’s dig right in.
Is It Dangerous if a Disposable Vape Hisses After I Hit It?
If a disposable vape continues to hiss after you hit it, there is a possibility that the situation could be dangerous. There’s most likely no reason to worry, though, unless you can’t make it stop.
The reason why a disposable vape that hisses when you aren’t using it is potentially dangerous is because any lithium-ion battery can overheat when it’s in close proximity to a heat source that doesn’t turn off. When a battery overheats, a situation called thermal runaway occurs. In this situation, the battery begins to vent hot gas and fire. Since the heat of the fire causes the chemical reaction to occur more rapidly, it’s nearly impossible to control.
Having said that, it’s important to stress that you really only need to be concerned about the possibility of a fire if you can’t stop making your device hiss, or it begins to activate on its own when you aren’t using it. If your disposable vape continues to hiss for a split-second after you puff on it, that’s completely normal. It takes a moment for the puff sensor to disengage and for the heating coil to cool down.
How to Stop a Disposable Vape from Hissing After You Hit It
If your disposable vape continues to hiss after you hit it, the most likely reason is that the device’s automatic puff sensor is stuck. A puff sensor for a disposable vape is usually a flexible membrane that moves and completes an electrical circuit when air travels through the device. If your disposable vape hisses after you hit it, the most likely reason is that the puff sensor is stuck in the closed position because e-liquid has leaked on it. With that in mind, the solution for the problem is usually quite simple. Blow hard through your vape’s mouthpiece to unstick the sensor. At this point, your vape should stop hissing.
If that doesn’t work, read on to learn what you should do next.
What to Do if You Can’t Make a Disposable Vape Stop Hissing
What should you do if your disposable vape doesn’t stop hissing when you blow through it? At this point, you should act quickly to mitigate the potential fire risk of an overheating battery. You need to move your vape to a fire-safe location and observe it while you wait for the battery to die. A disposable vape has a small battery cell, and the battery should die after just a few minutes.
If your disposable vape won’t stop hissing, the best way to mitigate the fire risk is by bringing the device outside and covering it with plenty of dirt. If the device does overheat, it might spew flames for a few seconds. Since dirt isn’t flammable, though, the fire can’t spread.
If taking your device outside isn’t possible, consider putting it in a cooking pot instead. Make sure that the pot isn’t placed on or under anything flammable. After a few minutes, the battery will die, and the device will stop hissing. Don’t touch the device until you’re certain that you’ve allowed adequate time for it to cool completely.
After you’ve confirmed that the battery is completely dead and the device is no longer hot, you’ll need to dispose of it responsibly. Take the device to a local recycling facility that accepts lithium-ion batteries or consult your community’s disposal guidelines for hazardous waste.
How to Avoid a Hissing Disposable Vape in the Future
Once you’ve solved the immediate issue – either by making the hissing stop or by disposing of the device after waiting for the battery to die – your next concern is obviously to do whatever you can to avoid buying a device with the same problem in the future. Disposable vapes are manufactured in absolutely massive quantities, and defects do happen from time to time. However, there are two easy ways to mitigate the risk of a hissing vape.
- Always buy your disposable vapes from a reliable vape shop. If you get your devices from a place like a convenience store or a gas station, the likelihood of buying a fake product is much higher. Disposable vapes are purchased by the millions around the world every day – and after just a few days, they’re discarded. Because the devices are disposable, many people aren’t particularly concerned about product authenticity. That makes them ideal targets for counterfeiting. There are probably millions of fake vapes in the world today, and they’re not manufactured to the same quality standards as authentic devices.
- Always puff gently when you use a disposable vape. As we explained earlier in this article, the most common reason why a disposable vape hisses after you hit it is because the puff sensor is stuck – and that most commonly happens after a leak. If you use the same air pressure when vaping that you’d use when smoking a cigarette, you’ll force some of the vape juice out of the device’s wick. The heating coil will flood, and the e-liquid will eventually contaminate the puff sensor. The chance of this happening is much lower if you use only the amount of air pressure necessary to make the device turn on.
