Cleaning 306 Attys.. what do you do?

[FAAmecanic]

Ok...have had my REO Grand for two months now and LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

I have two 306 Cisco attys I use...but they are starting to get a bit foul now. Every ejuice I put in starts to taste burnt and turns brown (I use mainly clear juices like Don's BWB Blueberry..YUM) when looked at thru my clear drip time after about 2ml.

I have been cleaning the attys with Vodka soaks after each 6ml. Each atty has only had about 30ml of juice thru them.

SO the questions:

1) Is this the average life expectancy of a Cisco atty...about 30ml??? Awfully pricey ($10 each) to die after only 30ml.

2) Is there some other way to clean them to get them to last longer?

3) I think maybe Im just very hard on cartos and Attys. I tend to take LONG fully pulls (8 seconds or so). Could that be burning out my attys and cartos? My Cartos also tended to only last about 10ml before the draw became very stiff.

Also...after I clean an atty I just throw it in a baggy. Should I be dripping some juice in the atty (thinking maybe the coil corrodes when left unprotected...but they ship with no preservation fluid in them, unlike the cheaper attys).

Also..since my attys are both burnt...I dipped into my 2.0 Bouge Cartos.... HOLY COW...those work REALLY well on a REO!!!

 

[nerak]

Have you metered them?

Did you remove the wicks? I always do since the wick will turn brown and get all yucky.

The vodka soaks should clean them up. You might try to boil them for 10 minutes after the vodka soak. That might bring them back.

They should last longer than that. Do you let them sit and air dry after cleaning?

I don't store my used atty's with juice in them. I let them dry.

 

[FeistyAlice]

I typically boil most attys and then do a dry burn. But you have to be really careful doing dry burning. Later when I have more time I'll give some specific directions. The only attys I've popped, in two years dry burning, have been a couple of LR 306, and that's because I was not being careful and not following my rules. Boiling I only do for 5-10 minutes at a very gentle boil which is just to the boiling point. You aren't going to get the water temp much higher than the boiling point of water on a stove top (not considering atmospheric pressure and/or salts in the water which actually reduce the boiling point of water) but you can get the bottom of the pan hotter so I exercise caution in keeping the pan temp low enough to only just barely boil the water. After I rinse them with warm water, pour attys into a strainer, and then let them cool enough to handle. I have read that it is better to blow out 306 and some other attys from the screw end so I usually do that. When they are cooled enough to handle I blow them out and then let them dry for a day or so and then do the dry burning. After that I measure them with a multimeter and mark them with a fine point permanent marker as to the tested ohm rating. Into bins in plastic box with several desiccant packs. The desiccant packs keep the moisture down. Desiccant packs are found in many pill bottles and frequently packaged with clothes and other articles, electronics, guns, etc. I purchase small packs from Amazon.

Most of our attys just get really "long in the tooth" and don't die abruptly. I haven't practiced dewicking much but there have been a few that started tasting off after many, many months in rotation, that could have benefited from dewicking I'm sure. They are in the emergency box of old, worn out, dimishing performance attys.

I think the boil/dry burn method has many benefits but it may not be a cure for some juices and/or vaping styles or particular types/brands of attys.

Sometimes a small table or chef torch can remove char from the coil and mesh of an open type atty such as the 306 that is causing taste and/or performance changes. At some point, in the life of an atty, the wiring will just give out; near the coil, the coil, or below the coil in the atty innards. That's what happens to the filaments in an incandescent light bulb; they just become fragile from so much heat and on/off cycles. Soldering points can also weaken.

I'll get back later with my specific rules for dry-burning attys. Note.... never dry-burn any cartos that have any stuffing. That will only ruin them and cause melting of the "wick" fabric and stuffing.

Hugs, Feisty Alice

 

[FAAmecanic]

Have you metered them?

Did you remove the wicks? I always do since the wick will turn brown and get all yucky.

The vodka soaks should clean them up. You might try to boil them for 10 minutes after the vodka soak. That might bring them back.

They should last longer than that. Do you let them sit and air dry after cleaning?

I don't store my used atty's with juice in them. I let them dry.

Have not removed wicks....afraid to try after ruining two of my smoketch 510's. I have not metered them either as they seem to work (vapor production wise) as well as they did when new. Its just the juice getting brown and burnt tasting after a short time (2ml or so).

 

[FeistyAlice]

Have not removed wicks....afraid to try after ruining two of my smoketch 510's. I have not metered them either as they seem to work (vapor production wise) as well as they did when new. Its just the juice getting brown and burnt tasting after a short time (2ml or so).

BTW.... when we, DH and I, first started vaping in 2010 and trying out many juices before settling into our very narrow range of juices, some of the juices we used did make the 306 and some other attys lose performance/taste after only a few days. It wasn't unusual for me to clean 10 or more a week, for the two of us. I usually throw them into a small plastic container and then clean several at a time once a week or so. Now days it may be weeks before I have a batch due mainly to the juices we use. (I'm not taking into consideration here that we have been using Resurectors and regular sized Smoketech cartos primarily for a long time now. Those get a water rinse and blow-out and then a bunch of sonic cleaning cycles, blow out, and then thrown into an emergency box. I use PG in the sonic cleaner. There are about 20 cartos and a few attys I've thrown into the sonic cleaner over the past month. Good place to store them and flip the switch when I think about it when in kitchen.) I purchase PG and VG by the gallon on Amazon. Thanks Good Twin Nerak for turning us on to low cost food quality VG on Amazon. Actually I purchased two gallons of PG from an on line farm store when I had to order some other stuff {sheep carders} so the shipping was free.

Hugs, Feisty Alice

BTW... I'm off to bank and hopefully to pick up re-homed Curly Oak/? 1st run Woodvil and black/red Mini and a big box of juices from FSUSA Father's Day sale. (We can't find any recipe that comes close to FSUSA Applewood. Actually I can't find any recipe for a good Applewood although I did order some flavorants and sample juices of theirs to try to match somewhat.) 360mg Applewood plus some others.

 

[TennDave]

I believe Proctor and Gamble is still sending free gallon of PG and VG if you write them... I forget the exact information- I bet someone here knows though....