Cleaning atomizers - I keep having issues

[Katk925]

Hi I have some questions I cannot seem to find answers too in my repeated searches.

I keep getting a burning flavor and can't kick it. This is now the second tank/atty I've tried tonight where it immediately went burnt. First combo was an aspire bdc which had been dry and cleaned for days before filling and then moved to my aspire nautilus I had cleaned earlier tonight.

I am wondering if something I am doing to clean my atomizers is causing them to perform wrong.

I found a post specifying to use alcohol such as vodka but not rubbing alcohol. Why is that? The first time I did this it was fine. Is that maybe causing the wick to break down or something else to fail?

Thanks for advice!

Kat

 

[Havensal]

Are you filling them and giving them a few minutes for the wick to prime? You can take a few unpowered puffs to help this process out.


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[Katk925]

Yes I'm doing all the waiting and dry pulling every time I fill. I just took the nautilus apart and cleaned it and put in a new atomizer and a different juice. Tastes amazing.

I doubt that it was a fault of the juice I was using before. They were both 100% VG. However the one that was burnt in both tanks was a dark colored chocolate flavor and the new one is a light colored apple juice. Just couldn't take the cocoa again after the rough experience.

Still must be the attys not the juice.

I must be doing something that messes them up with cleaning. First I was thinking they were wet, but the aspire bdc I used tonight had been dry for days.

What are the odds using rubbing alcohol to soak rather than vodka is breaking the wicks or coil down, or something like that?

 

[Joe P.]

Vodka, Everclear (grain alcohol) are ok for consumption, rubbing alcohol (Isopropyl alcohol) short answer, just bad for consumtion in any way.
Isopropyl alcohol - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The wicks should not "break down". They may fall apart if handled to much. Search on youtube for "brand xxx atomizer cleaning" like "How to Clean & Dry Burn Kanger ProTank coil". Watch the dry burn, I assume from above you may not have been doing this. I dry burn new wicks, many come with funny flavor built in. Might be lack of handwashing at factory 8-o . After watching a few videos pretty sure you will have no issues. Not a bad idea to have a bit of wick material around to replace "flavor wicks" that do fall apart or get to dirty. Three feet usually around a dollar. After dry burning the coil I will place the wicks on top and burn them clean. For the time and effort one can also buy new ones rather than spending fifteen minutes to save two dollars. I am cheap I spend twenty minutes. Out of a pack of five coils I find one or two real champs, one or two duds and the rest average out of the box. By dud awful taste, resistance way off (.2ohm - .5ohm) such is life in a sweat shop.

 

[CreepyLady]

Joe P. is spot on about the safe consumption for PGA vs rubbing/isopropyl alcohol. Rubbing alcohol will not destroy your wicks, but it can leave behind a pretty toxic residue. Watching videos is also great advice

The super dark juice is probably your issue here. I got a mocha coffee flavor when I was very first getting started and I couldnt figure out why it tasted like a burning camp fire. Really dark juices just dont vape well in tanks and they seem to just burn onto the coil instantly and it tastes pretty horrible. This issue could very well be the juice based on your second post.

 

[Katk925]

Hmm interesting. Possibly for the dark juice a carto is better?

 

[CreepyLady]

Hmm interesting. Possibly for the dark juice a carto is better?

The only way they tasted right was dripping. I just found clear coffee and chocolate flavors (there are tons and they taste the same as the dark ones without gunking everything up) and tossed the super dark ones. They work in a carto for a day at most before its just a clogged ruined mess.

 

[Katk925]

Weird. It tasted fine in the sample carto tanks at the store when I bought it. Didn't seem like they had just gotten a fresh one as the girl commented a few times to let her know if any carto was on its way out as they may not be new.

 

[CreepyLady]

Weird. It tasted fine in the sample carto tanks at the store when I bought it. Didn't seem like they had just gotten a fresh one as the girl commented a few times to let her know if any carto was on its way out as they may not be new.

Give it a try - the worst case scenario is wasting a buck on a carto faster than normal - so not really much to lose If its not super dark, like old coffee dark, it may work enough to make it enjoyable

 

[Katk925]

I also wonder if the Rip tripper idea of rebuilding a kanger coil head with stainless steel mesh could work well.

 

[CreepyLady]

No idea on the SS Mesh. I rebuild them for my SO with cotton, but rarely. To me - they are an annoying head to rebuild lol. He mostly uses my old cartotanks for now and I am spoiled from building on the nice big deck of my RM2.

I would think you would have better success with ceramic wick over ss mesh, but thats purely a guess. Neither would prevent gunk on a coil though, just harder to scorch which is caused by dry hits not gunky liquids.