Possible BEST Atty Cleaner

[NCC]

I said I was going to walk away from this nonsense. I can't help react to your BS. The personal attacks and name calling I will ignore. However, you are simply wrong about the chemical reaction. We filled multiple 30 gallon trash bags with the product, this was no wimpy reaction. We had to improvise condensers because the gas was too heavy with water which evaporated from the boiling solution, boiling in spite of the fact that the reactant bottles were in a cooling water bath. At room temperature it is slow. But, given enough reactants it doesn't take long to get rather furious. You clearly don't know what you're talking about.

Too bad you couldn't just enjoy my relating of an experience with lye, without turning it into a hostile and unnecessary debate. If you will go back and re-read my first responses you will have to admit that there is no FUD in them. I see nothing wrong with using lye to clean atomizers, given that proper rinsing is carried out aftward. I simply see no point in it.

 

[04 Raider Rider]

Solid dry lye is commonly available as flakes, pellets, microbeads, and coarse powder. It is also available as solution, often dissolved in water. Lye is valued for its use in food preparation, soap making, biodiesel production, and household uses, such as oven cleaner and drain opener.


Canister of solid dry lye.
Contents

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[Ifoundit]

I use a waterpick on medium pressure.. not sure if I would feel safe using a chemical.

 

[zoiDman]

Lye? That's a new one to me.

I guess if it works for you, well, it works for you.

I would suggest perhaps something a little less drastic that you might finds works just as well. That is, wait for it, White Vineger.

 

[NCC]

Vinegar is acidic, while lye is basic. Lye probably works better for organic material such as deposits formed on atomizers. Just a thought. I'm just not a big atty cleaner.

I know that if presented with the choice of drinking a glass of vinegar or a glass of lye solution, my choice would be clearly for the vinegar. But, we're not talking about consuming either one here.

 

[zoiDman]

Vinegar is acidic, while lye is basic. Lye probably works better for organic material such as deposits formed on atomizers. Just a thought. I'm just not a big atty cleaner.

I know that if presented with the choice of drinking a glass of vinegar or a glass of lye solution, my choice would be clearly for the vinegar. But, we're not talking about consuming either one here.

But here is a question....

If both an acid or a base worked about the same, is there a difference for the non-chemist?

I don't see any problem with someone using just about anything, Lye - Vineger - Goat Piss, to clean their atty's. What I don't like seeing sometimes is people posting use of chemicals that other users might not be as versed using that could cause harm.

Face it, some people couldn't might a 15% ratio if their life depended on it. Or a 5 to 1 ratio. So when someone mentions using some solution of something I see problems.

Where as Vineger is pretty child proof. No mixing. No spill hazard. No Burn hazard. Can't really over do it or under do it. And it's cheap and the BIG thing, it works.

Sure, you can use a Saws-All to cut flowers. But sometimes there is a simpler, cheaper, safer way to go about things.

 

[NCC]

Agree with your whole post #26 zoiDman. Vinegar is obviously the safer choice. I don't think pickles or salad dressing are in the same league as drain cleaner. heh. I confess total ignorance regarding vinegar's atty cleaning ability. Have you used it for that purpose?

 

[rerere55]

I 've used vinegar to clean my attys. They say vinegar is antibacterial, I know it removes mold and does no harm to health.

 

[zoiDman]

Agree with your whole post #26 zoiDman. Vinegar is obviously the safer choice. I don't think pickles or salad dressing are in the same league as drain cleaner. heh. I confess total ignorance regarding vinegar's atty cleaning ability. Have you used it for that purpose?

Agreed, drain cleaner probably does work faster.

I've used many things to clean atty's. Vodka, PGA, Isopropyl Alcohol in various percentages as well as Hydrogen Peroxide up to 7%. I even used some things I will not mention here. To be honest we you, I haven't found anything that works much better than plain old White Vineger at 5% Acidity.

Hot water atty rinse. 45 minute to over night soak in Vineger. Warm rinse in water and dry. Dry burn if desired.

Give it a try. I think a gallon costs like 3 bucks. And if it does work for you it also kills weeds, removes rust with out etching, cleans coffee makers, removes oil spots from concrete. Can I stop now?

But if you can't find something to do with it, pur it down a slow running drain. Clears clogs also. Not exactly sure I would pour Lye down a drain. Or even want or need it laying around.

 

[Airbrusher]

I am not a chemist, you're talking to a guy who USED to smoke a ciggy while airbrushing acrylics! I cannot for the life of me see something that caustic (Lye) being recommended. I can't see where it would do anything but get you a Darwin award.

 

[grandmato5]

Pretty simple rules to maintaining attys: Don't let them overheat, keep burning them dry to a minimum, and Don't over do the cleaning and fussing over them. Remember that a flooded atty may not die, but it doesn't work very well either. There is no perfect way to clean any atty to guarentee a long and healthy life. Proven by the fact that those of us with elderly attys use many different methods to clean, including the fact that some of us do very little cleaning and our attys continue to work well as do attys that do have a weekly cleaning.

 

[ShannonS]

--
i don't know what a lye zealout is. but i do know what FUD is: Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. and i don't know the purpose in spreading it. it's not spreading knowledge or anything of value. it's merely acting as an ignorant authority for others, which i despise. i don't know of a greater threat to freedom, knowledge, and human advancements/developments.

anything is a poison in the right dose. typically, lye does not harm people from poisoning, if ever. it would take a large non-corrosive oral does over a very extended period of time to be "poisonous" (weeks, months), eg, kidney damage. that would be a difficult way to harm yourself with it.

Hrm? Swallowing lye causes chemical burns, it is a corrosive. I have met a person who swallowed lye when he was a child. He was fed through a g-tube because his throat and esophagus was burned and badly scarred.

Perhaps you are talking about a different kind of lye than what this person drank as a child?

Atomizers have wicks that might retain the lye, I would be very curious on how to determine if they had been rinsed well enough, that the actual wick was 100% free of any lye. No one would be eating the lye, however, someone would be inhaling traces of lye if the wick didn't get clean.

Since I know next to nothing about lye, could you tell me what the possible health hazards of accidentally vaping a small amount of vaporized lye?

Hey mods? Can we get this moved to "not advisable?"

 

[DC2]

There have been a couple of folks in the past who have done tons of experimenting with substances to clean atomizers.
The conclusion at the end of these types of experiments has always been that pretty much nothing gets off the baked on gunk.

The only thing that was ever found to even make a dent in the baked on gunk was ice machine cleaner.

The only thing ever proven beyond a shadow of a doubt to get off the baked on gunk is dry burns.
And that is why the method explained in the http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/tips-tricks/69834-my-atty-resurrection-method.html thread is all I have been using.

I have no doubt that this is the only way I will ever be cleaning my atomizer.

 

[No Brag]

I don't know what all of the fuss is about lye. I have always made homemade soap with lye. Now I can't because they have taken lye off of the shelves at all stores. I have found places to buy it on line, but cost is to high with the amount you have to buy. Even if I could buy it, I wouldn't use it on atty's. The risk is just to great. I have seen, while making soap just how dangerous it is and it shouldn't be used by just anyone. I will put out the extra money to buy more attys before I take a risk like that.

 

[zoiDman]

I am not a chemist, you're talking to a guy who USED to smoke a ciggy while airbrushing acrylics! I cannot for the life of me see something that caustic (Lye) being recommended. I can't see where it would do anything but get you a Darwin award.

LOL. It boggles the mind doesn't.

Hrm? Swallowing lye causes chemical burns, it is a corrosive. I have met a person who swallowed lye when he was a child. He was fed through a g-tube because his throat and esophagus was burned and badly scarred.

Perhaps you are talking about a different kind of lye than what this person drank as a child?
...

Unfortunately, the OP is referring to Exactly what damaged that person you know. He plans to water it down to some lesser concentration though.

There have been a couple of folks in the past who have done tons of experimenting with substances to clean atomizers.
The conclusion at the end of these types of experiments has always been that pretty much nothing gets off the baked on gunk.

The only thing that was ever found to even make a dent in the baked on gunk was ice machine cleaner.

The only thing ever proven beyond a shadow of a doubt to get off the baked on gunk is dry burns.
And that is why the method explained in the http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/tips-tricks/69834-my-atty-resurrection-method.html thread is all I have been using.

I have no doubt that this is the only way I will ever be cleaning my atomizer.

Next time you go to clean one of your atty's, try giving it a 40 minute presoak in Vinegar. I find it greatly reduces the dry burn time. Most times there is only a wisp of smoke and my atty's jump to a happy orange glow.

 

[NCC]

... some of us do very little cleaning and our attys continue to work well as do attys that do have a weekly cleaning.

I'm in that camp, which is why I can't claim a lot of experience on the subject of cleaning. I have cleaned a few, 6 or 9 months ago. In a year of vaping, I had one pop on its first powerup (apparently defective), and another 3 or 4 which went a lot less dramatically. Part of the equation is that I frequently have more than one in active rotation.

I'm in the 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' school of thought. Occasionally I'll blow mine out with compressed air (not the canned type) or rinse with hot tap water. That's about it.

 

[ShannonS]

I blow mine out, drip in bit of VG for storage and rotate them. I don't have a reason to clean them. Don't let them get dry and they won't burn.

 

[zoiDman]

I think a lot depends on the type of juice you vape.

My 50VG:50PG DIY Watermelon atty can go months without needing to be cleaned. But my 70VG:30PG DIY Tasty Finger variant atty needs cleaning about every 2 weeks or it starts to taste Horrible.

 

[Noe]

I think a lot depends on the type of juice you vape.

My 50VG:50PG DIY Watermelon atty can go months without needing to be cleaned. But my 70VG:30PG DIY Tasty Finger variant atty needs cleaning about every 2 weeks or it starts to taste Horrible.

So your juice tastes like fingers?

 

[loke1858]

I did yesterday
cleaned with water
Used acid for coffemachines then
Water again
All together for nearest 24 hours
Next in stove 75 degress because i was curoius
A dry burn
The best cleaned i have ever made
But now back in water just to be sure
I have cleaned cutted c2r4
Perhaps normal cartoes with lots of wadding, cotton perhaps need more care?
Especielly if they are closed