Steeping Times and an Ultrasonic Cleaner Part III

[Acer50]

Not sure why there would be a difference, but plastic is known to absorb some of the ultrasonic waves, that is one reason why metal baskets are preferred over plastic ones, and are usually found on better models. The only plastic bottles I use are for my final carry 15/30ml's of juice. Keep the plastic out of the US.

Here is a decent overall info page on US cleaners:
Questions and answers about Ultrasonic Cleaning

It would be interesting to know if Ultrasonic Cleaners sold in the USA are actually made in the USA or China. I had major issues with the small cheap roundish one. It was made in China and after 5 x 3 min cycles over a period of three weeks it blew. Water leaked into the electronics. It was very similar to the one on this page posted by @Mowgli Ok I bought it on Fleabay, and after threatening the vendor with forum exposure I finally got a full refund. Mind you it took 5 emails to achieve a full refund as well as making videos of it which had to be uploaded to my YouTube Chanel as it was too big to send by attachment. To get a

If you get serious about using your UC for ejuice, consider buying the little Pyrex bottles as they are WATERPROOF. Since they are designed for medical use, they can be harder to find and expensive. I lurked on EBay until I found them at a more reasonable price. Most new, some used. I bought a few each of 25/50/100 ml. They should last a lifetime, and did I mention they don't LEAK!

If you scroll down on my blog, there is a picture of one on my scale:

Mactavish's blog | E-Cigarette Forum

Thank you @Mactavish, I am well familiar with Pyrex bottles, my partner is in the medical profession, I use amber glass and also have glass bottles with glass stoppers. I have found the results using glass bottles satisfactory. My friend that used plastic that was where the mistake was. I myself have not used plastic in the UC since I bought it except to repeat his experiment. I avoid even storing E-Juice in plastic bottles of any description. We have a saying here "Good things come in Glass."

 

[Mactavish]

My 1st one was the plastc type, heater would come on when plugged in, NOT supposed to, with no water in the tank, you burn it up. Returned to Amazon, then CHINA!

Spent more and got a Shapertek, made in the USA. Most you see are made in China, you never know if any of the safety labels like "UL Listed", etc are fake, if the price is real cheap, one may have a future fire hazard.

 

[Mowgli]

Still jiggling for a couple of 30-60 minute cycles once or thrice every week.
4 years later it still rips holes in foil.
Amazing value, it must have been from the "A bin".

 

[Acer50]

My 1st one was the plastc type, heater would come on when plugged in, NOT supposed to, with no water in the tank, you burn it up. Returned to Amazon, then CHINA!

Spent more and got a Shapertek, made in the USA. Most you see are made in China, you never know if any of the safety labels like "UL Listed", etc are fake, if the price is real cheap, one may have a future fire hazard.

My first one came from this fleabay dealer global.living on eBay

It is the 600ml job with no heaters and a 3 minute cycle. It was too small for me and I gave it to the wife to clean her jewelry and I used it to clean my Sako Watch. It worked well for about 6-7 times for that task and then shet itself. During this time while it was still working I ordered the 2L cleaner with the heater from the same fleabay supplier and to this day it works great.

The plastic one pictured above believe me folks, it was a piece of rubbish and down right dangerous. When it ceased working on the 8th attempt I had lengthy correspondence (About 5-6) emails video and pictures which I had to send to the supplier. global living (Ebay) eventually after much haggling, (how unusual with the Chinese) I received a full refund on PayPal. They did not want it back. Ok, so I dismantle it and I damn near had a heart attack. Water got into the circuitry, how you tell me, it is supposed to be a totally sealed unit. Did the Ultrasonic generator unseal it?

Several components were black where the short circuit occured, one componet got so hot that its solder melted and it separated from the circuit board and it was dangling on the 240V cord. . Yes, it did have a 1amp fuse on the circuit board which btw was soldered in and not replaceable (Stupid Idea) The fuse was intact and did not blow. Why? Is that not what a fuse it for?

I am fortunate that this unit did not melt and set fire to my residence although, when I do use the UC I do it in the laundry on a metal surface away from any flammable material. The other factor that saved me from a fire disaster was that my household fuse in the fuse box blew when this happened. My household fuses were of a better and more protective quality that the inbuilt fuse on this UC. All the components were sent to my Electrical Authority with the same report as I write here. No doubt this supplier and manufacturer will be getting a very nasty letter from our Electrical Appliance Accreditation Authority.

When you buy in Australia an electrical appliance from a B&M shop it has to be certified safe to Australian and New Zealand Safety Standards, which by the way are very strict, when you buy on Fleabay or Amazon you take pot luck. My Big UC cleaner the 2L one I took to an electrician and had it checked out. It passed. (Cost me $45AUD extra to have it inspected, then again, how much is your life and that of your family worth)

 

[Acer50]

My first one came from this fleabay dealer global.living on eBay

It is the 600ml job with no heaters and a 3 minute cycle. It was too small for me and I gave it to the wife to clean her jewelry and I used it to clean my Sako Watch. It worked well for about 6-7 times for that task and then shet itself. During this time while it was still working I ordered the 2L cleaner with the heater from the same fleabay supplier and to this day it works great.

The plastic one pictured above believe me folks, it was a piece of rubbish and down right dangerous. When it ceased working on the 8th attempt I had lengthy correspondence (About 5-6) emails video and pictures which I had to send to the supplier. global living (Ebay) eventually after much haggling, (how unusual with the Chinese) I received a full refund on PayPal. They did not want it back. Ok, so I dismantle it and I damn near had a heart attack. Water got into the circuitry, how you tell me, it is supposed to be a totally sealed unit. Did the Ultrasonic generator unseal it?

Several components were black where the short circuit occured, one componet got so hot that its solder melted and it separated from the circuit board and it was dangling on the 240V cord. . Yes, it did have a 1amp fuse on the circuit board which btw was soldered in and not replaceable (Stupid Idea) The fuse was intact and did not blow. Why? Is that not what a fuse it for?

I am fortunate that this unit did not melt and set fire to my residence although, when I do use the UC I do it in the laundry on a metal surface away from any flammable material. The other factor that saved me from a fire disaster was that my household fuse in the fuse box blew when this happened. My household fuses were of a better and more protective quality that the inbuilt fuse on this UC. All the components were sent to my Electrical Authority with the same report as I write here. No doubt this supplier and manufacturer will be getting a very nasty letter from our Electrical Appliance Accreditation Authority.

When you buy in Australia an electrical appliance from a B&M shop it has to be certified safe to Australian and New Zealand Safety Standards, which by the way are very strict, when you buy on Fleabay or Amazon you take pot luck. My Big UC cleaner the 2L one I took to an electrician and had it checked out. It passed. (Cost me $45AUD extra to have it inspected, then again, how much is your life and that of your family worth)

Addendum to the above the supplier has removed this unit from his product listing

 

[DaveP]

I have a small oval shaped UC cleaner similar to that one. I bought it at Harbor Freight about 4 or 5 years ago. It's been used to clean jewelry and clean up new atomizers with dish soap and a shot of rubbing alcohol. So far, so good.

I'd like to have a larger cleaner, but haven't decided which one to get. For now the small UC works fine if I add hot water and run it for several 8 minute cycles.

 

[Acer50]

I have a small oval shaped UC cleaner similar to that one. I bought it at Harbor Freight about 4 or 5 years ago. It's been used to clean jewelry and clean up new atomizers with dish soap and a shot of rubbing alcohol. So far, so good.

I'd like to have a larger cleaner, but haven't decided which one to get. For now the small UC works fine if I add hot water and run it for several 8 minute cycles.

You are fortunate Dave that you got a good one.

 

[DaveP]

You are fortunate Dave that you got a good one.

It could die any minute, but so far so good. It makes rattling noises and doesn't clean large parts that well, but it was relatively cheap for a first try at UC cleaning. I'm waiting for the transducer to pop.

 

[SlickWilly]

I have a small oval shaped UC cleaner similar to that one. I bought it at Harbor Freight about 4 or 5 years ago. It's been used to clean jewelry and clean up new atomizers with dish soap and a shot of rubbing alcohol. So far, so good.

I'd like to have a larger cleaner, but haven't decided which one to get. For now the small UC works fine if I add hot water and run it for several 8 minute cycles.

I have the larger 2.5 liter HF UC that has the heater. Link--> 2.5 Liter Ultrasonic Cleaner
I bought it about five years ago using one of the 20% off coupons, used the hell out of it and have been very happy with it. I found the mod to bypass the timer, solder in a switch to the points in the pic below and it will stay running, it still retains the timer function. I've run it for hours straight with no signs of over heating, it does have a cooling fan inside. That said you don't need a UC for steeping, a crock pot works just as well. Many pages back in this tread Mikepetro did a blind taste test using forum members to test blind samples comparing juice steeped in both the UC and crock pot, the results showed the difference was nill

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[Acer50]

It could die any minute, but so far so good. It makes rattling noises and doesn't clean large parts that well, but it was relatively cheap for a first try at UC cleaning. I'm waiting for the transducer to pop.

Mine only had three minute cycles before it disintegrated. When it worked it cleaned well. The Two Litre Job I bought after, I have had no issues.

 

[Acer50]

I have the larger 2.5 liter HF UC that has the heater. Link--> 2.5 Liter Ultrasonic Cleaner
I bought it about five years ago using one of the 20% off coupons, used the hell out of it and have been very happy with it. I found the mod to bypass the timer, solder in a switch to the points in the pic below and it will stay running, it still retains the timer function. I've run it for hours straight with no signs of over heating, it does have a cooling fan inside. That said you don't need a UC for steeping, a crock pot works just as well. Many pages back in this tread Mikepetro did a blind taste test using forum members to test blind samples comparing juice steeped in both the UC and crock pot, the results showed the difference was nill

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(Click thumb for full size)
View attachment 661673​

A Crock Pot? You mean one of them slow cooker thingies? Hmmm lol, you would not want to put a plastic bottle in it. Might be worth a try. I wonder what the link was where he wrote about it and what the search keywords would be. I just mixed a sample batch of Mollinberry concentrates which I received on Friday. I used glass medicinal recycled bottles.

These will be going into the 2litre UC for about an hour and will see what happens. The Strawberry will be interesting as I want to see if this one will loose flavor.

 

[SlickWilly]

A Crock Pot? You mean one of them slow cooker thingies? Hmmm lol, you would not want to put a plastic bottle in it. Might be worth a try. I wonder what the link was where he wrote about it and what the search keywords would be. I just mixed a sample batch of Mollinberry concentrates which I received on Friday. I used glass medicinal recycled bottles.

These will be going into the 2litre UC for about an hour and will see what happens. The Strawberry will be interesting as I want to see if this one will loose flavor.

Well I did a little digging for you, his first post with the idea of the test is on page 57 --> Steeping Times and an Ultrasonic Cleaner Part III From there he goes in depth with pics on how he did the test, sent blind test samples to members, feedback posted from members and the results, all interesting read. As you'll see Mike went to extremes with equipment and expense to make it an accurate test. BTW Mike used glass bottles in the test.

Mike also posted a summary about the test in his blogs here --> Speed Steeping - Ultrasonic vs Crock Pot Test | E-Cigarette Forum

If it was me and I was looking just to speed steep juice I wouldn't spend the money on a UC, I'd use a crock pot. That said UC's work well for steeping and I have found many other uses, some of the things I use mine for is to clean jewelry, vape gear, my glasses, fired brass for reloading and smaller engine parts like carburetors from my John Deere and boat motor, I just clean it well when done. I also added a bead of high grade silicone sealer around the seam where the bowl meets the plastic body so when I dump it no crud get's left behind in that seam and can make it's way back into the bowl the next time I use it for something else.

 

[Acer50]

Thank you so much @SlickWilly, this will make interesting reading.

 

[Acer50]

@SlickWilly did you ever try to clean vape coils in it ?

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

 

[SlickWilly]

@SlickWilly did you ever try to clean vape coils in it ?

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

I did back when I was using clearo's and making coils for them, didn't work very well, it didn't get all the crud off. I went back to dry firing them then hit them with cold running water, that worked better. Didn't take long and I just gave up trying to save junked coils, I was spending more time trying to clean them then it took to wrap new ones.

 

[Acer50]

Thanks @SlickWilly, I was referring to factory coils like those for the Ijoy Maxo V12 which are a bit pricey. However I have opted to using the V12-RT6 Deck and with a triple coil build I am content.

 

[Acer50]

A Crock Pot? You mean one of them slow cooker thingies? Hmmm lol, you would not want to put a plastic bottle in it. Might be worth a try. I wonder what the link was where he wrote about it and what the search keywords would be. I just mixed a sample batch of Mollinberry concentrates which I received on Friday. I used glass medicinal recycled bottles.

These will be going into the 2litre UC for about an hour and will see what happens. The Strawberry will be interesting as I want to see if this one will loose flavor.

Just an update the Mollenberry brews that I made and zapped for 3x 1 hour sessions came out perfect and very tastey. I let the juice rest between zapps until it reached room temp with the lids off. I was very surprised that even the Mollinberry wild strawberry kept its flavor well unlike the Capella Strawberry which seemed to loose it after three days.

 

[Acer50]

Today I put my Ultrasonic cleaner to the real test I have some sextuplet coils from my Ijoy Maxo V12 these things are expensive my way to buy. I used this coil when I first got the unit. Ok think I, the coil is nearly had it, so nothing ventured, nothing gained. I put it into the the wire basket and run the cleaner for 40 mins using warm tap water at about 30c. After one cycle, I took the coil out and used a hair dryer to dry it. Success as good as new. I put it back in the tank and you would not know the difference.

 

[DaveP]

It all depends on the power of the ultrasonic cleaner whether it will clean certain items. The most common UC's are made for home use in cleaning jewelry. Mine is one of those from Harbor Freight that has an 8 minute timer.

Auto parts cleaner UC's would be good for what we do with coils and other metal parts. IT would be faster with juice steeping, too.

 

[dannyv45]

Well I did a little digging for you, his first post with the idea of the test is on page 57 --> Steeping Times and an Ultrasonic Cleaner Part III From there he goes in depth with pics on how he did the test, sent blind test samples to members, feedback posted from members and the results, all interesting read. As you'll see Mike went to extremes with equipment and expense to make it an accurate test. BTW Mike used glass bottles in the test.

Mike also posted a summary about the test in his blogs here --> Speed Steeping - Ultrasonic vs Crock Pot Test | E-Cigarette Forum

If it was me and I was looking just to speed steep juice I wouldn't spend the money on a UC, I'd use a crock pot. That said UC's work well for steeping and I have found many other uses, some of the things I use mine for is to clean jewelry, vape gear, my glasses, fired brass for reloading and smaller engine parts like carburetors from my John Deere and boat motor, I just clean it well when done. I also added a bead of high grade silicone sealer around the seam where the bowl meets the plastic body so when I dump it no crud get's left behind in that seam and can make it's way back into the bowl the next time I use it for something else.

I was one of the participants in that blind taste test and can confirm the accuracy of those results.