Atty cleaning for dummies

[attymiser]

There are many opinions on the best way to clean. I'm just giving you what works best for me. I posted this method before but have since tweaked the way I do it.

First, I own over a dozen attys, which makes this method a breeze now.

Second, I do this often (about twice a week) on every atty I own, which consists of Joye510's, Expert 510’s, LR 510’s, disposables and 306's, even if they're brand new. I found that if you start the maintenance sooner they work like new longer.

Third, I have not lost an atty since I have tweaked this method. I have been vaping almost nine months and vape very heavily. You may not need to do it as often as I do.


Here is the method I use...

Make sure the atty is cold.

Drop it in a cup of very hot water. Soak 15 min.

Blow the water out of the atty from the battery end.

Soak it again in a fresh cup of hot water, the longer the better but keep the water hot.

Blow the water out from the battery end again. Shake out any more water.

Let dry 24 hours or dry quickly using another method (hair dryer etc.).

Place the atty on a battery. DO NOT ADD CART. DO NOT ADD LIQUID.

Hold the battery button 4 seconds. You should see the coil start to glow or hear the sizzle of the deposits burning off.

Remove the atty from the battery and blow on it to cool it down.

Place the atty back on the battery and repeat the burn for 3 seconds. Remove the atty from the battery for every burn and cool it before doing it again.

Repeat the dry burn process until the coil glows quickly.

Let the atty cool then place four drops directly onto the bridge letting each drop soak in before adding another.

Attach a filled cart and take small primer puffs to get it going. After the first few good hits, top off the cart again. The atty was completely dry and will absorb the liquid quickly at first.

If you quickly get a burnt taste add 2 more drops directly onto the bridge.


How this method works...

The hot water dissolves the old liquid from the mesh wick and coil.

Drying the atty allows the coil to heat quickly during the dry burn.

The burn, burns deposits off the coil preventing build up which can eventually break the coil or cause the coil not to heat. This is the reason, I believe, it works better to do it early and often.

Do - Clean often.
Do - Soak the atty as long as you like. It's a myth that water can damage the atty. We put liquid on them all day.
Do - Dry the atty thoroughly.
Do - Rotate your attys. I always have some that have been drying for days before I perform the dry burn.

Don't - Use chemicals or solvents. I have repeatedly cleaned attys to remove a liquid flavor thinking there is no way there could be any of that flavor left and the flavor resurfaces because there was still some in the mesh. You will not be able to rinse out the chemicals completely.
Don't - let the atty get too hot when dry burning. This can melt the plastic “o” ring inside the atty and cause a really hard draw or it can blow the coil or solder points.
Don't - Dry burn without first soaking to remove the liquid. This may cause a temporary improvement but I believe you are just burning more deposits onto the coil.
Don't - Dry burn with anything other than the standard battery voltage. Higher voltage will likely blow the coil.
Don’t - use rushing water to rinse. This can damage the wick. Just soak in hot water.

I hope this method works for you as well as it does for me.

 

[Kelemvor]

except the removing from the battery it reads fine, similar to what i do on a regular basis.
but i only suggest it to people that have enough spare atomizers around them.

 

[CaminoDiablo]

Thanks I learned a lot

 

[attymiser]

No problem Camino. I hope it works well for you. I have attys that are months old and vape like new.

 

[Lorizgal]

Thanks...I am just going to start using an atomizer, been using cartos, so I will not kill them, I want to do it right the first time, I will do what you say, because it's easy to read and easy to do I think. Do you have a way to clean cartos or will this work for them also, I have lot's of cartos that are old and dying.

 

[attymiser]

Hi Lorizgal,

No don't do this with cartos. I'm just starting to use them myself so I don't have a good method that I use on them yet. There are several posts on how to clean them though. If I find a good one I'll post a link for you. The only thing I've tried is soaking in hot water, drying (and probably not long enough) and refilling. I have not had great results cleaning them so far. They never seem to work that well after I do it.

On a positive note, I do really like the Soft Cap 510 cartos from Litecig. They last a really long time if you keep them topped off and at that price they truly are disposable.

Good luck!

 

[hiram13pm]

I do pretty much the same thing, but my first soak is in Everclear... 95% pure grain alchohol. Once or twice in that, followed by distilled water. One day each. Works like a charm... they seem to come out working better than new ones!

 

[magz]

Cool, thanks for the info! I've been reading and reading and trying to figure out the best way to clean an atty. I tried polident (but this was on an atty that I was pretty sure was hopeless anyway, as the button got held down in my purse for an undetermined amount of time when my 510 was fully assembled, and it looked like even the wick was burnt), and after doing it twice, and rinsing under rushing hot water (which I didn't know was bad), it looked clean but when I fired it up it was still horrible and yucky and burnt. Since I've been trying to figure out what to do on my last good real Joye atty, and my new atty's that I'm not sure if they are real Joye's or not. This sounds like a good method. Makes sense to me.

I also considered using Denatured Alcohol, but being as this is a solvent I'm skeptical. Anyone know anything about this method? Only saw one post a while back, and have searched and searched and can't find anything. I already bought some but am scared to use it....

Also got some Isopropyl Alcohol 91%, and thought I'd try it, but still unsure....

Thanks again for the info!

 

[jj2]

Well you do get into it more than me.
I probably have 10 attys I cycle.
When the ones in use start acting a little funky, I do some dry burns and then I put them into some vodka. Sometimes they stay there for days because I forget about them.
Which reminds me, I got some I need to get out right now.

Since I started vaping, I've lost two but have about four others that just aren't what they use to be.

 

[kj4lxw]

Been using just one of the two initial attys I first got. After two weeks I got around to finally cleaning the one in constant use.
I noticed that the two bridges looked different, you could tell which was used and which wasn't.
Once cleaned the bridge now looks more shiny and comparable to the one that wasn't used.

 

[willbeein2003]

I have been using vinegar for 15 minutes and then rinse with hot water. Is the vinegar bad to use? I will switch to hot water now because it doesn't cost anything, but have I done damage by using the vinegar?

I was using an atty for a week, wash it, use another atty for a week, and then go back to the first. So, I should be doing this more often?

So many people have so many different ideas. I want my attys to last as long as possible. Also, I will be using cartomizers when my order arrives tomorrow. I didn't know they could be washed. I was told to just not let the liquid empty out and they would last for several weeks. I got enough so I could use a different flavor for each. Your thoughts?

 

[attymiser]

I clean them whenever the performance starts to drop off or the taste is off. Once a week may be perfect for you.

I'm not so good with the cartomizers. I've cleaned mine and they never seem to be quite the same after. The flavor changes and they don't perform like new. The good news is that I have had some last for a couple of weeks with light use when I kept them topped off and didn't let them dry out. The cartomizers have their place but they are not my favorite.

 

[K-Space]

Hey attymiser I tried your "atty cleaning for dummies" last night. It worked perfect. i cleaned 4 attys and all 4 work just fine. my pops ounce told me "keep it simple stupid". thanks for the info.

 

[symorebutts]

Going to give this method a try this weekend. I like the idea of ti being simple and chemical free...

Thanks for process!

 

[Fitdiculous]

Thanks for the info... seems to be a ton of stuff or different threads on here, this just happened to be near the top

I've only been vaping for about a week and a half or so... I started off using the regular 510 atty with carts and carto's, I then switched soon after to the LR atty and primarily drip with it. I think it's due time for a cleaning ... more so because I tried some Atomic Cinnacide last night and the flavour has really stuck on the atty. So I'm assuming this method will do wonders to get rid of existing flavours?
For drying, other than letting it sit, or blowing it out is it safe to use those compressed air bottles for computers such as these?

 

[Bahnzo]

Not sure I'd want to use dust off. Ever spray that stuff and have the liquid inside come out (and freezes)? Yeah, I would't want that stuff in my atty. Just put the atty in your mouth and blow it out, then let it sit for a couple hours. If you need it quicker, you can just dry it with the dry burn, just be careful with the LR and don't let it get too hot.

 

[DocRokRx]

so far so good! i just finished my first round of atty cleaning and got a cloud that rivals analogs while priming one of my VG attys

 

[germcage]

Great tutorial, Id just add putting the attys in a bag of uncooked rice to dry them. The rice will absorb all the water. Its what you do when a piece of electronics gets wet to dry out all the nook's and cranny's.

 

[Rolondo]

Hey attymiser - I started with cartos and I love 'em - Recently received my puresmoker V3 w/carto adaptor (all stainless/a work of art) @ 6v and the cartos are "kickin' ...." - there are a couple videos on youtube that cover carto cleaning - prior to seeing these, when a carto started to stop wicking properly, I wld place it in water for as long as I could (one or two weeks) and change the water every day after blowing them out - this worked but this last time I just boiled them and it worked great - I believe the vid on youtube is from Nilius - just type in cleaning or boiling cartomizers and you should find it - cartos, just like attys will ultimately fail but almost all of the ones that I've cleaned performed like new - VapeOn!!!

I clean them whenever the performance starts to drop off or the taste is off. Once a week may be perfect for you.

I'm not so good with the cartomizers. I've cleaned mine and they never seem to be quite the same after. The flavor changes and they don't perform like new. The good news is that I have had some last for a couple of weeks with light use when I kept them topped off and didn't let them dry out. The cartomizers have their place but they are not my favorite.

 

[lesh]

How are you heating the water? Microwave? Stove? Coffee Pot? How long? Anyone ever try to just boil your atty?