My Atty Resurrection Method

[highping]

This is a response to a PM I received, but I thought I would post it here in case others are having the same problem....

It's pretty common to keep getting 'smoke' for a while, but it's not really clean until you get NO smoke coming out. As long as you are getting any smoke, it means there is still stuff in there.

Something that I have found is that it takes a long(long) time to burn off juice, but water "burns" (dries) off much quicker. So the better you rinse the atty before the burn, the quicker it will stop smoking.

If you have been burning for a while and are still getting smoke, try rinsing your atty with water again. Try to fill your atty with water and then blow the water through the atty really hard a few times. Then do the burn again.

Once you have done this method a few times, you will be able to recognize the difference between juice being burned off and water being evaporated. When I do it I can tell within a few seconds if I rinsed it well enough.

I have also found that on some attys I just can't get all the juice rinsed out on the first rinse. In this case, I burn for a while and then re-rinse. It seems that getting the atty hot with the first burn also loosens some of the stuck on juice making it easier to get out on the second rinse.

Bottom line is: If you are still getting smoke out of the atty, it is not completely cleaned yet. (rinse and repeat)

 

[kilgoretrout]

highping... I'm pretty new to this stuff (only vaping a little over 2wks) and I just wanted to say that I had given up on my 2 stock attys because after 1 week they sucked compared to my cartos. I tried a couple cleaning methods but they didn't really help that much.

I just did your method, though, and holy balls man.... these attys are better and more flavorful now than when they were new. I couldn't for the life of me understand why people liked to drip, but now my piece has a drip tip on it and my living room is filled with vapor. lol...
Thanks, dude.

 

[ImJustAvg]

I tried your method and must have done something wrong, although I followed it step by step. I tried to clean an eGo mega atty that was getting harder and harder to draw through. But after I tried your method now it won't even heat up! So must have blown the coil/heating element. I am going back to using alcohol/vodka in my Harbor Frieght sonic cleaner followed by 20 minutes in boiling water. Because I never ruined one with that method.

 

[DC2]

I tried your method and must have done something wrong, although I followed it step by step. I tried to clean an eGo mega atty that was getting harder and harder to draw through. But after I tried your method now it won't even heat up! So must have blown the coil/heating element. I am going back to using alcohol/vodka in my Harbor Frieght sonic cleaner followed by 20 minutes in boiling water. Because I never ruined one with that method.

So you were doing dry burns, and the coil was getting orange?
And then after the coil was clean, you tried using it and suddenly the coil does not get orange anymore?

I guess I'm just confused about how you go from dry burning successfully to atomizer not working.
Any detailed information you can provide?

 

[justboringsarah]

I'm having a different issue after dry burning successfully for months(different attys). The atty now heats up,but I get zero vapor and no flavor

 

[Xhale12]

Dude this is so brilliant. Really helped me out a TON. Thanks!

 

[Xhale12]

One question.

I did this whole thing, and after I do it all and then fill up my atty with e-liquid, the vapor taste smokey. It has this burnt flavor. Are you supposed to let it sit for a bit before using it after doing this cleaning method?

 

[deback]

Xhale - Sounds like you're not adding enough e-liquid. When the atty is dry and empty, add 5 drops, then blow into the atty lightly, and then add 3 more drops. That should work. Then you add 3 drops after about 9 drags (when you detect a slight burnt taste before inhaling the vapor).

 

[Xhale12]

That did it. Thanks deback.

 

[deback]

That did it. Thanks deback.

Great! I forgot to mention that it's a good idea to let the atty sit for a minute or so after you drip in eight drops -- to allow the liquid to soak in good. This makes vaping much easier, so you'll get good flavor and vapor, and won't get any gurgling.

One thing I've noticed is when people here explain how to use an atomizer, they only say to drip in three drops and forget to mention that you should drip in five drops (before you drip in the three drops) when the atty is new or has been cleaned, because the ceramic bowl at the threaded end of the atty needs to be filled up with liquid first.

Here's another tip for anyone who cares: I received two new atomizers in the mail today, blew out the primer liquid, but that wasn't enough (I knew it wouldn't be). I could still taste some of the primer liquid, so I heated up a little bit of water until it started boiling, put the two atomizers into a small cup, poured the hot water into the cup, let them soak for a while, then blew out the excess water, and then set them aside to dry completely. I don't need to use them right away, so I didn't need to do the dry burn. Rinsing them out with very hot or boiling water should be done when they're new, because you usually can't blow out all the primer liquid.

 

[captainbrianbeard]

tried this method and really cleaned up one of my attys! however the other which was more plugged still has a pretty hard draw. I tried dry buring it again and the draw is still really hard. I have a 510 and am using stock 510 batts to dry burn. is it just not getting hot enough? i think highping mentioned the stock batts dont need a pulse and i can just hold the button down and i tried that and heard some more pops and saw more smoke. should i continue with burning and rinsing? or am i doing something wrong?

 

[DC2]

I tried dry buring it again and the draw is still really hard.

Hopefully you washed it out really, really good with hot water first, to get out as much old dried up juice from the mesh as you can.
Because if the mesh is clogged up with juice that can make the draw hard.

And dry burning won't really get at the dried up juice in the mesh.
In fact, I think it is more likely to bake it on if you are running high voltage.

I have a 510 and am using stock 510 batts to dry burn. is it just not getting hot enough?

You are only running at 3.2v under load, so getting them hot enough is important.
You certainly don't have to worry about blowing them at 3.2v though.

I do my dry burns at 3.7v and the coil never gets above an orange glow.
You really only need to worry about blowing them if it starts getting red, which it won't ever do at 3.2 volts.

i can just hold the button down and i tried that and heard some more pops and saw more smoke. should i continue with burning and rinsing? or am i doing something wrong?

You should keep going until no more smoke whatsoever is coming off the atomizer.

 

[deback]

tried this method and really cleaned up one of my attys! however the other which was more plugged still has a pretty hard draw. I tried dry buring it again and the draw is still really hard. I have a 510 and am using stock 510 batts to dry burn. is it just not getting hot enough? i think highping mentioned the stock batts dont need a pulse and i can just hold the button down and i tried that and heard some more pops and saw more smoke. should i continue with burning and rinsing? or am i doing something wrong?

Try soaking that atty in water you've brought to a boil. Then repeat that step a few times. Then try the dry burn again. Keep repeating the soaking and dry burn until there's no more vapor coming out of the atty. It sounds like there's something inside the atty that needs to be loosened up and rinsed out -- some gunk that might take a few hot water rinses to loosen up.

 

[captainbrianbeard]

would soaking it in denatured alcohol work too? and also would investing in building a higher voltage batt be worth it to make life easier when cleaning up these old attys?

 

[Nomoreash]

would soaking it in denatured alcohol work too? and also would investing in building a higher voltage batt be worth it to make life easier when cleaning up these old attys?

I give them a soak in isopropyl alcohol, the high percentage stuff, 91% I think, you can pick up huge bottles really cheap. Works better than water to leach the liquid plus it makes for a quicker dry burn as the alcohol evaporates faster than water.

Your not going to get a proper dry burn on a 510 batt. I tried it with my Riva and went trough two fully charged batteries and never got the atty to glow.

I got a 5v passtrough and 2amp USB/AC adapter to do dry burns. Works great and even though I've moved on from my Riva I don't have to worry about stressing my batteries.

 

[DC2]

Your not going to get a proper dry burn on a 510 batt. I tried it with my Riva and went trough two fully charged batteries and never got the atty to glow.

I've heard people say that they have been able to do dry burns with manual 510 batteries.

Don't know if it's true or not, but if it is, it probably has to be done quite often to prevent any significant buildup.
I can imagine that if it's been too long between dry burns, and there's too much baked on gunk, the 3.2v 510 battery won't get it done.

I do know that I do all my dry burns using my 3.7v 18650 batteries.
What makes it great is that I can sit on the button as long as I want and never have to worry about blowing an atomizer.

 

[VaporMadness]

I do know that I do all my dry burns using my 3.7v 18650 batteries.
What makes it great is that I can sit on the button as long as I want and never have to worry about blowing an atomizer.

I guess you mean you never have to worry about blowing the battery? You certainly can pop an atty with a batt like that.

 

[ukeman]

depends on the state of the atty too... some are easier to clean and some require more time (and more heat too)...
a usb eGo batt will be less trouble, in general, batt wise...
and some use HV to get the process going more to the point...

of course you want to be careful not to burn the coil out... pulse and watch the glow

I give them a soak in isopropyl alcohol, the high percentage stuff, 91% I think, you can pick up huge bottles really cheap. Works better than water to leach the liquid plus it makes for a quicker dry burn as the alcohol evaporates faster than water.

Your not going to get a proper dry burn on a 510 batt. I tried it with my Riva and went trough two fully charged batteries and never got the atty to glow.

I got a 5v passtrough and 2amp USB/AC adapter to do dry burns. Works great and even though I've moved on from my Riva I don't have to worry about stressing my batteries.

 

[DC2]

I guess you mean you never have to worry about blowing the battery? You certainly can pop an atty with a batt like that.

Well, I guess maybe I'm wrong about that then?

Because my coil never gets above a nice orange glow with my 18650 batteries.
And it was my impression that you can only blow atomizers when they start getting at least to a red color.

 

[highping]

...
And it was my impression that you can only blow atomizers when they start getting at least to a red color.

You're right about that...and they actually won't blow until you hit 'white hot'. The problem is that if you are seeing 'red-hot' there could be white in an unseen part of the coil. So if you keep it at orange anywhere you can see, then you don't have (as much) risk of getting white elsewhere.

As far as the stock batts (or 18650's) blowing attys... it all depends on the resistance of the atty. The newer "low resistance" attys can hit white hot on a stock batt.





BTW... RE: all the different soaking methods... FWIW... I have yet to find an atty that I can't get 'new-ish' with ONLY tap water and proper dry burn.