Diminishing performance of tanks?
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Oh 3x is definitely not going to hurt them, I thought you were doing it weekly . It is a major component however and if it's a pressure tank and the orings are worn somehow, it will definitely affect wicking. It is an easy fix , so not a bad idea to change them if you haven't, this way they can be ruled out...
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Wicking will effect vapor and pressure tanks can be affected by all those things including orings. For sure cold weather on thicker juices too. Just looked at your tank and it looks like it's sort of a gta style wicking, not pressure, so the wicks are in constant contact with juice. So imo these types are not affected as much with the things I previously mentioned. I was thinking of tanks where as you draw, the liquid comes upwards to meet wick....
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That’s difficult to say. The quality of the silicone and or rubber used within these devices is unknown. I’ve learned the hard way that a single use of diluted vinegar can render poor quality silicone unusable. In my case the silicone retained the odor of the vinegar which mixed with the odor of the juice it also retained (that I was desperately trying to remove) resulted is a gross sour smelling mess.
My advice to all is to proceed with caution when using vinegar, alcohol, or even strong scented dish detergent for the results can be unpredictable.
This mix seems one of the best for ultrasonic cleaning of seals.
9 parts Distilled Water
1 part Isopropyl Alcohol
1 drop Dish Soap per 500ml
Degas solution or leave to degas normally by letting it stand, set timer to run cycle for 10 minutes and 80°C if you have a heating option.
Still, as Punk In Drublic has said. If they're really cheap low quality seals they'll get tainted by everything and taint everything they come into contact with. Then it's time to replace if you can, Vernier Calipers can come in handy when doing this.
9 parts Distilled Water
1 part Isopropyl Alcohol
1 drop Dish Soap per 500ml
Degas solution or leave to degas normally by letting it stand, set timer to run cycle for 10 minutes and 80°C if you have a heating option.
Still, as Punk In Drublic has said. If they're really cheap low quality seals they'll get tainted by everything and taint everything they come into contact with. Then it's time to replace if you can, Vernier Calipers can come in handy when doing this.
That was my thought about vinegar, that the vape would taste like a salad [emoji37].....I never even have thought about using vinegar to clean my tanks. I initially use soap and water, but after that just rinse with water and toothbrush on every rewick. Good point..
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I don’t mind a nice salad. But my silicone came out tasting like a night out consuming massive amounts of alcohol and waking up in a ditch with a used sneaker in your mouth. Not that I have ever experienced that (see handle!!)
Isopropyl Alcohol can degrade certain rubbers – to what extent and how much exposure is unknown. But finding that limit will be one wash too many. And most likely at a time when you do not have replacement seals. It can also cause silicone to swell which could have ill effects on how the seal performs afterwards.
Warm water, little dish soap and some elbow grease is more than adequate. If the seals are retaining odor from your juices, wash and try airing them out for a week or 2. Or just replace them. No point in fighting a battle that can’t be won.
Am I reading vinegar? Not that it's bad or something, I just find it interesting. When I was new to vaping, I used to boil my attys once a week. I am meticulous on everything during those days. Nowadays, I just rinse them under the hot water dispenser at work and give it a good air pressure rinse, still weekly. Maybe I'm getting old, but I don't see any benefits doing more than that. That's just me. Maybe I will boil them again if I need to pass 'em down to someone who needs it.
I heard boiling was a good way to clean, but could affect orings, not sure as I never tried. Water only for me too, my tanks are always clean and shiny but too much cleaning might prevent great taste, I think of it like a cast iron skillet, nice and seasoned....[emoji3]
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This makes sense to me. Nic juice is water soluble. A simple water rinse one would expect, would get everything except the really baked on carbon deposits, and even maybe some of those. Plus those deposits need time to form in the first place, so even an occasional rising is likely enough. I usually wind up rinsing my attys when I dryburn them, more or less as part of my process. I did eventually start to see some blackening that resisted the water, but an old beyond mouth service life toothbrush was enough to get them off. Only even did it once. It may be more of a conceptual thing than a functional thing. A bit like washing a car engine. It generally only actually needs to be done at all in special circumstances that very rarely come up on anything but the occasional badly treated antique. People still like to do it though.
O-rings for me are throwaway parts. Some of my atomizers, like the Kayfun style are all stainless with polycarbonate clear inserts and last just about forever when maintained properly. If I can't draw a vacuum and hold it by covering the air holes and hitting through the drip tip I replace all the o-rings.
I generally wash with warm to hot tap water and hardly ever use my jewelry cleaner. The coil deck is a serious suspect when flavor dies. After all, the air intake holes are right below the wick. Ultrasonic cleaning is a good way to get all that stuff out of the deck. I also use a piece of coil wire to chase out the holes in the deck.
An ohm meter is sometimes needed to make sure all the parts in the coil deck are conducting without resistance.
Sometimes, flavor loss isn't the atty, it's the taste buds that need regenerating. Citrus juices like lemon and orange are good to clean and restore the palate.
I generally wash with warm to hot tap water and hardly ever use my jewelry cleaner. The coil deck is a serious suspect when flavor dies. After all, the air intake holes are right below the wick. Ultrasonic cleaning is a good way to get all that stuff out of the deck. I also use a piece of coil wire to chase out the holes in the deck.
An ohm meter is sometimes needed to make sure all the parts in the coil deck are conducting without resistance.
Sometimes, flavor loss isn't the atty, it's the taste buds that need regenerating. Citrus juices like lemon and orange are good to clean and restore the palate.
For deep cleaning I cover the atty with bacon grease and leave it out for the cat. The little barbs on her tongue gets into all the nooks and crannies. And she loves bacon so much I can ensure you she would lick the chrome finish off if left unattended for too long. Very effective and in the end I have a happy feline which can be more important than a clean atomizer! 
For deep cleaning I cover the atty with bacon grease and leave it out for the cat. The little barbs on her tongue gets into all the nooks and crannies. And she loves bacon so much I can ensure you she would lick the chrome finish off if left unattended for too long. Very effective and in the end I have a happy feline which can be more important than a clean atomizer!
I borrowed my neighbors kitty and my juice tastes like cat now. Thanks loads.
Good luck.
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Good to know!For deep cleaning I cover the atty with bacon grease and leave it out for the cat. The little barbs on her tongue gets into all the nooks and crannies. And she loves bacon so much I can ensure you she would lick the chrome finish off if left unattended for too long. Very effective and in the end I have a happy feline which can be more important than a clean atomizer!
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I borrowed my neighbors kitty and my juice tastes like cat now. Thanks loads.
Good luck.
Looking at how that cat is constantly shaking it’s head it is obviously defective. Replace cat and try again
The worst offender for orings is GREASE, and that's basically what we're vaping. This is my turf, although I didn't make o rings, I did make rubber-metal car parts for 30 years. You need to degrease your o rings frequently, the same way you descale your coffee machine. Vinegar is a weak solution and 1 teaspoon in 60 ml of water won't render them useless. Yes, the sealing would be degraded in constant contact with VG, and it's a good idea to change them every 6 months or so. But weak commercial acetic acid won't degrade your rubbers, VG does.
Citric acid is also less harmful than vinegar. Alcohol is a degreaser but for metal parts, not for rubber or silicone.
VG when vaporised is turned into water and esters that are deposited on coils and the inside chamber of your atty. Buildup can change the taste of your vape dramatically, and as that inside chamber is constantly expanding and contracting, VG gets into the metal pores. A good example of that is how you cure an iron or SS pan. You cover that with grease and heat it to 450F. That creates a laminate of grease that makes a pan non stick. What I find is that the more I vape, the shinier the inside of the cap is. Remember, we're vaping a water soluble grease.
Seeing what we're discussing here, I tend to think that the problem will most likely be 1) Poor sealing action 2) contacts and insulators degraded by use. Me, I had my fair share of insulators breaking (Crius I) or melting (Protank and Kanger T3). We're still in the infancy of this, I only wish I could know more.
I'll be checking base contacts, screws and center posts. Since nowadays comp wire makes stable coils, what formerly happened with jumpy resistances nowadays could be some kind of electrophoresis.
I'll be checking base contacts, screws and center posts. Since nowadays comp wire makes stable coils, what formerly happened with jumpy resistances nowadays could be some kind of electrophoresis.
Being interested in just what these esters are, I Just googled “VG esters” and got a bunch of hits for something called “VG-100” which has nothing at all to do with glycerol. It sounds kind of scary actually.
Googling “glycerol ester” (Wikipedia calls VG glycerol as far as I can tell). Yields a bunch of chemical that form when glycerol is reacted with various things. None of them seem to happen just by heating VG though. I’m having a heck of a time following up on or even verifying your statement.
Do you possibly have a link somewhere to help explain your statement? My googleFu is weak and has failed me.
My understanding was that only worked specifically on cast iron and had to do with the way cast iron is made. Are you sure it also applies to stainless?
Again, my data is limited. What I know of cast iron comes from sculpture classes in the late 80’s. It is old and poorly remembered.
Doesn’t a laminate of grease make just about anything non stick? Greasing a Teflon pan often makes it work better and the whole point of Teflon is it’s super smooth. One would think it wouldn’t have pores to form a laminate if such is required.
I find that the more I vape the dirtier the inside of the cap is. We may have different sample lengths going on here though.
UPDATE: found something
What is this brown liquid that I got when I boiled glycerol and water solution?
This link is from what looks like a forum, but people on it are claiming that when you “dehydrate glycerol” at high temperatures you get Acrolein - Wikipedia which is apparently one of those scary cigarette cancer chemicals. I am discomfitted. The stuff is apparently supposed to smell really bad for one thing, which I really don’t notice.
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