I use a little Absolut Vodka to wash mine out occasionally. Maybe I'm just lucky but mine don't seem to get all that dirty. I read somewhere that Isopropyl alcohol creates a bad aftertaste in some cases, and could be exposing people to some unhealthy chemicals (i.e. the ones used to keep the stuff from being drinkable).
I noticed that a few of my attys weren't working as well as when I first bought them. In my case it was not a cleaning issue. The coil was not dirty enough to prevent proper functioning.
If you take a magnifying glass and look under the mesh bridge you can see the heating coil. In that area you will also see some fine clear-ish looking fibers. These fibers help transfer the juice from the bridge to the coil.
After some rather excessive use, these transfer fibers eventually get worn out and burnt looking. In the poorly functioning attys, the fibers were really burnt. One end of the fibers are wrapped around the bottom of the bridge legs where they attach to the atty. The loose ends lay near the coil. When the fibers are heavily damaged, the atty doesn't wick as efficiently as it should.
Disassembling the atty is, unfortunately, a destructive act. The only way to replace the damaged fibers, the way the factory builds them, is to destroy the atty.
They are only $4-$6 a pop for a new replacement. They do last for quite a lot of use. When performance drops, pop in a new one. I generally keep a few spares and I would just order a few more when supply gets low (which should take a while). Since Volcano ships within 24 hours, you probably wouldn't have any vaping interruptions.
I am currently looking into repair methods but most exceed replacement cost in terms of time spent messing with the tiny little buggers or in cost of the supplies necessary to complete the job.
