Cleaning old e-liquid bottles

[Kikofarakiko]

Hello ECFers,

I have bought some glass bottles to make DIY in, now a lot of them are empty, and I feel bad about throwing them away, however, I want to get the smell out of them.

I know some hot water and vinegar will get rid of the VG and PG residue, but how about the smell?

Also please note that the drippers on them are plastic not glass

 

[Burnie]

Hot water and vinegar should get rid of the smell on the glass, but with the plastic, it might or it might not. Could also try PGA (or 151 proof+) to see if that would work. I have found some strong flavors you can never get rid of with plastic (or o-rings) and just have to be pitched. Hope that helps.

 

[Fozzy71]

I just wash and reuse, the smell doesn't seem to seep into new recipes. If you are worried about it seeping into other mixes you should be able to buy new dripper tops from a place like glassbottleoutlet I would think.

 

[SteveS45]

I reuse my glass bottles over and over by washing and soaking in a Dawn Dish Washing liquid and then soaking in Hot water. Never any smell after a good long soak in my experience. Droppers are also readily available when they break or the bulb goes bad.

 

[Winblows]

Dish soap overnight. Rinse with clean water. Dry.

 

[BlueMoods]

I put 1/8 tsp baking soda in my glass bottles, then fill with white vinegar. Do it on a tray, or in the sink, it will foam up and overflow. Let them sit until the foam is gone, about an hour. rinse with very hot water. Allow bottles ot air dry overnight.

Leaves them as good as new, no odors, no residues, nothing.

 

[Winblows]

I don't worry much about glass bottles, it is not absorbing flavours, but the seal rings, the O-rings etc., they can absorb flavours for a long time.

 

[smacuser]

When I reuse bottles, I will refill them with like profile flavors after washing them.

 

[dannyv45]

I put 1/8 tsp baking soda in my glass bottles, then fill with white vinegar. Do it on a tray, or in the sink, it will foam up and overflow. Let them sit until the foam is gone, about an hour. rinse with very hot water. Allow bottles ot air dry overnight.

Leaves them as good as new, no odors, no residues, nothing.

I never thought of using baking soda and vinegar to create a foaming reaction inside the bottle. This seems like it should work very well on glass bottles. Great idea I'll have to give this a try........thanks

 

[DaveP]

I never thought of using baking soda and vinegar to create a foaming reaction inside the bottle. This seems like it should work very well on glass bottles. Great idea I'll have to give this a try........thanks

Vinegar is a great additive for cleaning the inside of car windows to remove the film from vaping. It does make sense that it would clean e-liquid bottles. The soda foam part makes it stay against the inside until the bubbles break. That's an ingenious solution.

Everything we use is water soluble. I just run the hot water til it steams and fill and empty them repeatedly, shake them out, and let them sit on the counter until the remaining steam film evaporates. Our water heater is set to 140 degrees for the dishwasher and that helps.

One of those little wooden racks with the dowels for glasses to sit at a downward angle would be a good drying rack.

 

[englishmick]

The hardest part to clean is the plastic child-safe tops that hold the droppers. There's an outer part and an inner part, and they can't be separated.

I never worried about it though. I figure you are getting rid of almost all the old juice, and the tiny amount that might still be left is going to be diluted to insignificance. I never noticed any holdover flavor. Never had plastic droppers though.

 

[DaveP]

Hot water washing is the most efficient for me. I don't use soap because PG and VG are water soluble. Once they are dry I can hold them up to a bright light and see no residual film, so I'm confident that a hot water wash is sufficient.

Getting the condensation out is the hardest part. I usually have to twist up a paper towel and force it inside and rotate until its gone.

 

[JCinFLA]

Getting the condensation out is the hardest part. I usually have to twist up a paper towel and force it inside and rotate until its gone.

A handheld hairdryer, on low setting, works wonders on getting rid of condensation inside a bottle within just a few seconds. If the opening's really small...use a funnel or a rolled up piece of paper to direct the heat into it if necessary.

 

[DaveP]

A handheld hairdryer, on low setting, works wonders on getting rid of condensation inside a bottle within just a few seconds. If the opening's really small...use a funnel or a rolled up piece of paper to direct the heat into it if necessary.

Good idea, especially the funnel part.