My eGo-T Atomizer Cleaning Method

[zombienerd]

I haven't seen anyone else post this idea before, I'd imagine other people have done it, but don't know if anyone has ever shared it. This idea sorta smacked me in the head one night.

I like my way of doing it.

1) I take a 20oz soda bottle, bore a hole in the cap to a size slightly larger than the top of the atty. I bored from the top, to leave a little bit of the "cap seal" intact, it helps seal around the atomizer.
2) Slide the cap onto the top of the atomizer
3) Fill bottle with ~180 degree (f) water (Distilled if you prefer)
4) Tighten cap on the bottle
5) Invert and squeeze HARD.

This forces water through the atomizer, and when you've squeezed out about 1/2 of the bottle, let go and let the bottle expand, drawing air in through the atomizer, I find this helps dislodge all the gunk that is inside. Then, squeeze out the rest of the bottle.

I then blow out the atty, and repeat the process 2-3 times, blowing it out between each session.

After the final time, I blow it out for about a minute, then let it naturally dry for 24 hours before use.

Prime and vape!

No leftover flavors (I've even gotten rid of menthol this way), clean vape, just like brand new. It improves airflow as well.


See pictures for more detail

 

[mwa102464]

good idea, the turkey baster works well too

 

[RXDI]

Cool idea, gonna have to try that one.

 

[Switched]

It has been said that cleaning these = premature death, more than other atties. The jury is still out wrt longevity but I believe that the small hole is the culprit for fouling early vice the atty itself.

 

[silentt]

It has been said that cleaning these = premature death, more than other atties. The jury is still out wrt longevity but I believe that the small hole is the culprit for fouling early vice the atty itself.

I don't know if i'm reading this right but.. Cleaning these could make the life of these atomizers shorter?

 

[zombienerd]

I don't know if i'm reading this right but.. Cleaning these could make the life of these atomizers shorter?

I haven't heard of anyone saying they've killed their atty by cleaning, but that doesn't mean it hasn't happened. I have 3 of these atties now, and have cleaned all three multiple times using this method, and going as far as alcohol and dry burning for a severely gunked up one (too much dark juice).

Switched, do you have links to the threads where people have had issues with cleaning, I like to keep informed on the latest developments.

 

[silentt]

I was just going off of 'Switched's statement. I have read a lot of different cleaning techniques and never read its bad to do so.

 

[mwa102464]

I do believe that cleaning any Attys to much = premature death. On a second note, I went away for a long weekend over the last 4 days. When I left I put a really bad tasting Ego T Atty in PGA and forgot to take it out before I left. When I returned home today, left on Fri, I took it out of the PGA, blew it out really good let it sit for an hour and I then re-primed the Atty with some PG. Just now filled a tank and tried it, it's vaping like a smoke stack and all the bad taste is now gone and it's producing again and better than new, so go figure that....;-)

 

[Birds the word]

That's good to hear! I just put my atties in a coffee cup with boiling water, and that works well. I'll have to try this water bottle method and see what happens. I've had this thing for less than a week now and I'm loving it. I never thought I would quit smoking analogs, but this was just what I needed.

 

[kelleymcm]

my ego-t worked great for 7 days till I cleaned it, let it sit in PGA for 15 mins or so & blew it out then let dry over night , reloaded next day

& it started leaking ... after reading http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...iscussion/139915-new-ego-tank-system-145.html for hours & taking my atty apart , I found my wick (or what was left of it) curled up in the coil cup,all burnt up.......

I had BLOWN it thru the needle while cleaning.

So IMHO I would not blow thru any of these attys again with out 1st removing the needle plate, which is very simple to do with needle nose pliers (just pull it out by the needle) & you reinstall the plate by putting it back on the tank & pushing the whole thing back into the atty .......

I now do this if I am having an issue & need to check on my wick,which I have replaced & still can't get just right... this also makes cleaning very easy because you can see the coil to clean it.

 

[zombienerd]

my ego-t worked great for 7 days till I cleaned it, let it sit in PGA for 15 mins or so & blew it out then let dry over night , reloaded next day

& it started leaking ... after reading http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...iscussion/139915-new-ego-tank-system-145.html for hours & taking my atty apart , I found my wick (or what was left of it) curled up in the coil cup,all burnt up.......

I had BLOWN it thru the needle while cleaning.

So IMHO I would not blow thru any of these attys again with out 1st removing the needle plate, which is very simple to do with needle nose pliers (just pull it out by the needle) & you reinstall the plate by putting it back on the tank & pushing the whole thing back into the atty .......

I now do this if I am having an issue & need to check on my wick,which I have replaced & still can't get just right... this also makes cleaning very easy because you can see the coil to clean it.

That is why you only blow through the battery end

 

[kelleymcm]

You never mention THAT in your post, you just mentioned "blowing it out " &

This forces water through the atomizer, and when you've squeezed out about 1/2 of the bottle, let go and let the bottle expand, drawing air in through the atomizer, I find this helps dislodge all the gunk that is inside. Then, squeeze out the rest of the bottle.

which of course would be the same as blowing it out from the other end ...
& the direction of the pressure would only change where the wick ends up anyway.

I'm not trying to pick on your post here ...

I guess what I was trying to SAY IS ....

that these ego-t's are different,

And BECAUSE of the way they are built w/the needle
& wicking that CAN MOVE very easily ...
that they HAVE to be treated differently...

anytime they are flushed out with the force of water or air ...
you are risking your delicate wick's position.

 

[zombienerd]

You never mention THAT in your post, you just mentioned "blowing it out " &



which of course would be the same as blowing it out from the other end ...
& the direction of the pressure would only change where the wick ends up anyway.

I'm not trying to pick on your post here ...

I guess what I was trying to SAY IS ....

that these ego-t's are different,

And BECAUSE of the way they are built w/the needle
& wicking that CAN MOVE very easily ...
that they HAVE to be treated differently...

anytime they are flushed out with the force of water or air ...
you are risking your delicate wick's position.

Oh, I see what you're saying. Consider me corrected. Context is everything I suppose

I could see where that could possibly be a problem. I'll have to keep an eye on it

So far, I haven't had an issue with that, thankfully. If I ever do, I'll let everyone know.

 

[kelleymcm]

I do wanna say , thanks for your posts & sharing your experiences.

I am SO GLAD that there are SOME WORKING EGO-T's out there !!

I feel so BAD for the POOR vendors that sold these,
I don't know the exact fail rate on these .but from the #of postings I can guess it's not good.

 

[g3p]

I just cleaned my replace Ego-T with plain, cold water (wasn't in a place to get hot water), the one I got as a replacement LAST NIGHT. I had used a "dark" juice (coffee) and it was already plugged. It's amazing the difference it made after only running one fill through it!

 

[ledouxmike]

Great info here guys. Please correct me if I'm wrong about any details so I won't screw up my atty's when I clean them. I don't have them yet but I will in a day or two. I'll be cleaning them, at least blowing them out every 2 or 3 days to keep them running healthy. Hot water soaks and alcohol or vinegar baths followed by hot water or alcohol soaks one a week I guess. I've also read a lot of posts on these atty's and this is what I've learned so far.

When cleaning the atty, it should be ok to gently push a paper towel inside the atomizer and blow from the battery end. Blowing inside the other end could possibly push the wick down or totally blow it out of the needle unless the needle plate is removed first. Regular hot water and alcohol cleanings should be fine. Alcohol cleaning should be followed by a hot water cleaning. If you dry burn these it might be best to take out the needle plate first so the wick isn't on the heating coil. But then again, that might help clean off the wick, not sure on that one.

At the moment I'm using Tasty Vapor juices 80% PG 20% VG. Tell me what you guys think and please add any helpful suggestions you might think of. thanks a bunch guys.

P.S. After reading back at the last few posts now I wonder if it's safe to blow these things out at all. But after thinking about it a bit I believe it is much safer to blow through the battery end.

 

[zombienerd]

Great info here guys. Please correct me if I'm wrong about any details so I won't screw up my atty's when I clean them. I don't have them yet but I will in a day or two. I'll be cleaning them, at least blowing them out every 2 or 3 days to keep them running healthy. Hot water soaks and alcohol or vinegar baths followed by hot water or alcohol soaks one a week I guess. I've also read a lot of posts on these atty's and this is what I've learned so far.

When cleaning the atty, it should be ok to gently push a paper towel inside the atomizer and blow from the battery end. Blowing inside the other end could possibly push the wick down or totally blow it out of the needle unless the needle plate is removed first. Regular hot water and alcohol cleanings should be fine. Alcohol cleaning should be followed by a hot water cleaning. If you dry burn these it might be best to take out the needle plate first so the wick isn't on the heating coil. But then again, that might help clean off the wick, not sure on that one.

At the moment I'm using Tasty Vapor juices 80% PG 20% VG. Tell me what you guys think and please add any helpful suggestions you might think of. thanks a bunch guys.

P.S. After reading back at the last few posts now I wonder if it's safe to blow these things out at all. But after thinking about it a bit I believe it is much safer to blow through the battery end.

Since I wrote this, my cleaning routine has varied a bit

I blow my atties out (from the battery end) every time I change flavors.
At least once a week I'll do the hot water bottle wash. 24 hour dry time.
If the atty is too gunked up after that, I give it a 3 hour IPA soak, and run the alcohol through it 15-20 times afterward. I let it dry for 24 hours, then I then pull the needle plate and dry burn it a few times to get rid of the gunk on the coil.

I do put a paper towel into the atty end when I'm blowing it out, and afterwards I use one to swab inside to get rid of any stray juice drops.

So far, I haven't managed to lose my wick, and haven't had any issues with it going too far down.

I did, however, manually remove the wick when I figured out how to pull the needle plate, just to see how it holds together. I was able to remove the "hat", clean the wick, and then re-wrap the mesh around the top and have it hold together, and re-insert the wick by pushing it back into the needle.

 

[ledouxmike]

Since I wrote this, my cleaning routine has varied a bit

I blow my atties out (from the battery end) every time I change flavors.
At least once a week I'll do the hot water bottle wash. 24 hour dry time.
If the atty is too gunked up after that, I give it a 3 hour IPA soak, and run the alcohol through it 15-20 times afterward. I let it dry for 24 hours, then I then pull the needle plate and dry burn it a few times to get rid of the gunk on the coil.

I do put a paper towel into the atty end when I'm blowing it out, and afterwards I use one to swab inside to get rid of any stray juice drops.

So far, I haven't managed to lose my wick, and haven't had any issues with it going too far down.

I did, however, manually remove the wick when I figured out how to pull the needle plate, just to see how it holds together. I was able to remove the "hat", clean the wick, and then re-wrap the mesh around the top and have it hold together, and re-insert the wick by pushing it back into the needle.

I thought if the hat came off you were screwed?

 

[zombienerd]

I thought if the hat came off you were screwed?

I was able to wrap the hat back around the wick and pinch it, then rolled it between my fingers, and re-insert...

Maybe I was just lucky?

 

[Jennie O]

Personally, other than the one that I messed up and pushed the wick down too far in, I don't plan to pull the plate out on them. (Haven't been able to get that one out still!)
So far since they haven't gotten heavy use, I've just stuck with the soaking in boiled distilled thing, At some point I may try the alcohol soak. If it's working ok I'm not going to mess with it any more than necessary. Messing with the wick already messed one up that was probably fine.

(not to take away from your method, whatever works and that's worth a try too!)