My method to clean the heating coil of any atomizer.

[exogenesis]

exogenesis--I look foward to your analysis results--I do think that we will find the composition of VG is different then PG under kinabaloo's theory of the case--visual results to show and post tomm as we are giving them another day of vaping.---Sun

Very much looking forward to your piccies as well.

Auto-vaper possibly not gunked enough after only 6hr, leaving it going till lunchtime.

iam0z, the flame colour idea is not too bad, but I think you'd really need a spectrometer
to sort out the mixure of different emmision colours (& adsorption lines),
in order to make sense of it (if there is much other than carbon).

 

[surbitonPete]

Hey exo ....was it decided the phosporic acid didn't really work very well?......I seem to have lost track of what's going on.....and I am still waiting for some to be delivered.

 

[chuckie]

As exo said, a spectrometer would tell u what you"re dealing with in about 10 minutes,I don"t know what that would cost,but it would stop all the guess work. Anyway,I do appreciate all the efforts.

 

[exogenesis]

SunV's original post in the on that subject clearly shows it does something significant.
There's some other reports of phos.acid working I believe.

I think phos.acid & H2O2 (boil-in-place) are the two 'best' aggressive treaments.

Soaking in Coke , vinegar or lemonjuice+salt and water-boiling also seem to 'freshen' things
(whilst probably not really fully cleaning highly gunked coils).

 

[StratOvation]

Hey Guys,

I've checked around at work and found that we DID have an MS/GC once upon a time. unfortunately, It was seldom used and mysteriously ended up broken and missing some parts.
The QC Lab lead chemist said he recently requested a new replacement but is not sure if the request will get approval. May have to settle for refurbing the old one.
If, in fact, we do get a working MS/GC, It won't be an issue to get a sample run. I'll be sure to check back with you for a sample of the residue if/when that happens.

Mike

BTW, I was under the impression that Sun (?) had studied and documented the H3PO4 solution worked well. Also, wasn't significant success found with the Nu Calgon cleaner?
Kinda figured you guys had this issue well sorted out with the previous results.

 

[exogenesis]

It'd be great to have some independent/user-generated GC/MS results,
specially on various vapours, rather than just liquids, look forward to the day


Yeah, it's all sorted, phos.acid works mostly on some/most gunked coils,
same for H2O2, weak acids can 'freshen' them.
So we're all definitely unsure about a 100% perfect cleaning regime.

 

[kinabaloo]

Exogenesis - small thing: i can understand the lemon juice/citric acid, but what is the salt for? Would seem redundant and might be left behind promoting rusting of the steel parts. In diy kitchen cleaning tips i guess it is used as an abrasive. Surely no point adding it to lemon juice?

 

[breakfastchef]

I am convinced there is no 'Holy Grail' method for atomizer revival. Maybe we can prolong the life by a short period of time, but they will ultimately fail. If we blew out an atomizer every night and turned it upside down to drain, it would last a bit longer than if we did not do these things. Considering all the junk we put down the tubes, there is no way we can stop the inevitable failure. Like a light bulb (similar to how an atomizer functions) they are going to fail. Atomizers are our lightbulbs and need to be replaced periodically.

 

[exogenesis]

I don't know if it's significant either,
it's just misantroll's recipe:
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/experiments-equipment/10120-lemon-juice-baby.html#post157170

Certainly I know that acidic salt is the best way to rust-test stainless steel (to detect 304 vs 316 grade)
Atomizers are probably 304 stainless = cheaper.

 

[kinabaloo]

breakfastchef - yes they can't last forever and some will fail quickly no matter what we do. But it should be possible to extend the average lifespan from say 1 month to 3. By carefully choosing our juices we even reach 6 months. But in the end, we will need to replace them.

There is 'no holy grail' once atomizers get too bad. How long a routine clean might help an atomizer last we dont know yet. Might get a few reaching 1 year

It's not just about lifespan - it's about getting a good vape.

 

[Sun Vaporer]

I am convinced there is no 'Holy Grail' method for atomizer revival. Maybe we can prolong the life by a short period of time, but they will ultimately fail. If we blew out an atomizer every night and turned it upside down to drain, it would last a bit longer than if we did not do these things. Considering all the junk we put down the tubes, there is no way we can stop the inevitable failure. Like a light bulb (similar to how an atomizer functions) they are going to fail. Atomizers are our lightbulbs and need to be replaced periodically.

Breakfastchef--I understand your furstation--but all of my tests confirm that it is the residue that is causing the coil to snap off the connector. Once reattached, the coil does work. I have done this many times with sucess. So it is not like a filiment of a light bulb that burns out--rather is it the build up that snaps that connection. So, with that in mind, if we are able to clean the coil safely --then the coil will not snap and the atomizer will continue to work for a lot longer. The key is a solvent that will clean the coil without making the atomizer unsafe to vape with---Sun

 

[breakfastchef]

Sun, thanks for your post. If we all did routine daily maintenance as mentioned in my post, we might reduce the amount of burned on gunk our atomizers accumulate. Once the 'gunk' hardens in the material around which the atomizer wire is wrapped, I sincerely doubt we can reverse the inevitable death of the atomizer.

 

[kinabaloo]

Perhaps the most important factor of all is our choice of juice; they vary considerably in quantity of dry deposit left behind in the atomiser.

Can someone put the link to the dry deposit test photos - i just can't seem to find it.

(we are eagerly awaiting results for plain VG+distilled water)

 

[Sun Vaporer]

Perhaps the most important factor of all is our choice of juice; they vary considerably in quantity of dry deposit left behind in the atomiser.

Can someone put the link to the dry deposit test photos - i just can't seem to find it.

Kinabaloo--you will be getting a good look at what you requested this weekend--Taxes have taken up my time--but I am sure you will be very interested in the results of the tests you suggested---Sun

 

[Bellinghamster]

Would a soy- or citrius-based solvent do the trick?

Here's one I found: Soy-It Bio-Based Degreaser

They claim non-toxic, but unless they will claim I can drink it from the bottle I'm not standing up to be the guinea pig

...umm if anyone tries this, I told you not to... OK?

 

[kinabaloo]

Bellinghamster - Interesting product, but grease is not the problem. If i did get any oil in the atomizer I would just add a tint touch of washing-up liquid to the cleaning solution.

 

[iam0z]

Certainly I know that acidic salt is the best way to rust-test stainless steel (to detect 304 vs 316 grade)
Atomizers are probably 304 stainless = cheaper.[/quote]

I don't know if "cheaper is the issue with using 304 SS but also it is non magnetic ok? and in a device that uses dc voltage that's a huge plus

 

[barefootbabi]

Won't Immersing the Atomizer Damage it? I thought it had some kind of electrical part or chip in it.
I'm using a dse901 and an NJOY Pro... what does that equal, a mini e-cig?
Sorry, I've only been vaping for about 2 months and all of this is new and some of it is mindboggling but I do want to make sure my atomizers are clean so they work better.

 

[barefootbabi]

Rubbing Alcohol?