- Status
Okay, so i saw the orange glow in some of my attys, but never got one in 4 of them. Is that a problem with the atty?
I'm not a bro, btw. I am a Bra i guess you could say! ;0) AKA:Female haha! for some reason, my photo makes me appear to be a man, but in fact am not.
Good luck Bro.
"D Powell"-
OMG LOL I am such a dork!!! I totally misunderstood the directions!! We literally just went outside digging in the trash bag to rescue our atty!!!! Yeah!! Just like new!!! WooooHooo!!! Thank you so much for helping these newbies!! hahahaha
OMG LOL I am such a dork!!! I totally misunderstood the directions!! We literally just went outside digging in the trash bag to rescue our atty!!!! Yeah!! Just like new!!! WooooHooo!!! Thank you so much for helping these newbies!! hahahaha
Last edited:
Now that you mention that...I do remember the last time this happened to you on here...OK...no good luck for you.
There seem to be a gazillion methods to resurrect and clean attys. I am not saying that this is necessarily a bad method, but
..............no amount of cleaning, rinsing, blowing, or arcane religious ritual which includes hanging upside down from a lamppost facing Uranus will resurrect an atty that has blown a coil.
So save yourself a lot of useless effort and first test the atty for an open circuit. You can pick up a multimeter from ebay shipped for the price of an atty. Or buy a ProVari which will test the atty as well. If you search on this site, there is a video that explains how to use a multimeter.
It is REALLY SIMPLE to use one.
I have cracked open a few attys and learned to rebuild them as a survival skill should our dimwit legislators decide to enforce a ban. After examining my failed ones, my impression is that they primarily fail because juice starts to cake up in the wick which creates a type of "hot spot" with a differential thermal and electrical conductivity and will create a stress point that will heat up at a different rate than the rest of the coil creating stress.
While hot water will work, I really think that you need to get all the gunk out of the atty using another method. Alcohols, solvents (acetone, MIBK), and even vinegar might work to some extent, but chemically, one needs to get rid of the caked up deposits using a peroxide or strong cleaner such as denture cleaners. These will oxidize all of the carbon bonds that form inside the atty.
Most juices will caramelize because they are organic in nature (means that they contain carbon); they will also most likely contain a sweetener such as sucrose, this is also a form of sugar. You don't really need to understand the chemistry, but if you want to see the effect take some sugar dissolve it in water, and then throw a couple of teaspoons into the the bottom of pot and boil it off. The gunk that is left over is great for creme brulle, but not so easy to remove from your pot. The same will happen with your juice. The same thing happens inside your atty.
In any event a cheepo multimeter will save you a lot of wasted effort trying to save a dead atty.
..............no amount of cleaning, rinsing, blowing, or arcane religious ritual which includes hanging upside down from a lamppost facing Uranus will resurrect an atty that has blown a coil.
So save yourself a lot of useless effort and first test the atty for an open circuit. You can pick up a multimeter from ebay shipped for the price of an atty. Or buy a ProVari which will test the atty as well. If you search on this site, there is a video that explains how to use a multimeter.
It is REALLY SIMPLE to use one.
I have cracked open a few attys and learned to rebuild them as a survival skill should our dimwit legislators decide to enforce a ban. After examining my failed ones, my impression is that they primarily fail because juice starts to cake up in the wick which creates a type of "hot spot" with a differential thermal and electrical conductivity and will create a stress point that will heat up at a different rate than the rest of the coil creating stress.
While hot water will work, I really think that you need to get all the gunk out of the atty using another method. Alcohols, solvents (acetone, MIBK), and even vinegar might work to some extent, but chemically, one needs to get rid of the caked up deposits using a peroxide or strong cleaner such as denture cleaners. These will oxidize all of the carbon bonds that form inside the atty.
Most juices will caramelize because they are organic in nature (means that they contain carbon); they will also most likely contain a sweetener such as sucrose, this is also a form of sugar. You don't really need to understand the chemistry, but if you want to see the effect take some sugar dissolve it in water, and then throw a couple of teaspoons into the the bottom of pot and boil it off. The gunk that is left over is great for creme brulle, but not so easy to remove from your pot. The same will happen with your juice. The same thing happens inside your atty.
In any event a cheepo multimeter will save you a lot of wasted effort trying to save a dead atty.
cool... glad i lurk this thread...
so Peroxide or denture cleaner..
and then soak?
what about the boiling water?
thanks for any further directione tonyorion....
so Peroxide or denture cleaner..
and then soak?
what about the boiling water?
thanks for any further directione tonyorion....
It seems to me that if anyone suggest using solvents to clean an atty it means that they never tried the method explained in this thread, cause with this method you end up with a beautiful white wick, no gunk, no caramelized stuff, nothing, just an atty that looks and works as good as new.
hmmm,
well i 've tried the method, and there are factors for different attys... some clean up better than others.
well i 've tried the method, and there are factors for different attys... some clean up better than others.
I just did it using an Ego atomizer. The tiny little black one. I guess thats a 510? It's working great now. I assume this is the same idea as how a self-cleaning oven works. Hey, I wonder if you could throw atomizers in there when you clean.
You're right, I only tried it with 510's and 306's, regulars and LR's, maybe it is different with other models...
I just tried this on my 510 atty. I guess I was a little too timid with the drying part because when I went to use it, I heard some gurgling and sizzling, and not getting much vapor. I'm assuming the atty is still wet. I suppose practice will allow me to better dry it next time. One word of caution about those using canned air to dry - most mfr's place a bitterant in their mix to help curb those inhaling it. And that bitterant certainly lingers on the atty!!! So definitely use caution when using air that contains these as I wasn't paying attention and WOW what a nasty surprise!
**UPDATE** After about 10 minutes of trying to use it, the atty appears to have finally burned away the water and the difference is amazing!! It's like having a new atty all over again!
**UPDATE** After about 10 minutes of trying to use it, the atty appears to have finally burned away the water and the difference is amazing!! It's like having a new atty all over again!
Last edited:
`
so i did this to an atty, when im done though, the coil is sort of greyish looking. i rinsed it thoroughly a couple times and still, the coil is grey, when i dry burn it though, there is no smoke or burning smell. so is this normal for it to look grey after doing this or should the coil look black like a new one?
I back. So I finally retired the attys that I purchased back in September. Not because they are cashed, but I got some LR ones to replace them. I cleaned the old ones and but them up as backups. The funny thing is, aside from the fact that the LR do produce more vapor, the taste is nearly the same as the ones I have been cleaning using this method. The best plan is to rotate your attys before they begin to loose their kick. I would use an atty for a few days, drop it in grain alcohol to soak until I was down to my last one. Then I would sit and clean them all. They have lasted six months using this method!!! Thanks again for the helpful advise.
no, i meant that some "different attys" were in different stages of problem... in other words, respond differently to the method.
thus the suggestions to use a stronger soaking solution....
tonyorion suggests denture cleaner or peroxide... but doesn't say any more than that.... i wish he were more specific...
thus the suggestions to use a stronger soaking solution....
tonyorion suggests denture cleaner or peroxide... but doesn't say any more than that.... i wish he were more specific...
great idea... soak them before they go bad, making them easier to clean, and more important, save em from going bad... no?
Agreed. As soon as the flavors starts to drop off, in the moonshine they go!
- Status
Similar threads
