alternative ways to clean?

[skoony]

i gently rinse the parts under hot water,then soak them in a 50/50 isopropyl alcohol and
water solution for 10 to 20 minutes.
remove and blow out the parts and gently squeeze out the wicks.
i then place them in front of a small fan.in less than an hour there ready to go.
dry burn the coil.this also will evaporate any residual solution in the wick.
i have a different tank for all the flavors i use so you will have to adjust your
soaking time when changing flavors.
as isopropyl alcohol evaporates so quickly and effectively i do not worry about
any residue it may leave as it would be such a small amount as to be undetectable
and insignificant in regards to any health concerns.(caveat:use at your own risk.i'm not bothered by it.)

regards
mike

 

[inkb0n3s]

wow! you guys are great!

update from my end - last night i rinsed out the tank with warm water, gently squeezed out the wicks, then rinsed everything in hot water. then, i put the parts in a clean coffee mug. i heated up some water in our electric kettle, and let it soak for about 30 minutes. now its sitting near my vent while im at work ill do the same thing again tonight, then try a dry burn if dry - and advisable?


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[Free6413]

Unless it tastes that awful, I have just washed it out with plain soap and water. I dry it with a paper towel and let it sit for a few minutes. Fill er up and vape on! The wick should clear within a few minutes of use. Sort of clearing out the lines, so to speak. If the flavor is that God Awful then you may want to get a new tank altogether. Solvents are sometimes harder to get rid of than the taste you are trying to get rid of. I would hope this works for you!?!?

 

[Catuela]

Regular alcohol has been my go-to. I don't drink so vodka really not something I have around. I wash with hot water for about 30 seconds. Soak in a shot glass (i bought one at an embassy once as a souvenir) in alcohol for anywhere for 2 to 10 hours (sometimes I just leave it overnight), take it out of alcohol and rinse it good again with hot water for 30 seconds. Let dry for a while (time depends on what it is) pro tank coils don't need very long, whereas iclear30S heads need hours. I then do a dry burn and its good to go. I am mostly using the iclear30s so I keep a couple heads soaking in alcohol while I vape and then switch when what I am using get dirty.

 

[inkb0n3s]

free6413, im hoping it will work! i dont like the idea of using solvents or other cleaning products - besides the ultrasonic bath? which sounds ridiculously awesome and high tech and also out of my budget xD

oh man thanks for the heads up on the iclear 30s catuela! i just cot one and am looking forward to trying it out when i get home from work


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[erikbal]

Regular alcohol has been my go-to. I don't drink so vodka really not something I have around. I wash with hot water for about 30 seconds. Soak in a shot glass (i bought one at an embassy once as a souvenir) in alcohol for anywhere for 2 to 10 hours (sometimes I just leave it overnight), take it out of alcohol and rinse it good again with hot water for 30 seconds. Let dry for a while (time depends on what it is) pro tank coils don't need very long, whereas iclear30S heads need hours. I then do a dry burn and its good to go. I am mostly using the iclear30s so I keep a couple heads soaking in alcohol while I vape and then switch when what I am using get dirty.

I do the same thing with the 30s. I have 2 coils I am rotating right now. I usually keep one soaking in vodka (a cheap $8 bottle I bought just for soaking my coils) and one in it. After I pull it out of the vodka I rinse it really well with warm water, dry burn, then let dry. I just did that earlier and now I am leaving it sit on a heat vent over night to dry.

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[DaveP]

If you are using alcohol, use something that is drinkable regardless of whether you actually intend to consume it. Mark it as ecig cleaning solution if you wish, but alcohol meant for other purposes is not good for ingestible uses. Buy a small bottle of Everclear at the local package store.

If you can't see the coil, you can't really dry burn it and be sure its clean, although many do. I tried hot water washing, the "turkey baster method", and dry burning my cartos with less than "new" results. I cut one apart after cleaning to see what it looked like. Below is the picture. I was dry burning gunked up juice that didn't wash out and then vaping it. When I ran the opened carto in the picture under hot water, it came clean. If yours are clean when you open one up to inspect, then your method is working. If not, try something else.

After quite a long hot water wash under the sink tap.

 

[BernieVideo]

I have always questioned the wisdom of dry burning. Many of the heads in clearos have the coils wound around the wicks. So if the wick is dry and you fire the coil, it is going to burn the wick. You can't clean a burnt wick. It is toast.

Even if the wick is damp with water, I would be concerned that running the coil long enough to burn off the gunk is also going to burn the wick.

I know many do it. But it makes me nervous.


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[LoveVanilla]

I have always questioned the wisdom of dry burning. Many of the heads in clearos have the coils wound around the wicks. So if the wick is dry and you fire the coil, it is going to burn the wick. You can't clean a burnt wick. It is toast.

Even if the wick is damp with water, I would be concerned that running the coil long enough to burn off the gunk is also going to burn the wick.

I know many do it. But it makes me nervous.

I was a skeptic but am converted. Just as long as you have silica wick, can see the coils, remove any flavor wick(s) and give it a long soak afterward to remove burnt particulate. Silica wick won't burn and you'll see it turn from dark and yucky to clean and white. Best to replace flavor wicks, or clean as best as possible. Some will not survive due to hot spots, uneven coils, etc. I regularly dry burn on mini-PT 2s.

 

[DaveP]

I clean and dry burn my Kanger heads all the time. Pop off the air tube, remove the flavor wicks, and do a hot water wash followed by a dry burn until the coils glow red. Then, pulse it for a while until there's no more smoke. If you examine it under an eye loupe, it's clean. The vape tastes like brand new until a couple of days later and you do it again. I keep some 2mm silica and I double it to replace the flavor wicks. I clip the ends after I reinstall the air tube. The stock ones come apart way too easily when you clean.

It's cartos I stopped trying to revive. Anything with an open coil is fair game.

 

[nobutts1]

Hi, Good lord, what kind of clearomizer are you using? There is no need of anything other than soap and water, replace the wick or cartomizer and that should be it.

 

[inkb0n3s]

nobutts1 - it was just the standard ce something. i've cleaned it three times, hot water from the tap once, and electric kettle water twice and it still smells like that juice -.-

next step? probably either going to get a new tank or read up on dry burns and see if i still have any isopropyl left.

 

[Zombo]

I clean my clearos by taking them apart and running them under hot water. Then, while still disassembled, I let it soak in denture cleaner for a few hours. Then I rinse again under hot water and place the parts on a paper towel until it's needed (usually a few days...more than enough for it to dry). Walgreen's generic DC costs under 5 bucks for 90 tabs, so it's economical.

 

[MacTechVpr]

I clean my clearos by taking them apart and running them under hot water. Then, while still disassembled, I let it soak in denture cleaner for a few hours. Then I rinse again under hot water and place the parts on a paper towel until it's needed (usually a few days...more than enough for it to dry). Walgreen's generic DC costs under 5 bucks for 90 tabs, so it's economical.

Nice! I've been contemplating that as an alt to ultrasonic cleaning (although the latter might be cheaper in the long run depending on energy cost). I test a lot of devices!

BTW thanks for the like on the http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...-cotton-rebuild-way-i-do-17.html#post11788139 thread.

I've found a good way to max the life of coil heads on clearo's with exposed bottom wicks, like Kanger's, is to purge the wick often. At every tank fill or top-off, or whenever draw or flavor seems muted, first check the 510 connection on the batt for seepage from the atomizer. Dry the battery connection as necessary along with the exterior of wick assembly and atomizer base threading using a paper towel. Then blow out the assembled head from the 510 side to clear any juice or condensation from the chimney end into the towel.

Now comes the finger magic part...placing an index finger firmly on the 510 connecter side (covering the hole in the pin with the paper)...and likewise both ends of the extruding wick with thumb and middle finger...blow out from the chimney side. This purges sediments built up at the wick ends and you may see these pigments deposited on the paper towel, particularly with darker juices.

After completing this step your atomizer will seem to perform like you just installed a new coil assembly (YMMV with dense juices, believe me, this VG lover knows!).

The wick acts as a filter accumulating large particulates from flavoring at the cut frayed tips of the wick. This accumulation begins to affect flow over time. If not cleared it gradually feeds this minute debris further into the wicking media. This diminishes the efficiency of vaporization causing aggregation of gunk on the coil element itself. As this progresses gurgling, leaking, dry hits, etc. ensue. Finally more and more moisture gathers from the incomplete vaporization at the 510 connection in the bottom of the head assembly, often with resistance changes, and ultimately…no good vapor. Reinstall such a wick and the process repeats more readily each time.

You simply can't do this on clearo's with replaceable cartridge-type wick assemblies, nor rebuild them really, any more than a carto, so I consider them a non-option in practical terms…unless you have unlimited flow and desire to endlessly forever pay for 'em.

This simple maintenance step can prolong the life of a coil extending the period between installation and the need for washing and/or replacement.

Hope this really helps. It has for me and would have saved a lot of hassle had I known from the beginning.

So keep it dry and blow it out!

Good luck.

 

[ZeroOhms]

Great posts all around. Only thing I would add is, after the rinse with warm water, drying it overnight prior to dry burning helped me. When I tried to dry burn with a damp wick (try to burn off the moisture), I ended up heating the coil too hot and got a permanent burn taste from the atty.

 

[Thayamax]

Thanks, MacTechVpr. I just tried your suggestion and it worked great! I shall do this from now on every time I add or change the juice in my ProTank.

 

[Jeddy5]

I am new to this but so far have found with all of my flavors just cleaning with warm water and letting dry out has worked for me. Only flavor I have noticed a lingering taste with is if I put my coffee juice in tank but that is only for first few draws on the new juice and then the mild coffee flavor goes away for me. But I am also running a single tank atm so liquid isn't sitting in tank for more than a day if even that long.

I'm with you on that one. I had a caramel cappuccino liquid in mine last week and I had to give the tank and coil a really good hot water rinse. I dry burned and it sorted it. I put arctic mint in there afterwards with no weird taste. I'm avoiding coffee flavours and any thick liquids from now on, sickly taste and too over powering. It's fruits or mint flavours for me, the fruits are simple to clean out and fast as well.

 

[jp_cfc09]

I must just be lazy lol, I wash mines with soapy water rinse with water wash again in soapy water then do a longer rinse. dry everything with paper towels and do a quick dry burn, nothing special just a few seconds on off. stick everything back together and fill her back up with juice, first few vapes arnt nice so dont inhale them and thats me lol. mint or hard to get rid of juices I just change the coil unless I want the slight taste of it in the background ie: minty juices with tobacco.

tryed soaking in vokda etc in the past with blueberry and few others but didnt result on clearing the taste and found it took too long lol. ill soak some strong flavour juices over night sometimes if running low on coils or if its not old enough to give up on yet lol.

 

[zoiDman]

Plain Old White Vinegar works Great on Attys and Clearos if you give them a Good Rinse afterwards.

 

[Nadles]

Using rebuildables I break them down and let them soak in hot water and dish soap in a cup for about 15 minutes and ofcourse redo the build after. Typically with my girls protank coils and her tanks I disassemble and let the tank sit in water with soap as well. Then if its a new coil that's barely used ill soak in rubbing alcohol. 91% and let it soak over night. Sometimes I use PG. and ill let it dry over the course of a few days.