Dead attys: Fact or Fiction

[brandon555]

I've been vaping over five months and haven't popped one atty... Actually I did pop one but it was a 5.2 ohm high voltage 901 and all three that I had were junk and tasted burnt no matter what so technically I can't count those. They were poorly built or something.

But as far as regular attys I've been using 901s, 510s, and BE112s and never had one "die" Sure the performance takes a dive after a while but I'll clean them and they work great again.

 

[spaky]

I've had the same luck with mine in my 8 months. I've only blown one atty, and that was at 6v with brand new batteries and a new atty. I always wonder what it is that people do to their atties.

 

[four2109]

It's a crapshoot. I felt the same way early on when atomizers lasted me months. Some still do. Some last only weeks. They seem to die in spurts though.

 

[ab357]

My first atty died on me two days ago. It was a LR 901. Other than that one, even the cheapos from TV stand up to the beating I give them. I don't rotate although I may use several different types during the course of the day. The only cleaning I do is blowing them out when I change to the next type.

Some of the TV attys will stop working on my 5v PT (before it died) but work fine on my Hello 016 and Ego. Considering that Geoff makes a point of emphasizing they're cheap quality and no guarantee, I don't stress when they quit working at 5v. I just pull out another one.

The only drawback is I hardly ever vape 3.7 with regular attys. However tonight the only attys that are satisfying me are the standards at 3.7. I guess my taste buds want mellow tonight. The 801 is giving me the best flavor.

 

[Majestic]

I believe it is a crap shoot as well. I had one last me over a 120 days while one yesterday die after one puff. My average lately seems to be around a month. I generally vape at 3.7 volts and move onto 5 volts as the atty performance starts to fade.

As for trying to figure out how some people can enjoy long atty life while others are happy if it lasts a week..... you can't. Since I've been on the forums I've come to the conclusion that there are too many variables in regards to vaping. Atty model, PV device, voltage, maintenance, type of juice, vaping frequency & technique all play a part in atty wear and tear. And if that were enough, you have to hope quality control at the factory was good the day the atty was built. In the end I have to remind myself that attys are considered the disposable part of vaping.

 

[brandon555]

I've had attys that I thought I've thought were about to kick the bucket, but nope. It was either that there was too much water in them after cleaning them or that they just needed a good cleaning. Even the attys that came with my first two kits, 510 and 901, are still going. My wife still uses the 901s and hasn't had a problem... and those things have been put through the wringer.

Thats why I only use Everclear to clean. The alcohol evaporates so quickly that you don't need to worry about left over water inside the atty.

 

[Neon]

I always wonder what an atty performs like when I hear someone say that they have had it for 8 months, Im sure they do "keep working" but I know they suck. Ive seen a friend of mine use one for three months and claimed that it still worked, when he took a drag there was hardly any visible vapor...but it still worked. For me, Im getting about a month out of them before I just put them in the used box and break in a new one, I mean its $8, why not enjoy your vape? I dont settle for anything less than excellent performance considering its replacement value.

 

[Majestic]

I've had attys that I thought I've thought were about to kick the bucket, but nope. It was either that there was too much water in them after cleaning them or that they just needed a good cleaning. Even the attys that came with my first two kits, 510 and 901, are still going. My wife still uses the 901s and hasn't had a problem... and those things have been put through the wringer.

Thats why I only use Everclear to clean. The alcohol evaporates so quickly that you don't need to worry about left over water inside the atty.

If you are rotating your attys, that would definitely increase their life span. I stick to using one from birth to death with heavy vaping. I then confirm their death with an ohm meter.

As for totally drying them out, there really isn't a need since water is a prime ingredient of juice. About once a week I rinse mine out in water, blow out the excess and let air dry over night. In the morning I just prime and vape.

 

[Majestic]

I always wonder what an atty performs like when I hear someone say that they have had it for 8 months, Im sure they do "keep working" but I know they suck. Ive seen a friend of mine use one for three months and claimed that it still worked, when he took a drag there was hardly any visible vapor...but it still worked. For me, Im getting about a month out of them before I just put them in the used box and break in a new one, I mean its $8, why not enjoy your vape? I dont settle for anything less than excellent performance considering its replacement value.

I hear ya. Been there, done that. That's why I converted a couple of my mod boxes over to 5 volts in order to kick the vapor production up when the performance starts to wane. Now they are good till their demise.

 

[GregH]

I stick to using one from birth to death with heavy vaping.[/FONT]

So do I. I have actually popped only a few. The rest have just suffered from drastic performance drops, so I just put them in my 'atty graveyard' zip-lock baggie for future resurrection attempts.

I have averaged about 6 weeks until the atty becomes unusable.

 

[brandon555]

Yeah I suppose a big part of it is quality control. I've probably been pretty lucky, and I do rotate my attys. I have about 5 or 6 in my normal rotation, and another 5 that only get used once in a while.

I had a few 901s that I thought were done for. They hardly put out any vapor but after a dry burn they were just like new and worked good at 3.7 and 5 volts.

 

[Lezil]

As for trying to figure out how some people can enjoy long atty life while others are happy if it lasts a week..... you can't. Since I've been on the forums I've come to the conclusion that there are too many variables in regards to vaping. Atty model, PV device, voltage, maintenance, type of juice, vaping frequency & technique all play a part in atty wear and tear. And if that were enough, you have to hope quality control at the factory was good the day the atty was built. In the end I have to remind myself that attys are considered the disposable part of vaping.

yeah, i agree with this

 

[juicefreak]

just be careful with your used ones that you park for awhile. put a desiccant in there with them. I had about 5 older ones rust at the battery connection. luckily i caught them in time before they rusted up the barrel. they were stored in a closed plastic bag.

now after cleaning i load them up with VG top and bottom before storing and don't put them in a sealed baggie that can hold moisture.

i just found out about vaping end of life span ones on 5volts. works great. Others that i think are dead, just need a better mate to a different battery. finicky parts.

 

[Stephaniems]

I use an atty 901, 510 or carto untill vapor production goes down then I stick them in the passthru box and use them only with a passthru (jeez I've got so many tossed in that box I need to start using the passthru's more often . I have had a 901 atty that came with my first 901 kit last over 6months with no drop in production until it just wouldn't fire up any more, that atty was just golden, wish they all were like that.

 

[sjohnson]

I always wonder what an atty performs like when I hear someone say that they have had it for 8 months, Im sure they do "keep working" but I know they suck. Ive seen a friend of mine use one for three months and claimed that it still worked, when he took a drag there was hardly any visible vapor...but it still worked. For me, Im getting about a month out of them before I just put them in the used box and break in a new one, I mean its $8, why not enjoy your vape? I dont settle for anything less than excellent performance considering its replacement value.

I have two ten-month-old atomizers. They get rotated out of use every 2-3 days for cleaning, so call it 3 months of use. They both create huge amounts of vapor and perform as well or better than any new atomizer I've bought. YMMV.

 

[cliff5550]

I read of people disputing the multi-month life of attys but we have always had many which last for months. I define an atty as "working" if it produces good vapor and I get a strong throat hit. The one I have on my eGo right now has been doing both for a little over two months. We've had them last six months or more. We just clean and maintain them.

 

[AlexTM]

I've had exactly one atty die on my, after 100 days of heavy duty, vaporizing my favourite liquid. All others still vape nicely, even those I got in November last year.
I do rotate them, though, simply because I vape more than one flavour, and I do clean then out occasionally, usually with hot tap water, very rarely on older ones a dry burn. That's it.

 

[brandon555]

Good info... Everything said pretty much makes sense. I was always just wondering how people were popping them after a day or two of use. Thats never happened to me except once and that was just a faulty atty to begin with.

I guess you could compare attys to light bulbs. The performance fades slowly and you won't really notice it until you put in a new bulb and actually see how much brighter it is.

 

[Daedalus]

I've been using my current atty for at least 3 months now. I used it for about 2 months back in the Fall of last year and binned it cause of a horrible bad taste that I couldn't get out with dry burns. Removed the wick and bridge about 3 weeks ago and was able to remove a piece of wicking that was burnt directly to the coil.

This atty kicks .... on my eGo. Took a drag off of my friends stock 2 week old atty on his eGo and had trouble getting the same amount of vapor I get off mine. Maybe it was a difference in juice, but in my opinion this old one is just in its prime.

I've never NOT been able to get rid of reduced vapor production on an old atty with Highping's dry burn method. The ONLY reason I've ever retired atty's is because of bad taste, minus those I "popped" in the dry burn (two). Seems like I just solved that with taking the wick and bridge off, gonna see how long I can make this one go!