Cleaning atomizers (that old chestnut) - have I left it too late?

[bwilson831]

There are more resources available about cleaning Ego-T atomizers than you shake an e-cig at, so apologies for raising the subject again. My problem is that I read all those resources, tried water, alcohol, the works (except disassembly) but I'm not getting the draw on the old ones. As a relative newbee (started in March and luvin' it!) I'm wondering if, in my stumbling early days, I wrecked 'em and they're incapable of restoring to their former glory.

So, here I am with some newer ones, and would love to be able to extend their life. If I'm right above, then running the thing until it has no draw and/or tastes like crap is not the best way forward. Maybe I should more pro-active?

My question is not, HOW to clean (wise wizards have answered that), but WHEN?

Thanks for any help from old-hand Ego-T users.

Bob

 

[Jason L]

Bob

The best way I've found is just to blow them out every couple of tanks onto a tissue and then run very hot water through them about every 10 tanks.

There is no exact science and they are also very unpredictable, so different methods will work for different people.

Obviously, the thinner your juice, the longer they should last.

 

[bwilson831]

Thanks a lot for that, Jason. Clearly my cleaning program was not frequent enough. I shall try this with the new attys.

Many thanks

Bob

 

[bwilson831]

Jason, follow-up on this. Although I use a pretty light juice (TW Tobacco 18mg) I was finding the tank contents getting darker and darker towrads the end of each refill. The 'blow-through' every 2 tanks you suggested is a DIAMOND!!

Now, as I get towards the end of the tank, its about the same colour as when I started. I've also started changing tanks a little earlier than I was. The DARK crap that comes out when you give the atty a good blow-through amazed me; it can't be good, and will probably bake itself onto the atty over time. I'm already getting a better vaping experience and hopefully being nicer to my attys.

Many thanks for that tip.

Bob

 

[Jason L]

No problem Bob, glad it helped.

They won't last forever, but as you say, you do seem to get a better vape with them after the blow through.

 

[Jimi D.]

I cleaned them by shooting some PGA in the wick hole, with a syringe...

 

[Zombitedesade]

I really like the denture tablet idea I got from these boards some time ago,it really does work a treat on atomisers especially. Whilst I'd probaly not do it on a carto or clearo, for attys it makes sense that the fizzy bubbly rection a tab has when in contact with hot water would remove any hard to reach parts from an atty. Just pop them in a container, place a tablet in with them and pour on some boiling water, let it fizz and pop leave it over night and then dry em out for at least 12-24 hrs. Dry burn em after and your good to go. Atomisers can take a fair old beating in my experience, but I'd tend to clean my around once every 2 weeks using this method.

 

[pfaber11]

I've tried nearly every cleaning method and have found all of them mediocre . Now i dont bother i just use the atty until it wont work anymore and that's that . The longest i've got out of an atty is 13 weeks and the shortest time 2 days . I vape at 5v and have found that using certain e liquids makes the atomizers last a lot longer. Using 555 at the moment so we'll see how atomizer friendly it is . I dont rotate my atomizers i use the same one until it dies so i know exactly how long they last. Good luck with the cleaning .

 

[Dik]

I bought one of those hand held steam cleaners of eBay for £17 it works well for cleaning cartomizers and attys

 

[keydcuk]

I bought one of those hand held steam cleaners of eBay for £17 it works well for cleaning cartomizers and attys

Do you mean like hoover or wall paper stripper?

 

[Dik]

Do you mean like hoover or wall paper stripper?

This is the item number for the one I bought 290605879574 it's a small thing about the size of a small kettle with loads of attachments for cleaning things around the home
This is the sort of thing