Atomizer Cleaned ! Simple Cheap Effective Method.

[Sar]

Honestly i have had alot of sucess with the 901 atty cleaning , and in terms of longetivity , i have one already for two months straight and no probs, and its very simple 2 in 2 days i put them in a glass of water just a little, open the microwave and set it to 4 minutes,until it boils a bit, and then i take them out and blow them , so that the water gets all out , and thats it !, the frequently you do it the bigger lifespan it has, cheers

Are you seriously putting the atomizer into microwave? Microwave oven?

 

[wegster]

Wegster--------Unsafe and experimental means you are being told not to use it--if you do --you do so at your own risk. Period. ------Sun

Yes, I'm aware of the meanings. I got it the first 100 times the same warnings were put in every other post.

You didn't answer the question asked, but thanks for the 'once more' safety warning

 

[wegster]

Thanks for the response, exogenesis.

 

[HockerMagnum]

I did an 801 this way today.Could only see gunk before. Could see individual coil wires after. Will do a hydrogen peroxide boil next. Wonder what condition the wick mesh will be in?

 

[CCAREY]

there is a system for cleaning contacts which involves hydrogen peroxide, neutralized overnight by a disc in the case - when morning comes the contacts are sitting in slightly salty water - it's called Aosept - has anyone tried this?
c

 

[BengalBacker]

Ok, my experience in cleaning atomizers consists of soaking my crappy little Smoking Everywhere atomizer in Coke for about an hour, then rinsing it out with hot water, so admittedly I have no idea what I'm talking about, however I have "real supplies" on the way (hopefully tomorrow) to make a serious effort at quitting analogs and vaping instead, so I really want to know how best to do all of this stuff.

After reading through this thread, a story I once heard came to mind. (I'm sure it's not true, but that doesn't matter)

A semi truck driver was going down the road, but his trailer was too high for the overpass he attempted to drive under. The top of the trailer hit the overpass and got jammed. The cops, the tow truck driver and engineers stood around trying to figure out how to get it free without having to tear down the overpass. So happens this was in front of a mental hospital. One of the mental patients was watching all of this, and suddenly yelled, "let the air out of the tires".

The point is, K.I.S.S. Keep it simple, stupid.

I don't want to have to set up a .... lab to clean my $8 atomizers. It sounds like people have found effective, simple liquids that "cut through" the build up but won't essentially eat it away if just left to soak, or boil. It seems to me you need agitation of some sort while immersing. We don't just put our clothes in a tub, pour in detergent and let them sit. We put them in a washing machine that spins them around, and uses the friction of the water and detergent to clean all the dirt.

So, here's my idea, and it's what I intend to try unless someone tells me they've tried it and it doesn't work. If it does work, I expect full credit for it, and a place in the e-cigaretteforum.com hall of fame.

Shot glass half filled with Coke (or hydrogen peroxide, or whatever)

Shot glass half filled with Club soda

Shot glass half filled with distilled water

One dead battery. (sounds like I will soon have a dead battery from what I've read)

One dremel (or power drill if a Dremel isn't available)



Soak my atty in Coke for a half hour or so, screw my atty into my dead battery. Attach my dremel or power drill to the battery (just so there is more to grip and better control than attaching directly to the atomizer).

Insert atomizer into shot glass filled with coke and run it for a minute or so, then put it in the Club soda and run it for a minute or so, then in the distilled water for a couple of minutes. Then just hold it in the air let it spin for a minute, then dry overnight.

Maybe once a week, depending on use.

Does anyone see why this wouldn't be at least more effective than just soaking and rinsing? As I said, until tomorrow or Tuesday I've never even held any atomizer other than this crappy Smoking Everywhere thing, so maybe there's an obvious reason why this wouldn't work with other attys. Maybe too fragile or something?


Thoughts?

 

[happily]

Ok, my experience in cleaning atomizers consists of soaking my crappy little Smoking Everywhere atomizer in Coke for about an hour, then rinsing it out with hot water, so admittedly I have no idea what I'm talking about, however I have "real supplies" on the way (hopefully tomorrow) to make a serious effort at quitting analogs and vaping instead, so I really want to know how best to do all of this stuff.

After reading through this thread, a story I once heard came to mind. (I'm sure it's not true, but that doesn't matter)

A semi truck driver was going down the road, but his trailer was too high for the overpass he attempted to drive under. The top of the trailer hit the overpass and got jammed. The cops, the tow truck driver and engineers stood around trying to figure out how to get it free without having to tear down the overpass. So happens this was in front of a mental hospital. One of the mental patients was watching all of this, and suddenly yelled, "let the air out of the tires".

The point is, K.I.S.S. Keep it simple, stupid.

I don't want to have to set up a .... lab to clean my $8 atomizers. It sounds like people have found effective, simple liquids that "cut through" the build up but won't essentially eat it away if just left to soak, or boil. It seems to me you need agitation of some sort while immersing. We don't just put our clothes in a tub, pour in detergent and let them sit. We put them in a washing machine that spins them around, and uses the friction of the water and detergent to clean all the dirt.

So, here's my idea, and it's what I intend to try unless someone tells me they've tried it and it doesn't work. If it does work, I expect full credit for it, and a place in the e-cigaretteforum.com hall of fame.

Shot glass half filled with Coke (or hydrogen peroxide, or whatever)

Shot glass half filled with Club soda

Shot glass half filled with distilled water

One dead battery. (sounds like I will soon have a dead battery from what I've read)

One dremel (or power drill if a Dremel isn't available)



Soak my atty in Coke for a half hour or so, screw my atty into my dead battery. Attach my dremel or power drill to the battery (just so there is more to grip and better control than attaching directly to the atomizer).

Insert atomizer into shot glass filled with coke and run it for a minute or so, then put it in the Club soda and run it for a minute or so, then in the distilled water for a couple of minutes. Then just hold it in the air let it spin for a minute, then dry overnight.

Maybe once a week, depending on use.

Does anyone see why this wouldn't be at least more effective than just soaking and rinsing? As I said, until tomorrow or Tuesday I've never even held any atomizer other than this crappy Smoking Everywhere thing, so maybe there's an obvious reason why this wouldn't work with other attys. Maybe too fragile or something?


Thoughts?

I like this Keep It simple stupid theory and that's where you lost me(but pointed me somewhere) u can Have all the credit. If anyone has a gummed up atomizer. Mine are still good. Get you coke or club soda or what we think works best. place your solutions in a sealed plastic jar. put that in your dirty pants pocket and throw it washing machine. Just don't throw it in the dryer.................how that for keep it simple

 

[mark40511]

My question is, when you clean the atomizer using the many methods mentioned here. Once it's cleaned/dried do you need to drop e liquid on the atomizer element or no? I read several places that stated using e liquid directly onto the atomizer would shorten its life; yet I see countless vaping discussions saying they do this all the time. I have bee using my Titan for 2 days and have not put anything on the atomizer itself, just topping off. I know I am going to have to clean the atomizer soon, just wondering if it really is necessary after cleaning it that I drop e liquid on the coil?

 

[Liscab]

I quit cleaning my atomizers, i have kill all of them doing so, and atomizer cost is close to a pack of cigarettes and last at less a week if you are unlucky

 

[Liscab]

I did an 801 this way today.Could only see gunk before. Could see individual coil wires after. Will do a hydrogen peroxide boil next. Wonder what condition the wick mesh will be in?

hey your picture looks like fidel castro at the end lol

 

[kinabaloo]

My question is, when you clean the atomizer using the many methods mentioned here. Once it's cleaned/dried do you need to drop e liquid on the atomizer element or no? I read several places that stated using e liquid directly onto the atomizer would shorten its life; yet I see countless vaping discussions saying they do this all the time. I have bee using my Titan for 2 days and have not put anything on the atomizer itself, just topping off. I know I am going to have to clean the atomizer soon, just wondering if it really is necessary after cleaning it that I drop e liquid on the coil?

Not absolutely necessary; but harmless imo and means you don't have to wait for the juice to wick from cart to near coil in the beginning (a minute or two).

 

[kinabaloo]

Came across this by chance:
YouTube - e-Cigarette Atomizer In-Place Clean Using H2O2

 

[iduditz]

i thought both of my 510 atomizers were dead... soaked for 1 hour in 5% apple cider vinegar, rinsed with distilled water (cold), sat on hot plate at medium for about a minute (30 seconds then flipped atomizer over, 30 more seconds) ... pretty dry at this point, dripped a drop of juice and after maybe 20 - 30 seconds (getting rid of latent water) was giving more vapor than when i bought the thing heh and my throat hit was back

 

[Fud]

RGJ
I'll try it again with just water, then again with vinegar (acetic acid), then lemon juice (citric acid).
But tbh I think the extra ooomph of H2O2 could well be the key.
Also from previous experiments I think any hot acid is going to start dissolving the thin metal wire,
particularly where the coil meets the blobs.
Unfortunately (or maybe not) this Boots formulation contains a very small amount of phosphoric acid
(to keep the H2O2 from dissipating I think).

edit :Although the red-heat burnt off most of the crud, I don't think it leaves
'just a little cleaning', the crud is deep in the wick & I would hazard that the coil
will taste worse if you just do the heating step - in fact I don't think that step
is really necessary at all.

The 9% H2O2 skin disinfectant was what Boots had, didn't see any 3%
(I think you can get that as a surface cleaner elsewhere?)


kinabaloo
The H2O2 is a powerful oxidizer and safe bleacher, rather than an acid, which I think is the key.

With the concentrated acids(/caustic), I possibly now expect these to the leave a deposit
in the fine voids in the metal mesh, which simply can't be washed out properly.

Be interested in the results from 85% phosphoric acid tests though, possibly the coil will clean,
but the metal mesh might block up (I'd advise washing with distilled water rather than tap,
until you're sure all the acid is gone, due to flock/precipitate that might form in the wire mesh).

You're right about possibility of my example not bwing the worst case (although it was a pretty tough test).
I have it in mind to cake the testing coil/wick up over a longer time with a cleaner e-liquid, possibly
just 36mg unflavoured, and maybe then a further test with just VG.

An automated effective 'gadget' would be fantastic, I'd buy some.


surbitonPete
I tried the same thing - immersion boiling in a volume of H2O2, with the heat applied externally,
on the same test coil as above, it was not effective.
I think the key here is to repeatedly super-heat small amounts of H2O2 on/in the coil/wick as outlined above.


Okiki
I think it's quite possible that there's no 'something' that will do the job as a simple soak,
at least not one that leaves the atomizer intact.
I was going to try hydroflouric acid at one point, but thought better of it.

So some further tests to do then....

Never ever use hydrochloric acid on metals or its's weaker substitute muriatic acid, That will just eat the metal parts away and disinegrate it. use at your own risk but if the casing is brass and the coil is stainless it will be toast. Trust me on this since i have worked with the stuff for years making an oil patina on brass for hinges just for looks. I don't know about the cola but that stuff will peel off car paint plus it's full of sugar. In my limited expericence i'd say alchohol is safe and dries quickly, Water i'm not so sure about because after all it is an electronic part. Stay away from the acids, notice they are never stored in metal containers ever and just plastic?

Just trying to help before someone makes a mistake.

 

[surbitonPete]

Well without doubt Exo was right and the H202 burn off of the gunk is the safest and most effective way to clean a gunked up coil but even better still is to do a 'daily' dry burn, heating the coil until it glows red for a second or two every day and that prevents the build up of the crud in the first place. Sometimes I rinse it out with vodka if the dry burn makes it taste horrible but apart from that I am doing nothing else and finally I am having atomizers lasting for a reasonable length of time and working perfectly with no loss of performance for the whole time until they finally die.

 

[fritz]

Exo, Thanks for the original post!

I Just tried this method. The atty was producing little vapor, and the casing (its a six week old 401 atty) was getting really hot after five drags in succession.

I held the unit in front of a dust-buster vacuum (auto switch) till the casing was warm, then quickly squirted the H2O2 with a hypo as best I could into the coils. In the new 401s there's a piece of plastic spanning across the aperature which makes access difficult. But after o a single squirt and a few seconds "puffing" on it with the vacuum, I gave it a rinse with fresh water and let stand overnight.

I primed it this morning and it now vapes as good as new, and the atty remains cool to the touch even after repeated drags.

I can't tell if its completely clean because that stupid plastic bridge makes it impossible to see in there, but so far this is the first method I've tried that actually had positive results for me.

Thanks again for this!

 

[jackv]

Do you drip the juice directly onto the atomizer? Thanks!

 

[jackv]

And how often to add new juice? Thanks!

 

[Sam Munro]

I recall an episode of mythbusters where they confirmed that just leaving stuff to steep in it worked.

 

[Sam Munro]

I can't stress it enough DON'T USE STERADENT. Soaked an M401 atomizer in the stuff. Something in this stuff attacks the glue/welding bond, thus breaking the thing. When you put a cartridge on it gets stuck so when you try to remove it. The pieces come Apart and you snap the wires [well I did]. ...DON'T USE STERADENT.