Cleaning Vivi (mini) Nova Heads

[Shapermc]

Hello! I've recently learned how to dry burn after rinsing and that's bringing back the flavor for me much better than just straight washing and drying. I've read that I should soak my heads in PGA to get the best result, but I can't find any where to buy near me (at least at a reasonable cost). I'd like to move onto soaking heads in a cleaning solution and swapping them out hoping to add some longevity to my heads, but am not sure what to use. Would 91% rubbing alcohol do the trick? Will rinsing after a soak be enough to get the alcohol out? Should I still dry burn after soaking? How best should I go about this?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Berylanna]

Rubbing alcohol is not food safe, it is a different chemical (isopropynol vs. ethanol) though one guy said he used it and rinsed the heck out of it.

I use vodka, though Everclear would be better I have to get friends to bring it back from Nevada, so I use Vodka. I just bought a big cheap bottle at Costco, I haven't even tasted it yet, but after 3 months of use it's only about 1/5 gone.

You can get PG from Wizard Labs.

I've found that I only get a second use, not a third or 4th, by cleaning the heads, but my roomie cleans hers more often and she gets more uses.

I also found that rebuilding them myself, after 3 months of being too chicken, took me about 1/2 hour per head, but by the third one I could tell I was getting faster and better. ALWAYS ohm-out rebuilt heads, and always use them first on a protected battery, see the sticky on the mod forum. I'm vaping my first rebuild now, I'd say I'm probably only getting a little bit longer use out of it than out of the shipped ones, but at least the cheesecloth is not flaking into little silicon bits. The flavor is great with cheesecloth, next week I'll try one of the bamboo-yarn ones.

 

[Thrasher]

the highest proof vodka or clear rum you can get do not use rubbing alcohol.... ever..... never ever.... ever



I like rum so the little wiff left in the head of 150 is fine w me lol

 

[steved5600]

You can use any alcohol if you let it dry or rinse it good later. Just don't vape with it right away after soaking. It will evaporate quickly and will not leave any trace of alcohol. Just don't use if with out drying or washing it good with water and then let it dry. I do it all the time. Ethanol is real expensive and if you can afford it sure. But you don't have to.

 

[tc1]

Wouldn't a warm water soak and good dry burn do the job?

Rubbing alcohol is one of the safest solvents to clean most plastics btw. It's actually the best solvent for polycarbon. Just let it evaporate.

 

[AttyPops]

Not again.......

Forget it. I'm not posting. Nope. Nada. No.

OK...a link. But that's my limit: http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/new-members-forum/345077-isopropyl-alchol-cleaning-atty.html

 

[mostlyclassics]

Folks, there is a bunch of misinformation about non-booze alcohols out there. Here, paraphrased, is what I wrote on the subject back in August, after I did research to make sure I got my facts right:

In the U.S., USP isopropyl alcohol is just that (C3H8O) and nothing else except water. On the other hand, by Federal law, rubbing alcohol is ethanol (C2H5OH) mixed with denaturants and other things, some of which don't evaporate. Here in Illinois, rubbing alcohol is also tinted either green or blue, while isopropyl alcohol (either 70% or 91%) is colorless. But rubbing alcohol can be colorless in other states, so you can't use presence or absence of color to determine if the particular rubbing alcohol is okay to use. Read the label!

Let me stress again, C3H8O (isopropyl alcohol) is absolutely not the same chemical compound as C2H5OH (ethanol). Isopropyl alcohol is poison, and so does not need to be denatured. Out of the bottle you get from the pharmacy or wherever, it's pure isopropyl alcohol and pure water and nothing else. Once it's completely evaporated there's no residue at all. It's totally gone. Ethanol is booze-alcohol, and thus has to be denatured (i.e., poisoned) so it cannot be drunk. Even when completely evaporated, it's most likely left behind the chemicals used to denature it, so it is totally inappropriate to use for cleaning our vaping devices.

 

[Thrasher]

190/200 proof PGA (I.E. ethanol) can be bought at the liquor store. used to by it in kentucky for like 7to 9 bucks a bottle

 

[AttyPops]

190/200 proof PGA (I.E. ethanol) can be bought at the liquor store. used to by it in kentucky for like 7to 9 bucks a bottle

I think it's unavailable in some states... mostly due to kids doing stupid things.... like having drinking contests with it and accidentally overdosing. Sad.

 

[mostlyclassics]

In Illinois, the 190 proof Everclear runs $20.00 per bottle. The price for this stuff varies from state to state, and it's not available in every state.

Attypops and I must have been typing at the same instant!

 

[candimccann]

Question to anyone who might know...

I have read helpful hints for cleaning everything that suggest using Coke to clean ring around a toilet, remove hard water stain, cleaning copper bottom pots, etc. Would Coke work to cut through the gunk on a coil? Coke soak, rinse, dry burn if needed?

I don't drink, and we never keep alcohol in the house, so vodka is not an option.

 

[AttyPops]

I've heard of people using it. They usually use the diet stuff (no sugar residue).

OTHO...I've heard of people using denture cleaner too. So......

Try lemon juice. Or ISO. Or vinegar (hard to get taste out). Or the diet coke. Or baking soda and warm water. Or or or....

 

[Buggs5347]

Yes, you can use Coke.

You can also use white vinegar alone. Or, some people use baking soda and then pour white vinegar over it, which will foam up like crazy so do it in the sink.

 

[klynnn]

People used to pick up a cig from anywhere and smoke it. They would bum one from anyone when they were out. Now they have an e-cig and want to douse it in alcohol, peroxide or pga before it gets near them. Why? Pg is known as anti=bacterial. It is used in inhalers for asthma. Relax just wash it, then dry burn to get the crud off the coils rinse and keep on vaping. Why is this so hard for people to understand.

 

[Berylanna]

People used to pick up a cig from anywhere and smoke it. They would bum one from anyone when they were out. Now they have an e-cig and want to douse it in alcohol, peroxide or pga before it gets near them. Why? Pg is known as anti=bacterial. It is used in inhalers for asthma. Relax just wash it, then dry burn to get the crud off the coils rinse and keep on vaping. Why is this so hard for people to understand.

Because there is alcohol-soluable gunk left on the coil that water does not remove. I have no trouble believing other things besides alcohol get it off, but I've tried water and it doesn't do a good-enough job to last more than 2 days.

And I have not been successful dry-burning most fluffy coil-wick assemblies.

Also, if you live where it is super-humid and vape vg, you are missing the anti-bacterial. Where I live, the air is dry-enough so that any condensation that is water will dry in a few hours, certainly overnight, so I don't worry about that. (Dryness, by itelf, is a pretty good germ-killer, with some famous exceptions like anthrax and tetanus.) But I've heard some folks from super-humid areas say they need to sterilize things every couple of weeks. Though since vinegar kills mold that might be enough to do it:

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/vinegar-kills-bacteria-mold-germs.html

Heinz company spokesperson Michael Mullen references numerous studies to show that a straight 5 percent solution of vinegar—the kind you can buy in the supermarket—kills 99 percent of bacteria, 82 percent of mold, and 80 percent of germs (viruses). He noted that Heinz can’t claim on their packaging that vinegar is a disinfectant since the company has not registered it as a pesticide with the Environmental Protection Agency. However, it seems to be common knowledge in the industry that vinegar is powerfully antibacterial. Even the CBS news show “48 Hours” had a special years ago with Heloise reporting on tests from The Good Housekeeping Institute that showed this.

 

[Unforeseen]

Moved to Assorted PV Topics - Tanks

 

[Shapermc]

People used to pick up a cig from anywhere and smoke it. They would bum one from anyone when they were out. Now they have an e-cig and want to douse it in alcohol, peroxide or pga before it gets near them. Why? Pg is known as anti=bacterial. It is used in inhalers for asthma. Relax just wash it, then dry burn to get the crud off the coils rinse and keep on vaping. Why is this so hard for people to understand.

It's more that I want to keep my flavor in my vape. I also want to extend the life of the products I buy. I never had to reuse an analogue, and I'm sure if I did that I would lose flavor from reusing the same cotton filter over and over and over and would like to find a way to get the flavor back then. This has nothing to do with sanitation... :/