Does anyone here just soak in Isopropyl?

[ShMiGgY]

SO, i came up with a very effective way that i could clean out my caked, bombed out atomizers once i let them get too far gone. It's posted somewhere on here. but i now only use that when my atty is gone...

Lately though, i've just been taking all of my atomizers that are in rotation, and soaking them in Isopropyl alcohol once/week for preventative maintainence/cleaning. I think that the manufacturers actually recommend isopropanol too..

Anyone else do this? It seems to work really well and cleans out all the juice and gets them back to working order in no time. I let them soak for a couple of days... Just can't let them get too far gone, seems like once a week is enough to clean off the weeks worth of deposits.

Just curious. It seems to be a pretty good solvent. Granted, it's only for maintainence, not for an overhaul cleaning... Works well for me and less work than my other method, which definitely has its place....

 

[firdaddy]

yes yes yes.. i too tried soaking in rubbing alky,.. i actually cleaned mine in about 15 minutes though.. i stuck my atty in a old juice bottle, and filled with rubbing akly, and shook the hell out of it, the banging back and forth in the bottle freed up some black gunk, and i did a visual inspection before and after the process..
before, it looked like a bar b que pit.. there was some black junk caked on.. after, the coil looked brand new and there was some black fragments floating around....
i blew it out and flushed very well with water, dried it out and it was liek brand new again

 

[Ivisi]

I used about the same method on my 401 attys, but with grain alcohol, and had the same results. Except that I didn't let them dry initially and tried them immediately, and they didn't work. 8-o

Of course, letting them dry a bit then trying them again showed me that patience can be a great thing.

Ivisi

 

[grumpster]

I usually just drain my atty and haven't had any problems yet, but I keep the cart pretty wet and never let it run dry. I do use alcohol when I'm switching flavors though to rinse out the old juice. Especially important since I vape a pumped up menthol and that just doesn't work well with watermelon.

 

[miketr]

I recently cleaned my 510 and 901 attys in PGA, figured it was maybe a tiny bit safer than isopropyl and would act in the same way. Not wanting to screw up the paint, I wrapped the outside in several turns of kitchen plastic wrap.
I put them in a plastic graduated tube that is used to measure liquid medicine, poured in the PGA, shook them about a minute, waited about 5-10 minutes, shook them another minute, and rinsed them in hot water.
They were both about a month old and the wicks had gotten a dulled appearance from repeated use.
After cleaning, the wicks looked new again; a bright grey with a little shine too it. I compared their appearance to new atomizers I had not used yet, and they looked identical. I let them dry overnight after blowing them out with compressed air just to be on the safe side. They worked just fine afterwards.
I am going to try doing this whenever the wick starts looking dull as a "preventative maintenance" measure. I'll see how it goes.

 

[haproot]

Just cleaned my Vx2 Atty and I'm pretty happy with the results. It is only been used for about a week. It was beginning to draw hard and not producing as much vapor as I like. I'm in a hotel room at the moment so my resources were limited.

I ran to the store and got some Isopropyl Alcohol in the highest concentration i could find which was 91%.

Here's what I did.
1. Ran the atomizer under hot tap water for oh about 20-40 seconds. Turning the atomizer and running water in every hole, nook and cranny I could see. After that I blew it out really well from the battery side and kindof patted it on a towel.

2. Placed the atomizer in a cup Isopropyl alcohol and let it soak for about 10 mins. I had it completely submerged. Also shook the cup a bit occasionally to help the process.

3. Pulled the atomizer out of the cup of alcohol and then ran it under the hot tap water again. Same fashion as step 1. After I was done I blew it out again (from the battery side). And also sucked on it from the cartridge side for a while. And then looking down into the cartridge side I simply blew on it (not through it) but on it. As hard as I could (without spitting saliva on it) When blowing down in there you can see water get agitated out of the wire mesh onto the surrounding areas.

4. I then proceeded to use the hotel hair dryer to blow on it and get it nice and hot. Focusing mainly on the wire mesh down in there. Occasionally stopping to blow on it via mouth again like in the end of step 3. Again noticing small amounts of water being agitated out of the atomizer. And repeated this process a couple times.

5. I then let it sit upright cart side down on the table for about 5 mins.
6. Now here's the kicker, I have a thinkpad laptop with an exhaust vent on the side that blows out hot air. I placed the atomizer right there with the cart side facing the vent and let it sit for another five minutes.

7. I was antsy.. so i didn't want to let it sit overnight lol. So I proceeded to prime it with a couple drops of fluid. Then proceeded to top off my cartridge so it was nice and wet. Then placed the cartridge on the atomizer. I then puffed *lightly* on it. It seemed to start working right off the bat.. but it did take about 1 - 2 more drops on the atomizer and some *light* *short* puffs on it to get it going.

It now puffs greater than ever. It's back to it's old self and I'm definitely getting some better flavor out of it. Hope this helps anybody looking to clean their atomizer.

 

[doots]

I use 90 proof rubbing alcohol for a few minutes and works great

 

[m401 user]

yes, seems to be very easy and working way to clean the atty.
nothing worked better for me than isopropyl, even the ultrasonic cleaner doesn´t work as good.

 

[D. Waterhouse]

70% iso, 2hr soak,dunk & drain every 20-30min rinse w/ hot tap water and blow out and let dry.

3mo. same 2 attys 0 problems!

 

[AshHole]

Basically same here - 510 (wide gold band) atty.

Every 7 days (or just after some bad/not recommended flavoring trials) I have:

Blow out the atty (man there is a lot of residual fluid in there!)
90% Isop Alcohol in my ultrasonic jewelry cleaner for 15 min.
Blow from battery end
another 10+ minutes in the cleaner
Blow from battery end
Rinse under hot water
Blow from battery end
Drain dry/force dry
Quick 5-7 sec "dry burn"
Then wet it down with ECOpure (almost to flooding point).

I then "quick, light puff it" until a good vapor, and then its up for another 5 days of use.

I have logged now 25+ days of hard/constant vaping (at 3 and 5 volts) and even some "questionable" juice mixes (read: not recommended oils and sugar based flavorings) and it is still going strong. I use carts and direct drip depending on my mood.

I know my cleaning my be overdoing it but it all seems good to me and I am happy with the results so far.

note: While the atty(s) are in the ultrasonic cleaner, this is when I wash my polyfil, carts and generally clean everything.

 

[jj2]

I gave up cleaning mine until absolutely necessary. My first ones, I wanted to take really good care of them, so I did the weekly cleaning and they were never the same after.
Then I read where someone just left them in the cartridge with the battery connection up so no more liquid would get into the atty overnight. No problems and they've lasted months not days.
Yes, eventually, I do have to clean them, but when I do, the coil looks clean. Once I've had to do the sewing needle trick through the hole to get air flow.
But still, that is when I start having problems with them. Not wanting to just toss them, I use them on NicoSticks which are manual.

 

[Closet Toker]

I've been doing a rinse with Ever Clear pure grain alcohol (190 proof) when the performance/taste gets bad.
I put about 1-2 ml. of the grain alcohol in the atomizer. With my index finger and thumb covering the top and bottom, I shake back and forth. Empty and repeat, then blow out atomizer. I've had really good results using this method. Regular maintenance helps keep the coil and air holes from getting fowled up.

 

[VaporStyx]

Yes, any alcohol would work great: isopropyl ("rubbing"), ethanol ("vodka or grain alcohol"), or methanol ("wood alchohol"). Stay away from the last one tho, as it is somewhat toxic and you would *really* want to rinse well. ...Actually, just don't use methanol at all :>

Here's why:
"Alcohol is one of the most useful of solvents, both for organic and inorganic substances, but especially the former. It dissolves balsams, essential oils, esters, fatty acids, hydrocarbons, resins, soaps, sugars, most vegetable alkaloids, ..."

source: http: //chestofbooks.com/food/beverages/Alcohol-Properties/Alcohol-As-Solvent.html (remove space, I can't post links yet)

The only thing I've found to work better is a baking soda/vingegar. Fill the atty with baking soda, place in a shot glass, and fill with vinegar. This make a huge amount bubbles that will take off any crusted material. There isn't a working atty that a combo of baking soda/vinegar and then alcohol hasn't made like new for me.

BTW, to those soaking over night etc with alcohols, 10-15 minutes should be getting close to max effect already.

Rinse well and happy vaping!

 

[Quitter]

I have a few atty's that are still in the 3.9 ohms range that vape a little poorly. I'm thinking it's just crusted up. I may give the alchohol a go and see if I can get em back to 100%

 

[saphic]

I soak mine in %91 alcohol for a few minutes, let them dry, and they are good to go. about two months now and so far so good. I got a new battery and atty last week and I think my old battery is going, but the atty seems fine.

 

[PaulZ]

both my blu attys were pretty dirty looking, about 10 days into me starting to vape. i did vape vanilla extract for flavouring for a little bit, which has sugar and gunked em up (before i did research)

i used 50% isopropyl.

I took the atomisers out, washed them out with very warm water (not hot enough to burn my hands but hot)

blew into the back end (where it screws into the battery) and washed again for 1 minute.

I blew them out again, then placed both into 50% isopropyl alcohol in an empty water bottle. i shook them around for 30 sec then let them sit for 30 minutes, shook again, soaked for 30 min, shook, then took them out, washed with hot water for 2-3 minutes (make sure to get all the alc off).

I dab-dried with paper towels and then let them sit for 6 hours.


I tried one, and nothing happened. figured i killed them or they needed more drying.

i waited till the next day, blew them a few times and went to class. i made the mistake of cleaning both at the same time, so now i was without a vape.

Luckily i smoke non-nic now or i'd be itching for a smoke ><


anyway - i tried them this morning, right before my exam because i was stressing and a smoke helps just to calm me down, and after a few primer puffs, i got more vapour than i got from it stock! i was delighted.


So, i'll let you know how they work, but i think ill be cleaning them every week or so (i have a 510 coming so i can vape that while the blu cleans )

 

[InTheCity]

Don't you guys realize how dangerous it is to inhale any Isopropyl?

Man, you nubs take experimental danger to a whole new level.

 

[Dankery]

Don't you guys realize how dangerous it is to inhale any Isopropyl?

Man, you nubs take experimental danger to a whole new level.

FYI, isopropyl has an INCREDIBLY low boiling point (5 seconds in a microwave will boil a baggy filled) this means that it evaporates EXTREMELY fast at room temperature. if you were to say rinse the atomizer and then immediately start using it without letting it dry, then of coarse its bad for you and you deserve to get isopropyl poisoning. However, most of us are aware of this fact and know to let them air out and dry off for a little bit before you put it to use, esp rinsing it with water helps, but i dont think there is any safety issue unless you are literally vaping isopropyl. so save the name calling and nubs for yourself, because nothing these people talked about in this thread is unsafe...

anyways... ill be doing this to my attys when i get some use in on em. i think it will help alot since i plan on just direct dripping on the atty and sayin f the carts. im thinkin of even cleanin out my unused atty just to make sure it didnt pick up any unwanted chems on its journey from china... when i pulled the first one out, it produced vapor without anything in it, just a blank cart before i filled anything. <anyone ever have this happen?