Accidentally Held Button on Ego-T; Burnt Plastic Taste Forever? ='(

[Rubber Ducky]

So there I am, laying on my bed, talking to my girlfriend on the phone. Typical conversation. We say goodbye, and I get up to go do something on my computer. But where the hell did I put my e-cig? I look around all over the room before I see the shiny metal endcap of the battery sticking out from under the blanket on my bed. How silly of me, I thought. Then it dawned on me that that was exactly where I'd been laying during the conversation. I picked it up, and, much to nobody's surprise, the atomizer was very hot to the touch. Oh no. I immediately removed the tank to find that the hole in the soft plastic cap was warped, and a brief inspection of the atomizer reveals a very unpleasant burnt plastic aroma. I waited until it cooled, during which time I filled another tank, then put a few drops in the battery end of the atomizer and blew them through to prime the coil. Pop the new tank in, take a couple no-button puffs to prime the wick, and then try vaping it. Dear god. It's horrible. Burning synthetic rectum is the only way I can describe the odor. Since then, I've puffed and puffed and puffed (without inhaling, of course) in attempt to clear the stench, but alas, my efforts have been futile, except for maybe a slight decrease in the intensity of the smell. Unfortunately, this is the only working atomizer I have on hand, as my other one got incredibly gunked up on clove flavored juice (even though I knew that was a no-no) and I removed the needle plate in an attempt to clean it, only to discover that the wick most certainly did not want to return to its position. So here I am, with 2 new atomizer, 10 new tanks, and a foot of silica rope for wick replacements on the way. But they likely won't be here til Monday. This is bad. Does anybody have any advice for me in restoring this atomizer to an at least useable state before then? Or am I screwed for the weekend?

I'll survive without it, if need be. There's no way in hell that I'll go back to smoking analogues, and my girlfriend is coming down for the weekend, which always makes things easier, but if at all possible, I'd rather not have to go without my precious vaporizer for the next 4-5 days.

Any help at all would be much appreciated.

<3

 

[bradkb]

You could try soaking it in vodka for a while, then let it dry, then dry burn the coil to see if you can burn off the gunk?

Strip the atty, pull out the plate and wick, and dump the lot in a little dish of vodka, leave to soak for at least an hour, then rinse it under water, and clean off the vodka, then leave to dry over night.

Cant hurt? Can it?

 

[kelleymcm]

yeah I'd take it apart , I use microwaved boiling water to soak mine, but I really don't think soaking these helps that much if you are going to dry burn anyway.

push button... on .off .on... until the coil turns red & all gunk turns grey & when you turn it over & tap on counter... ashes fall out ...then rinse again ...prime w.few drops of juice

the wick tho ...is it still somewhat together ? Does it still have it's little bead of mesh? If it is & has, just hold it w/hemo's/plyers over an flame (I use gas stove top ) & let it burn till wick goes back to white ....dip in water to rinse ash off & use a few drops of juice to wet it and facilitate threading back into tube/needle plate ....then put it all back together, blow out replace tank and vape ...

if you have to rebuild your wick. you can try to salvage your mesh (flatten out & re roll around wick) or take a reg atty apart for more mesh ...good luck !!

you don't need to dry these guys at all either, I run boiling water thru them when I don't really have time to take apart & clean all the time & I just blow it out and drip a few drops of juice in & blow thru & then vape till it burns off water & juice will come back in just a few hits...

 

[Xaiver]

I did that once too... Kinda. When I first got my eGo-T, I read the directions (dumb idea) and it said to gently press the tank down. I did so, though not hard enough....the atty never pierced the tank. I vaped on it for a minute or two before I got this nasty flavor, even after I realized my mistake and pushed the tank in harder. It tasted soooo bad.

When we got to our destination (not home) I was panicky, still using my crappy gas-station e-cig.

I ran the atty under really hot water for like 5-10 minutes, blowing through the tank end to force the water through. The atty smelled a lot better after I had done that...blew it out really good, snapped the tank back in, and it tasted just fine....well, except that my perception of that flavor was tainted.

Hope this helps!
-X

 

[Rubber Ducky]

What an interesting experience this has been. I ended up finding a video on YouTube (go figure, right?) explaining a cleaning procedure involving rinsing with hot tap water and dry burning. I took apart the smelly atty and attempted this method, to no avail, as I could still distinctly smell the nasty plastic after a long period of near-boiling rinsing. So instead, I took my first disassembled atty and cleaned that one, intending to put the wick from the smelly one into that to hold me over until my length of silica rope gets here on Monday. Holding the wick with a pair of tweezers, I put it under the tap. Then, to my horror, the tweezers revealed that they SUCK, and the wick went rushing down the drain, minus one small portion that stuck to the sink. !@#$%ing !@#$ of a !@#$%^'s %^#*@*. So I returned to my room, and found the mangled ball of former wick from that atty, straightened out the strands, combined it with what I had recovered, and, by the grace of whatever god governs the domain of cigarettes, twisted them together and just barely squeezed them back into the needle plate. I then fluffed the ends, hit it with a lighter, and popped that onto a cartridge. I jammed it into the cleaned atty, and poof. SHE LIVES! I had no idea about the existence of this wire mesh you speak of. I am assuming it is lost to the great unknown of the grease trap in the sink. How important is that to the device? I don't intend for this Franken-wick to be a permanent solution, just until I can get my silica rope and some pyramid teabags. As long as it doesn't dislodge itself before the end of the weekend...

EDIT: Also, there's now a new peculiar taste to the atty. Not a bad one, but I feel as though with less wicking material, more flavor is coming through. I'm also getting more vapor than I ever did, even when it was new.

EDIT EDIT: Maybe the smaller amount of wick is merely keeping all the liquid from spilling into the atty at once and has turned the device into a true dripper... this is interesting.

 

[amaranthe]

Thanks for posting this. I need to clean up one of my brand new ones too.... as soon as I got it home, I did the same thing the other poster in here did. Didn't realize the tank was supposed to "snap" in and got a lungful of burning nastiness. I was just going to wait until the LR atty comes tomorrow and then dissect this one for anatomical knowledge, but I'll most certainly give rescuing it a go since I do hate throwing more or less unused money away.

Note to self - not over the sink.

 

[Rubber Ducky]

Is the burnt taste coming just from the atty? If the plastic on the tank/tank cap hasn't melted at all, the atomizer has likely just been dried out. Put a couple drops of a clear-ish liquid on the battery end of the atomizer and blow it through. You'll know when this has been accomplished by the sound. Puffing with a full cartridge only really primes the wick in my experience.

If this is not the case, best of luck to you. Just don't lose that wick! And if you're going to burn it clean, don't do it until its back in the needle plate. This is the video that helped me:

Kanal von CIGNOTINC - YouTube

 

[kelleymcm]

this one shows the mesh kinda ... in giant size ...I have never seen one in hat form tho,all the ones I have dealt with were more like a little bead w/wick sticking out of the top of it, so that is how I make my new wicks w/the little bead ...start with rectangle of mesh , tri-fold length wise & wrap around wick....needle nose pliers help with this tiny process .

 

[Bdbodger]

At the back of the spike on the side of the highest part of the spike are 3 grooves to let air back into the tank as liquid is wicked onto the coil . The mesh keeps the wick from blocking those grooves . When I make a new wick I take a 2mm x 2mm piece of SS mesh and wrap it around the top of the wick . It should go from the bottom of the spike to the bottom of the hole at the top of the spike so that it is not visiable . It just has to keep the air grooves clear . You can use the type of mesh that can be found in some faucets or one made for a pipe .

 

[Bdbodger]

For my new wicks I just use the silica from a used ce2 that is why I keep them even after they are done .

 

[chri]

Always check the small washer (white "O-RING") in top of the battrey.

When the atty gets too hot the "O-Ring" melt.

Didn t know where to buy these o-rings if someone can help you.

 

[Xaiver]

I've never had any reason to disassemble an eGo-T atty...not saying that nobody has, but I don't really feel that's necessary except as a last resort, and knowing that there's a good chance that you won't get it back together properly (atleast not on your first try).

 

[carpedebass]

Just out of curiosity, when and where did you get your eGo-T? My 1000 Mah batts blink and shut off if the button is held more than 10-12 seconds. I find it curious that yours didn't.

 

[Rubber Ducky]

Thank you everyone for your responses. I had intended to build a new wick using pyramid teabag material as suggested in the following thread:
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/ego-type-models/169520-simplecjs-ego-t-wick-mod.html

What are your thoughts on using that material for the purpose of wrapping the wick? Do you reckon that to be safe?

carpedebass - I got my kit from myfreedomsmokes.com. What probably happened is that it turned off after the 10 or so seconds, and then I shifted, reactivating it shortly thereafter. I was laying on my stomach reading something to the girlfriend, and the e-cig was right about where my left elbow/forearm would have been, so I would consider that a very likely scenario.

 

[carpedebass]

carpedebass - I got my kit from myfreedomsmokes.com. What probably happened is that it turned off after the 10 or so seconds, and then I shifted, reactivating it shortly thereafter. I was laying on my stomach reading something to the girlfriend, and the e-cig was right about where my left elbow/forearm would have been, so I would consider that a very likely scenario.

Ahh...it should have a 5 click on/off feature too. I always turn mine off before I throw it in the ol' pocket. Didn't know if you were aware of it or not...thought I'd mention it, just in case.

 

[Rubber Ducky]

Oh yes, I love the on/off feature. My bed in my dorm room is right behind the chair at my desk, so I tend to use it as a table. I was waiting for the phonecall, and when I finally got it, I kinda vaulted onto the bed. Oh, young love... making me ruin my atomizer...

 

[reprisal]

It still fires right? Debridge/dewick/demesh it if possible (easy on a 306, but don't know what you're using). There are vids on youtube about performing this. You'll be left with only the coil @ the bottom of the atomizer, not sure how this works in a tank (don't have a tank) but you could still drip and I'd be willing to bet the bad flavor would be gone.

 

[kelleymcm]

reprisal (LOVE your avi) yeah de-bridging does not apply to tanks (NO bridge)& the way the tanks are built the "tank" is the mouth piece ...so one would have to "tailpipe" it to use as a dripper ,since none of the available drip tips fit it .

I've never had any reason to disassemble an eGo-T atty...not saying that nobody has, but I don't really feel that's necessary except as a last resort, and knowing that there's a good chance that you won't get it back together properly (atleast not on your first try).

So you have been VERY LUCKY w/these then !!

I am on #5 & #6 of these that I have owned so far this year.

Had to take the early ones apart to reset wicks they were leakers! I killed #1-#4 pretty much by over zealous cleaning ,picking on coil !!! Never do this w/anything metal especially while on batt !!! Duh !I fried/shorted out that one ...& others I ended up breaking coils .

But now that I restrain myself from picking #5 & #6 are almost 4 months old !! I disassemble & clean every week or 10 days ...have to !... otherwise they just get very yucky tasting & won't produce vapor ...probably the 100% VG juice .

edit : I had not seen the PTB idea before , but it sounds do-able & like it will work . Same basic idea as using the mesh .

 

[Rubber Ducky]

Random new question here, but what is the general consensus on how atomizers get destroyed, anyway? Provided that you've cleaned them gently with shorting out the coil, and don't heat them up to the point that they destroy the electrical connections, I don't exactly understand how such a simple device fails. No moving parts, essentially just a piece of wire that heats up through electrical resistance.

 

[bradkb]

Random new question here, but what is the general consensus on how atomizers get destroyed, anyway? Provided that you've cleaned them gently with shorting out the coil, and don't heat them up to the point that they destroy the electrical connections, I don't exactly understand how such a simple device fails. No moving parts, essentially just a piece of wire that heats up through electrical resistance.

Pretty same as the lightbulb, eventually the wire will break down, and snap and go open circuit.