Lo-tech attie cleaning? What about tanks?

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sebt

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Feb 3, 2012
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Budapest, Hungary
Hi all

Hope you're all happy. I am. vaping on a nice Red Apple juice from Alba Vapours here in Scotland.

I've read a lot about cleaning atomizers; as a total newbie, it's coming up to 1 week of use, and I'd like to keep these things working well (while knowing they won't last forever).

I'm impressed by the documentation on ultrasonic cleaners, but I can't shell out on that kind of thing yet. Possibilities I can see:

1) Soak in hot/warm water (not boiling). Bit of lemon juice perhaps.
2) Isopropyl alcohol. I have some of this to clean electronic contacts (probably not a bad idea anyway given the contacts between the atty and battery).

What about tanks? I've filled separate tanks with some good juices. This stuff is sticky as hell. (Mostly 100% VG so far, just got some 80/20 PG/VG). I'd like to clean out my tanks eventually as well, if only to try new juices. What works well?

An odd thing about the Lea I'm using is that the airflow goes right through the atomiser in a straight-through path, brushes past the centre-contact with the battery (through an oddly-shaped contact protuberance on the atty, allowing electrical contact but also a gap), reverses direction upwards through a groove cut out of the female battery screwthread, and finally reaches the outside word through a small hole. So this part is also part of the potential-clogging path. (Experimentally confirmed by trying to vape after working on the gooseneck, and realising that metal filings were probably not a good addition to either the flavour or my health :laugh:)

I don't know if this is standard to 510 fittings. Perhaps it isn't, as the gooseneck I bought needed some attention with a hacksaw to allow airflow. The implication of the female thread at the top was that standard 510 atomisers have lateral airholes at the top (atty-end) of the thread, rather than right down on the contact end like the Lea attys.

I know this would all make more sense with some photos, but my phone is an sPhone (....tyPhone) and the camera is... well, a bit blind.
 
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base234

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Feb 4, 2011
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Hi, sebt. I won't address tanks since I don't use them. I also don't use cartos anymore. Here's a REALLY low tech atty cleaning method. Preventative maintenance. If you let an atty get gunked up even dry burning won't help much. I take the atty I've used that day (two days maximum) and rinse it out with warm water as hot as I can stand. Right up under the faucet. I blow ALL of the water out of it and let it dry several days. I have 8 attys in rotation. They all still work fine after months of use.
 

dormouse

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Oct 31, 2010
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Pennsylvania
I don't use tanks yet - when I get one it will be a 2 ohm Boge carto tank. As I understand it you take out the carto, rinse the tank (or disassemble and rinse the tank) well, dry, insert a new carto and do the filling. if you meant like -T tanks, I don't like atomizers don't know. I imagine rinse and air dry.

I also rarely use atomizers - no cleaning method I ever used did anything but slow the degrading. I was just alternating 2 atomizers and cleaning weekly but I like consistency and that new ecig feel every week or 2 so I switched to cartomizers.
 
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