One tough atomizer

[crazyhorse]

I went to town Tuesday morning to do a plumbing repair at one of our houses. This required a quick trip to the hardware store for parts. I had my manually switched ecig mod boxes laying in the passenger seat along with a bank deposit containing a bunch of cash along with some other goodies. I tossed a phone book on top of the pile to hide it when I went in the store. I was in there about five minutes. When I got back in my car, something smelled hot. Like the engine had overheated and blown antifreeze. Per the temperature gauge, that wasn't happening so I fired up and drove away.

Two miles later I got to the bank and discovered the source of the aroma When I uncovered the pile to get the deposit, I grabbed my single AA NicoStick (with the skinny half-amp momentary switch) to get me a puff, I realized the weight of the phone book had activated the switch. The case was hotter than blazes and the atomizer was hot enough to burn my fingers. I popped the cover quicklike and found the wad of hot glue securing the atomizer connector was liquefied and in a draining puddle. Stupid me touched the ground-down brass part of the phone jack to give it a wiggle and I think my finger sizzled.

I was sure the atomizer was toast. Once it all cooled off, I mounted the atomizer to my other box and gave it a try. It still worked. It had a burned taste for quite a while (imagine that) but it's still working now.

I guess you can say this atomizer survived the ultimate cleaning cycle.

I did retire that box and built me a new one that afternoon with the fat, flat three amp switch and a master cutoff.

Edit: This atomizer had already been on the job for more than six weeks, vaporized 33 ml of liquid and experienced three soapy water/alcohol soak cleanings.

 

[mnealtx]

Wow!!! That's REALLY 'one tough atomizer'!!!

 

[Sun Vaporer]

Crazy--that atomizer deserves the Hall of Fame--It took the ultimate hit, but keeps on giving. Glad to hear you switched over the the 3Amp with the kill switch.

Sun

 

[warp1900]

Most atomizers will survive such abuse, trust me, my wife never uses the kill switch, always drops her nicostick in her purse WITH the atty attached. It has happened 4 times that the white part of the 801 cartridge melts halfway and right after it cools off, it still works.

No one has really come up with a final reason on why atomizers die.

All i can go for is making sure there are no faulty connections, (which is hard if you consider the connection between the center posts on atty / Battery.) I honestly believe that it is just a matter of "luck", different batches will die at different times.
It is like incandescent light bulbs, there are so many explanations to why some last so little time and others seem to go on forever, but in the end I find it hard to believe any "theories".
Atomizers like light bulbs make a piece of wire glow red or get hot, which means any nano difference, (yes I said nano), in the metal alloys in the wire will make a difference on how long it will last.

If they never came up with a solution for the time a light bulb lasts, why expect them to solve the dead atomizer mystery?

I know absolutely nothing about alloys and those things, I just put the subject to rest with my own "logical" explanation and move on to buy more atomizers or light bulbs.

 

[kinabaloo]

Yes, tiny imperceptible imperfections that cause local hot spots is partly behind the variability and because the wire is very thin, these imperfections matter more than they would in say a toaster wire.

Deposit buildup from juices causes the majority of atty deaths and it's well worth checking out the photos that show this - or dissambling a dead one to see for yourself.

 

[crazyhorse]

Update on "One tough atomizer": he lived another two weeks after the accident and vaporized a grand total of 40½ ml before his recent demise. His more heavily used counterpart that works with my triple-cell NicoStick (placed in service at the same time) lives on and has vaporized 60 ml to date.