Atomizer Cleaned ! Simple Cheap Effective Method.

[kinabaloo]

trintek - very interesting idea about a biological agent - in the shape of a biological laundry powder, made into a fairly strong solution. I think 40C is ideal for these.

it is really a different angle that i think might just have merit.

Sun - i suggest adding this to the testing list. i really thought there would be no more good ideas, but this i think is worth a go. perhaps with some fabric/water softener thrown in too, as this would help keep inorganic minerals suspended while the bio action might target any organic elements within the deposit.

 

[trintek]

well, wasn't saying you should pop it out of a pot of water/soap/solvent, then pop a battery on and suck for all you are worth... just wondering if it would work, to remove the coking problem..

to put this in perspective i can get food grade hydrochloric acid, but i highly doubt i know anyone stupid enough to freebase it.

but, to cma, if anyone tries the boiling with a biological detergent method, please be sure to rinse once with pure acetone and let evaporate. then either boil 2 more times with fresh water each time, run through 2 baths in an ultrasonic cleaner with fresh water each time, or use a forced air steam sterilization system for 30-45 minutes before using the atomizer.

edit:
found the patent number, 5401325
patent link

table 4 near the end of the document is the one i had amazing luck with on engine parts

 

[kinabaloo]

trintek - just rinsing very well under a running tap will do, no need for boiling, acetone (not a good idea) or ultrasonic bath.

i dont see any merit in trying unsafe anti-freeze - it's chemically so similar to the safe PG (or other alchol, such as safe ethanol)

just to be clear - i do think we need to rinse very very well no matter what we use as cleaning solution

 

[kinabaloo]

I have made this handy sign that can be printed and displayed prominently when appropriate

 

[exogenesis]

i never tried ethylene glycol, i always used biological laundry detergent, would let it sit in warm water for 30 or so, simmer it for 30 or so... brush off the loose bits, then do it a second time, worked wonders. unfortunately i don't have an atomizer crapped up enough to try it on right now.

antifreeze, i never would have thought of that

there is a patent floating around for a decent carbon remover, i had a local lab make some up a few years back to use on some old motorcycle engines i had laying around, the stuff works wonders just by soaking, no agitation until the end.

afiak Biological laundry detergent doesn't contain live microbes, it has
just has active enzymes, sterilisation wouldn't be required.

But I'd say any non-self-dissociating cleaner would require more than
a good rinse - the metal mesh is too 'entraining', boiling in water sounds good too me.
(EDIT : or perhaps just pretty hot, not quite boiling)

Be very interested if you could find more details about that 'decent carbon remover'.

Can I have one of those signs please kinabaloo

 

[surbitonPete]

I have tried boiling in BIO-tex.......didn't work.

 

[kinabaloo]

rinsing is all we do with our laundry, and skin is a good absorber of most chemicals - so i think a very good rinse will be enough; but everyone can go further if they wish (but acetone is bad for some plastics and takes time to evaporate).

yes, enzymes - might just do something ...

exogenesis - welcome to copy the sign - and perhaps improve my artwork/doodle

 

[kinabaloo]

I have tried boiling in BIO-tex.......didn't work.

Ah, but the enzymes don't work above about 45C. nalopkt

 

[Vapinginmyboots]

this may be a stupid question, has anyone tried CLR or anything similar? I used to clean my shower head by soaking it in it, it will get rid of everything from the gunk all the way up to the rubber in it (if left soaking too long). Would love an opinion on this one mine are still fresh, but not forever unfortuneately.

 

[BARENETTED]

Can someone tell me what is 'em'? thanks!

 

[exogenesis]

kinabaloo, you got that in just before I did
serbitonPete, did you try leave it soaking for a few days at room temp?

Betcha 100 squids you'd easily detect some amounts of most of these cleaners
in the mesh after just a rinse (possibly not H2O2 though which is what attracted me to it)

EM is 'effective microorganisms' - a mixed culture of bacteria, yeast etc,
I guess that would count as enzyme cleaning, but with microbes still attached.

edit: CLR is a mixture of acids including citric acid + soap,
probably would be similarly effective to other acids tried,
but everyhing is worth trying.

edit again:
when did these atomizer cleaning threads get moved to 'experiments with...' ?

 

[Vapinginmyboots]

Hmm you got a point there, when an atomizer kicks out on me im probably going to try it, no harm in that, ill letcha all know if it does anything

 

[kinabaloo]

Exogenesis - moved when we developed from cola towards hazard suits and piranha juice

Maybe you're right, laundry solution is partly a suspension of particulates, but if you rinse loooong enough ...

How about Activia? Or Yukult??

(joking)

 

[Flitzanu]

exo - in case i missed it, what are you heating with? just a universal AC plug or something?

 

[trintek]

exo, i edited my post on page 7 with the patent number and link.

when i used the stuff, i let the parts sit overnight, it removed at least 90% of the deposits (i would say 100% but i didn't put the parts under a scope, so...). i had to brush one cylinder but, didn't have to resoak it, the carbon just fell off, so simple agitation should do the same.

i have been looking into alternative atomizer heaters, but so far it looks like nichrome is the cheapest and easiest to replace/build.. i even went so far as to take one of my pcb heaters and put a drop of pg on it to se if it would get hot enough to vape, it did, but not well.. cleaning it would certainly be easier though.

 

[exogenesis]

Flitzanu, I used the 4.5 mm plug on a DC 3.0 / 4.5 volt 'generic' battery charger,
(1200 mA max current, this one also has 6, 9, 12 V on it)
From UK Argos store : item 982/9701, £10,
aloso it came with interchangable jack plugs, the 4.5 mm fitted my DSE901 atomizer nicely,
other sized/shaped plugs may be better for other e-cig models ?
Guess anything similar will work.

trintek, thanks for that, looks like various solvents + soap,
some new (to me) solvents there like morpholine, might well be worth a try.

 

[exogenesis]

trintekm
certain aspects of the standard coil design seem a bit naff to me.
i.e. 15mm length of 0.1mm diam nichrome wire in 8 or 9 loops of around
a glass-fibre or kevlar-like polymer fibre bundle.

I'm toying with the idea that you could remove the wick if you had a much longer
'bundle' of finer wire, which could be far easier to clean.

Tungsten wire forms an insulating oxide layer (like nichrome does)
so (probably) there shouldn't be any shorting across the bundle (I hope).

At 0.05mm diam, would need 50mm length to give same resistance,
& about the same metal mass & 7 times the surface area
(of a standard coil)
Or maybe 2 strands of 100 mm length.

At 0.1mm diam would need 200mm length, 20 times the metal mass, and
20 times the surface area.

(Affordable) available diameters go right down to 0.01 mm diam
= 7 strands of 15mm length for same resistance.

Not sure which would be better.

i.e. the the objective is to make the heating wire become the wick.

 

[trintek]

i actually did a few experiments with nichrome from mcmaster-carr using kevlar thread as a wick (to build the coil and wick i inserted a thin needle into the kevlar thread lengthwise, then used that as a form to wrap the nichrome). the main reason for the experiment was to see if a button cell lion battery would be able to vape, it was, not very effective, but it worked.

as for the insulating oxide layer, that seems to be true, but i never got to the point where i braided or spiraled the wire. the next time i order parts, i will probably be ordering nichrome in various diameters for further experiments. until i get all the bills paid and such, i am on a short leash, and covered in hair dye at the moment...

nichrome wire from mcmaster-carr is available in 0.07874mm size, may be a good candidate for experimentation. my initial ideas were probably along the same lines as everybody elses, ceramic heater, quartz lamp, etc. i just happened to have a few of the chip heaters laying around at the time to play with.

i have not found a source for the silica glass wick yet, kevlar thread can be bought just about anywhere these days including bass pro shops (same stuff i used to use to sew my torches when i was fire breathing).

i really think the secret to a long life atomizer is going to lie in ease of cleaning and removing carbon deposits. to that end, i believe the best bet would either be a flat design bonded to mica, or some other easy to clean substrate.

 

[kinabaloo]

Exogenesis - I have thought about that too, but I'm fairly sure the coil would short out when clean. After some deposit formed might be ok - but then the problem might well be that the coil gets too wet and will not heat up sufficiently.

trinket - i think the secret will also be in formulating juices to leave/cause less deposit. Am waiting for Sun's report on how much deposit is formed by plain VG+water (and nothing else); hopefully none, that'll be a good start

 

[jigtg]

Removing Carbon from a Pan Bottom has some more ideas in case interested.