We'll see how it goes! 8-o
Definitely have to let us know. Sounds like you went through quite the process. the only thing I didn't see is using ultra sonic waves to break up any carbon.
Cleaning atomizer
- Thread starter KatyS
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Definitely have to let us know. Sounds like you went through quite the process. the only thing I didn't see is using ultra sonic waves to break up any carbon.
I just finished boiling my atomizers in distilled water for 3 minutes. I figure its the purest thing to remove residues and build ups on my atomizers. I looked up the process to see how long I need to let it dry, but strangely found that people cleaned their atomizers in all sorts of ways despite this method and found no feedback. I'm wondering if there is a reason that I should not have done this perhaps?
I've been trying a lot of different methods so far. I did an experiment last night and today and it seems to give a nice clean flavor to my atomizers. I cannot report if the gunk that's built up on the atomizers has reduced any. I am guessing not, because the liquid that I soaked my atomizers in had no discoloration and I saw no particles. Perhaps there wasn't much gunk on mine to begin with, but one never knows without destroying the atomizer 8-o
I took about a teaspoon of brew rite (what they use to descale coffee machines), and I dissolved that in about 1/2 cup of hot water. I then soaked my atomizers in that for about an hour. Once that was done, I took them out and ran hot water through them and soaked them for about 30 minutes in hot water. Next, I soaked them in isopropyl alcohol for about 2 hours, then ran hot water through them and let them soak in hot water for about 30 minutes. I then dried them out and let them set overnight.
Today, I took both atomizers and soaked them in distilled white vinegar for about an hour, then ran hot water through them, and soaked them in hot water for about 5 minutes. When that was done, I blew the excess liquid out of them, and used a can of compressed air and shot 3 2 second shots into them from the battery side, and then primed them with 3 drops of liquid. I put them in my PV and puffed on them until I started getting vapor, once it tasted like the liquid was gone, I dropped 4 more drops into them and vaped on them. Nice clean taste, no alcohol or vinegar flavor, they taste very clean, and are performing well.
This all may have been overkill, but I am just looking to try and get them nice and clean, and getting them to work as good as new as possible.
Each of these atomizers have been in use for at least 2 weeks at a time, as primary atomizers. I don't rotate mine, so they get exclusive use during the two week period.
I am now back to using my original atomizer.
Also, I don't use carts, I drip. My PV is a Janty Stick. I use 4 drops once I start to taste the atomizer is dry. I mainly use a 50% PG e-liquid/40% VG/10% flavoring DIY liquid mixes.
I took about a teaspoon of brew rite (what they use to descale coffee machines), and I dissolved that in about 1/2 cup of hot water. I then soaked my atomizers in that for about an hour. Once that was done, I took them out and ran hot water through them and soaked them for about 30 minutes in hot water. Next, I soaked them in isopropyl alcohol for about 2 hours, then ran hot water through them and let them soak in hot water for about 30 minutes. I then dried them out and let them set overnight.
Today, I took both atomizers and soaked them in distilled white vinegar for about an hour, then ran hot water through them, and soaked them in hot water for about 5 minutes. When that was done, I blew the excess liquid out of them, and used a can of compressed air and shot 3 2 second shots into them from the battery side, and then primed them with 3 drops of liquid. I put them in my PV and puffed on them until I started getting vapor, once it tasted like the liquid was gone, I dropped 4 more drops into them and vaped on them. Nice clean taste, no alcohol or vinegar flavor, they taste very clean, and are performing well.
This all may have been overkill, but I am just looking to try and get them nice and clean, and getting them to work as good as new as possible.
Each of these atomizers have been in use for at least 2 weeks at a time, as primary atomizers. I don't rotate mine, so they get exclusive use during the two week period.
I am now back to using my original atomizer.
Also, I don't use carts, I drip. My PV is a Janty Stick. I use 4 drops once I start to taste the atomizer is dry. I mainly use a 50% PG e-liquid/40% VG/10% flavoring DIY liquid mixes.
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I can only speak for the 901. Tried em all. 901 is my fav. I used to roll a paper towel into the atty before i went to bed. The next day it took me at least 5-7 minutes of tinkering with the atty before it began to kick in to full function. Sometimes i'd just give up out of frustration and light up an analogue.
I eventually stopped the nightly cleaning ritual. When the flavor drops off i just put it aside for another day and goto bed. I've been doing this for the past month. No change in performance what-so-ever. I also notice i'm getting more life out of my atomizer without cleaning. I've been using the same 901 atty for almost a month. Works perfect. I expect i'll get another 45-50 days out of it. I honestly don't feel it's required to clean your atty at night.
I eventually stopped the nightly cleaning ritual. When the flavor drops off i just put it aside for another day and goto bed. I've been doing this for the past month. No change in performance what-so-ever. I also notice i'm getting more life out of my atomizer without cleaning. I've been using the same 901 atty for almost a month. Works perfect. I expect i'll get another 45-50 days out of it. I honestly don't feel it's required to clean your atty at night.
well I certainly don't have 'any' more problems or 'any' more of the messing about with trying to clean atty's since I started doing a daily dry burn from new. They just keep on working great up until they day they die. Until I started doing this all I ever seemed to be doing was spending all my time trying to get a decent cloud of vapour from an atty.
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Hi, I wanted to post my method for cleaning atomizers and then I have a question:
I decided to use grain alcohol (everclear) since, unlike isoprophyl alcohol, it can be swallowed. So what I did was blew through each atomizer and washed under hot tap water to get out all the remaining e-liquid. Then I put them in a sealed container of everclear to soak. First try, I let them soak for about a day. But I could still smell some of the flavor from the e-liquid and a couple atomizers were still clogged, so next time I let them soak for about 5 days. Then I removed them from the evrclear, washed them under hot tap water again, and then I soaked for a day in distilled water to remove all of the impurities from the everclear and tap water. Let them dry (bone dry) for 2 days. Drip and puff. Worked WONDERS. Clogged atomizers back to brand new. None ruined. BUT, here are my concerns. My atomizers are foe an 801 penstyle, so they have paint on them. After a day of soaking in everclear, no problems with the paint. But after the 5 day soaks, the paint began top ripple and bubble. Fortunately, after allowing the atomizers to dry for 2 days, the paint goes right back to normal, I man almost perfect paint jobs after drying. So here is my question. Does anyone think that any of the impurities in the paint can go into the alcohol and then remain in the atomizer? Will I be puffing on some toxic paint chemicals. See, everclear is an expensive soak. A small bottle is the price of an atomizer. So I've been reusing the erverclear over and over. But I am worried that after so many uses (even after one perhaps) that dangerous paint chemical may be getting caught in the atomizers while soaking, and later inhaled. Thoughts please.
I know the everclear is WORKING to make my atomizers like brand new, as long as you soak them for days. The rippling and bubbling of the paint after 4-5 days proves to me that it is obviously breaking up impurities within the atomizer (as well as the paint). Also, the fact that a single day soak did NOT ripple the paint NOR clean the atomizers proves that it needs several days to work, but does INDEED work.
I believe this is the solvent we've all been looking for. But my concerns are inhaling paint particles. This will not be a problem for folks who have atomizers with no paint, so dive right in and get some grain alcohol (everclear) because it's the BEST and SAFEST solvent for cleaning your atomizers and WILL work. Just be sure to let them dry a full 2 days after. It's a one week process to do it right.
But please guys, share your thoughts on the paint particles/impurities that may be lingering after a good soak.
THANKS ALL!!!
I decided to use grain alcohol (everclear) since, unlike isoprophyl alcohol, it can be swallowed. So what I did was blew through each atomizer and washed under hot tap water to get out all the remaining e-liquid. Then I put them in a sealed container of everclear to soak. First try, I let them soak for about a day. But I could still smell some of the flavor from the e-liquid and a couple atomizers were still clogged, so next time I let them soak for about 5 days. Then I removed them from the evrclear, washed them under hot tap water again, and then I soaked for a day in distilled water to remove all of the impurities from the everclear and tap water. Let them dry (bone dry) for 2 days. Drip and puff. Worked WONDERS. Clogged atomizers back to brand new. None ruined. BUT, here are my concerns. My atomizers are foe an 801 penstyle, so they have paint on them. After a day of soaking in everclear, no problems with the paint. But after the 5 day soaks, the paint began top ripple and bubble. Fortunately, after allowing the atomizers to dry for 2 days, the paint goes right back to normal, I man almost perfect paint jobs after drying. So here is my question. Does anyone think that any of the impurities in the paint can go into the alcohol and then remain in the atomizer? Will I be puffing on some toxic paint chemicals. See, everclear is an expensive soak. A small bottle is the price of an atomizer. So I've been reusing the erverclear over and over. But I am worried that after so many uses (even after one perhaps) that dangerous paint chemical may be getting caught in the atomizers while soaking, and later inhaled. Thoughts please.
I know the everclear is WORKING to make my atomizers like brand new, as long as you soak them for days. The rippling and bubbling of the paint after 4-5 days proves to me that it is obviously breaking up impurities within the atomizer (as well as the paint). Also, the fact that a single day soak did NOT ripple the paint NOR clean the atomizers proves that it needs several days to work, but does INDEED work.
I believe this is the solvent we've all been looking for. But my concerns are inhaling paint particles. This will not be a problem for folks who have atomizers with no paint, so dive right in and get some grain alcohol (everclear) because it's the BEST and SAFEST solvent for cleaning your atomizers and WILL work. Just be sure to let them dry a full 2 days after. It's a one week process to do it right.
But please guys, share your thoughts on the paint particles/impurities that may be lingering after a good soak.
THANKS ALL!!!
I have used nothing but a cheap ultrasonic cleaner from harbor freight with rubbing alcohol then blow them out with canned air 8-o
I have never seen the need to over complicate a little thing like cleaning an atty
The cleaner only runs for 3 min every time you push the button
I run it 3 times when i think about it they just soak the rest of the time
I do this once a week because i drip into the atty
I have yet to have a problem
1st I want to say hello to all and thank you all for your tips. I started vaping about mid January of this year and it has become a love / hate thing; so I am really glad I found this site
I have the Volcano ecig and atomizers and passthrough. I *think* I killed the first attys very quickly as the Volcano cartridges do not wick well 'out of the box' and I was drawing like a mad man to try and get the amount of vapor you see when you blow onto your glasses lenses to clean them and honestly, I wanted at least near the amount of an actual cigarette hit.
Now before I go further, I realize these aren't analog and can't be 'smoked' the same way. I actually had it easy in that regard as I hadn't smoked in 11 years; and before anyone asks: 'why would you start vaping if you havn't smoked in 13 years', let me explain that when I met my wife she said 'no smoking if you want to date me' so I stopped smoking by starting to chew tobacco. After 13 years of chewing my mouth was feeling pretty abused and my lip/tongue was usually pretty sore so my wife suggested I try vaping and I was all for it
So I got the volcano cigs and tried vaping and it was low vapor hits and fairly unsatisfying unless I 'shook' the liquid down from the carts onto the atty. Of course this method resulted in flooded attys that 'burned hot' and a draw like I was sucking a Wendy's Frosty through a straw.
So my wife read a little and we ordered some juicetried dripping / dipping the attys directly and low and behold, I finally got the 'hits' I was looking for except that they tasted like hot metal and carbon. Not optimal but a small victory, and less urge to pick that can of Copenhagen back up
So I then went to Volcano's forums and called them directly. They recommend a 10 min soak in rubbing alcohol, and then rinsing in tap water directly from the faucet as hot as I can get it. So I tried this and not much improvement in the attys; though I thought this may have been because I had likely 'toasted' the attys from all the hot draws and flooding from flicking the liquid from the stock carts onto the atty.
So ordered 3 more attys from Volcano last week and was delighted to find they worked great. A draw as easy as sucking air through a straw, volumous vapor hits... simply wonderful! That wonderfull feeling lasted about 1 day worth of chain vaping per atty before they began to get clogged and perform like the old ones.
So with my new ones, I tried the cleaning method Volcano had recommended and they were actually worse. I soaked them in 90% rubbing alchohol for 20 mins, then ran under hot water out of the tap. Then I blow through them with my mouth both directions to remove excess water and then I hang them in front of the heater vent overnight. The process didn't help the old ones and actually mage the new ones worse than before I cleaned them.
Note: I don't use the sprayer from the sink any more. I did on the first 2 attys, but I wasn't sure if the force of water that could be focused directly into the end of the battery side of the atty was damaging the atty wires. One of my original 2 attys no longer gets hot in any way, even when attached to the passthrough; so I am assuming that using the sprayer to focus the water directly into the battery side hole may have been the cause.
So I am left with 4 attys atm, 1 tastes totally gross (the orig) and 3 that worrk poorly after less than 1 week.
So it occurred to me that maybe I was actually gumming them up myself BY cleaning them. We have very hard water and I thought that the fine mesh wiring in the atty might be grabbing sediment/minerals out of the water I am cleaning them with. So what I tried next, and what has worked to 'some degree' (though not returned the new ones to even close to original state) is soaking them in alcohol for 10-20 mins, then distilled white vinegar for several hours, then soaking in distilled water for a couple hours to remove the vinegar taste, then hanging them in front of the heater vent to dry. This works OK, but like I stated earlier, they are less than a week old and perform at 50% of the way they did out of the box.
So anyways, sorry for the long post, but I wanted to share what I've been through. My plans for today are to:
1. Get a steam cleaner.
2. Soak each atty overnight in vinegar. (My thinking here is if the attys are indeed clogged with hard water sediment, that it may take more than a couple hours to remove it completely)
3. Read up on how to mod the volcano carts so they wick properly (they have threads on this on their site on how to do this and I think I better check as I fear I will keep running through attys like water if I keep putting single drops of juice directly on the atty)
4. Research some other brands of e-cig (in case it's actually not entirely my inexperience that is causing me problems)
Thanks again for the forum, and the tips and for reading my looooooong post
Happy vaping all
I have the Volcano ecig and atomizers and passthrough. I *think* I killed the first attys very quickly as the Volcano cartridges do not wick well 'out of the box' and I was drawing like a mad man to try and get the amount of vapor you see when you blow onto your glasses lenses to clean them and honestly, I wanted at least near the amount of an actual cigarette hit.
Now before I go further, I realize these aren't analog and can't be 'smoked' the same way. I actually had it easy in that regard as I hadn't smoked in 11 years; and before anyone asks: 'why would you start vaping if you havn't smoked in 13 years', let me explain that when I met my wife she said 'no smoking if you want to date me' so I stopped smoking by starting to chew tobacco. After 13 years of chewing my mouth was feeling pretty abused and my lip/tongue was usually pretty sore so my wife suggested I try vaping and I was all for it
So I got the volcano cigs and tried vaping and it was low vapor hits and fairly unsatisfying unless I 'shook' the liquid down from the carts onto the atty. Of course this method resulted in flooded attys that 'burned hot' and a draw like I was sucking a Wendy's Frosty through a straw.
So my wife read a little and we ordered some juicetried dripping / dipping the attys directly and low and behold, I finally got the 'hits' I was looking for except that they tasted like hot metal and carbon. Not optimal but a small victory, and less urge to pick that can of Copenhagen back up
So I then went to Volcano's forums and called them directly. They recommend a 10 min soak in rubbing alcohol, and then rinsing in tap water directly from the faucet as hot as I can get it. So I tried this and not much improvement in the attys; though I thought this may have been because I had likely 'toasted' the attys from all the hot draws and flooding from flicking the liquid from the stock carts onto the atty.
So ordered 3 more attys from Volcano last week and was delighted to find they worked great. A draw as easy as sucking air through a straw, volumous vapor hits... simply wonderful! That wonderfull feeling lasted about 1 day worth of chain vaping per atty before they began to get clogged and perform like the old ones.
So with my new ones, I tried the cleaning method Volcano had recommended and they were actually worse. I soaked them in 90% rubbing alchohol for 20 mins, then ran under hot water out of the tap. Then I blow through them with my mouth both directions to remove excess water and then I hang them in front of the heater vent overnight. The process didn't help the old ones and actually mage the new ones worse than before I cleaned them.
Note: I don't use the sprayer from the sink any more. I did on the first 2 attys, but I wasn't sure if the force of water that could be focused directly into the end of the battery side of the atty was damaging the atty wires. One of my original 2 attys no longer gets hot in any way, even when attached to the passthrough; so I am assuming that using the sprayer to focus the water directly into the battery side hole may have been the cause.
So I am left with 4 attys atm, 1 tastes totally gross (the orig) and 3 that worrk poorly after less than 1 week.
So it occurred to me that maybe I was actually gumming them up myself BY cleaning them. We have very hard water and I thought that the fine mesh wiring in the atty might be grabbing sediment/minerals out of the water I am cleaning them with. So what I tried next, and what has worked to 'some degree' (though not returned the new ones to even close to original state) is soaking them in alcohol for 10-20 mins, then distilled white vinegar for several hours, then soaking in distilled water for a couple hours to remove the vinegar taste, then hanging them in front of the heater vent to dry. This works OK, but like I stated earlier, they are less than a week old and perform at 50% of the way they did out of the box.
So anyways, sorry for the long post, but I wanted to share what I've been through. My plans for today are to:
1. Get a steam cleaner.
2. Soak each atty overnight in vinegar. (My thinking here is if the attys are indeed clogged with hard water sediment, that it may take more than a couple hours to remove it completely)
3. Read up on how to mod the volcano carts so they wick properly (they have threads on this on their site on how to do this and I think I better check as I fear I will keep running through attys like water if I keep putting single drops of juice directly on the atty)
4. Research some other brands of e-cig (in case it's actually not entirely my inexperience that is causing me problems)
Thanks again for the forum, and the tips and for reading my looooooong post
Happy vaping all
You have absolutely got to be joking or you are just stupid. Have you ever heard of anybody ever being killed by aiming compressed air at their skin? I realize safety warnings have gotten totally out of control in recent years but this is too far out there. I have been using compressed air for about 40 years working in the auto body industry. I have blown myself off with air thousands of times and never even drawn a drop of blood, had a bruise or any injury of any kind whatsoever. Maybe if you jammed a blower in your ear and shot in high pressure, it might blow your brains out, however I don't believe anybody would do that. If so, they should remove themselves from the gene pool anyway. Maybe if you had really high pressure, a stack of razor blades and used the compressed air to shoot the razor blades into yourself. It might draw blood but wouldn't kill you. If too many people start talking like you, our ignorant, constitution killing politicians will be banning air compressors soon. Like the person who had a petition that stated spilling e-juice on your skin could kill you. Just what we need to tell lawmakers when we want them to leave us alone, tell them lies about how vaping is deadly.
Most compressors are limited to about 150 psi. My god they are not like a rocket engine. I can put a blower up to my skin at full pressure and it will not hurt me. Where do you get your information? Pressure washers on the other hand can cause damage with 4000 psi they can penetrate the skin at close range. Maybe some industrial air compressors can produce equally high pressures, but nearly all compressors are well under 200 psi.
Safety warnings are one thing if there is a possibility of injury but total lies just to scare people are unnecessary and counterproductive. If you are from Australia or New Zealand, their governments think that you can be killed by wiping your .... so you are excused if you have been brainwashed by their propaganda. These same countries are now censoring the internet more than the Chinese are. Sorry to see freedom die for these friends to us Americans. I hate to say it but censorship is coming to the USA soon too because the average American is too stupid to see what is happening or too lazy to keep an eye on the government. Our media is corrupt also and not informing the zombies of what is happening. I had a link at the bottom for real uncensored news and the truth of what is really happening but I cannot post links here yet. It is a place called InfoWars, check it out! I think it is blocked in Australia and NZ as their governments hate the truth.
In some countries the population has been so dumbed down that people must be warned about the most unlikely use of any substance, material or product. Warnings on knives not to jam in your eyes or a warning on hydrochloric acid not to drink it, etc. I personally believe we should go without all these idiotic warnings as it would remove the absolute total idiots from the gene pool. Doesn't it make you question who is dreaming these crazy warnings up? Of course they are government bureaucrats but are they brain damaged, insane idiots or are they just trying to be funny, because they can't be serious?
Most compressors are limited to about 150 psi. My god they are not like a rocket engine. I can put a blower up to my skin at full pressure and it will not hurt me. Where do you get your information? Pressure washers on the other hand can cause damage with 4000 psi they can penetrate the skin at close range. Maybe some industrial air compressors can produce equally high pressures, but nearly all compressors are well under 200 psi.
Safety warnings are one thing if there is a possibility of injury but total lies just to scare people are unnecessary and counterproductive. If you are from Australia or New Zealand, their governments think that you can be killed by wiping your .... so you are excused if you have been brainwashed by their propaganda. These same countries are now censoring the internet more than the Chinese are. Sorry to see freedom die for these friends to us Americans. I hate to say it but censorship is coming to the USA soon too because the average American is too stupid to see what is happening or too lazy to keep an eye on the government. Our media is corrupt also and not informing the zombies of what is happening. I had a link at the bottom for real uncensored news and the truth of what is really happening but I cannot post links here yet. It is a place called InfoWars, check it out! I think it is blocked in Australia and NZ as their governments hate the truth.
In some countries the population has been so dumbed down that people must be warned about the most unlikely use of any substance, material or product. Warnings on knives not to jam in your eyes or a warning on hydrochloric acid not to drink it, etc. I personally believe we should go without all these idiotic warnings as it would remove the absolute total idiots from the gene pool. Doesn't it make you question who is dreaming these crazy warnings up? Of course they are government bureaucrats but are they brain damaged, insane idiots or are they just trying to be funny, because they can't be serious?
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I got this idea from back when I use to use water pipes.
(this does mar paint, thank gooness I prefer silver)
Things needed:
1 Can of compressed air
(I use a refillable spraypaint can from HarborFrieght Tools)
2 Small 30ml Mason Jar
1 Cart cap
Everclear
SeaSalt
frying pan
long tweezers
First I spray compressed air through the battery end.
I fill one 30ml mason jar(the type used for very small jelly's)
with Everclear and 2 cart caps full of SeaSalt.
Shake vigorously until the salt liquifies.
I put my dirty atomizers into this mixture, put the lid on and shake vigorously for 1 minute and then let sit for 15 more minutes.
Then Remove atty's from mixture.
I preheat my range on High heat and carefully place the atomizers cart side down near the center of the frying pan and let them cook for 5 minutes.
I then remove the atomizers with the tweezers and drop them into the second mason jar full of everclear, put the lid on and shake vigorously again for 1 minute and let stand for another 20 minutes.
Remove and use canned air again.
Clean and ready to change the forecast from muggy to fully cloudy.
(this does mar paint, thank gooness I prefer silver)
Things needed:
1 Can of compressed air
(I use a refillable spraypaint can from HarborFrieght Tools)
2 Small 30ml Mason Jar
1 Cart cap
Everclear
SeaSalt
frying pan
long tweezers
First I spray compressed air through the battery end.
I fill one 30ml mason jar(the type used for very small jelly's)
with Everclear and 2 cart caps full of SeaSalt.
Shake vigorously until the salt liquifies.
I put my dirty atomizers into this mixture, put the lid on and shake vigorously for 1 minute and then let sit for 15 more minutes.
Then Remove atty's from mixture.
I preheat my range on High heat and carefully place the atomizers cart side down near the center of the frying pan and let them cook for 5 minutes.
I then remove the atomizers with the tweezers and drop them into the second mason jar full of everclear, put the lid on and shake vigorously again for 1 minute and let stand for another 20 minutes.
Remove and use canned air again.
Clean and ready to change the forecast from muggy to fully cloudy.
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