The “Cola” Method Taken to Another Level That Works

[surbitonPete]

Hi Pete - that was fast! It would be nice to coat the coil with ceramic so it's non-stick

But the deposit seems not actually to stick to the coil but, rather, the material inside it, expanding the coil in the process.

I guess there are different interactions in different atomizers but the gunk definately sticks to my coils...I have very carefully broken it up and off of some of my coils and it is well stuck to everything...I feel like one of those guys who is gradually chipping all the rock away from a dinosour fossil..except it's in miniture.

 

[kinabaloo]

On my 901, a cart end-cap (lid) works well - perfect fit. These are also useful for covering battery ash-effect cap so one can see the led while vaping.

If you've got these lying around, you might well find it is the perfect answer.

 

[kinabaloo]

Pete - yes, I guess that's true. Pity the ceramic coating is not something we can easily try.

It might be worth trying this: add a little alcohol to a juice and compare deposit build-up and final hardness with and without the alcohol. Some observations, including my own, suggest this might just be partially useful. Flavorings that contain alcohol seem to produce less deposit (Sun has noted this too i believe) but it might turn out to be a non-causal correlation.

Steampunk - like the toothbrush holder idea! Also sensible to leave the cleaning-atomiser in the bathroom too, just in case it leaks.

 

[surbitonPete]

Pete - yes, I guess that's true. Pity the ceramic coating is not something we can easily try.

It might be worth trying this: add a little alcohol to a juice and compare deposit build-up and final hardness with and without the alcohol. Some observations, including my own, suggest this might just be partially useful. Flavorings that contain alcohol seem to produce less deposit (Sun has noted this too i believe) but it might turn out to be a non-causal correlation.

perhaps a little alcohol raises the vaping temperature burning up more of the gunk....I am curiouse about the kind of gunk made by the juice with 'no' additives or flavourings. It's very difficult to know what to make of reports when there are so many variables.

 

[kinabaloo]

Pete - Re non-flavor test, I know something of the results but am waiting for Sun to do his full report.

While alcohol might raise the temperature if the juice were combusted, i don't believe it has that effect in the atomizer. It might be having some kind of surfactant effect making particles of deposit break off and less sticky.

On that topic somewhat, I often wonder why the deposit is not just like ash. Why instead it forms this fairly solid blob even though composed of various constituents. It might be that the answer is resins and gums (glue-like natural substances) sticking the
particles together. This page has some notes on dissolving resins: Resins

 

[Steampunk]

On my 901, a cart end-cap (lid) works well - perfect fit. These are also useful for covering battery ash-effect cap so one can see the led while vaping.

If you've got these lying around, you might well find it is the perfect answer.

I thought of that but didn't think the hole of the atomizer would get covered. I suppose taping over that would work though. I do like the idea of covering the battery LED to be discrete though.

Steampunk - like the toothbrush holder idea! Also sensible to leave the cleaning-atomiser in the bathroom too, just in case it leaks.

LOL...I meant an OLD tooth brush holder!! I will be conducting this experiment in the basement utility tub.

 

[surbitonPete]

Pete - Re non-flavor test, I know something of the results but am waiting for Sun to do his full report.

While alcohol might raise the temperature if the juice were combusted, i don't believe it has that effect in the atomizer. It might be having some kind of surfactant effect making particles of deposit break off and less sticky.

On that topic somewhat, I often wonder why the deposit is not just like ash. Why instead it forms this fairly solid blob even though composed of various constituents. It might be that the answer is resins and gums (glue-like natural substances) sticking the
particles together. This page has some notes on dissolving resins: Resins

Great I am looking foreward to suns report.
My deposit's always look like shiny melted and bubled up plastic....that's why originaly I was convinced it must be partially due to the cart material ....but it's still just the same even now I don't use any polyester. I still can't even understand the 'lumpiness' of it.....it must be bubbling on the coil something like lava bubbling out of undersea vents.

 

[kinabaloo]

Steampunk - "I do like the idea of covering the battery LED to be discrete though." Actually it makes the led more visible, especially to you.

Good luck in your basement facility lab.

 

[Steampunk]

How about making a tinfoil pot or something.

You mean make like a little tinfoil resevoir or pan just big enough to fit the atomizer and the cleaner? Yeah, that would work too with minimal waste of cleaner.

 

[Steampunk]

Actually it makes the led more visible, especially to you.

I like that better! I'll have to give it a try. Thanks, and I'll post the results.

 

[kinabaloo]

Pete - I have an idea that it might indeed be partly burned plastic, but that's for another day.

Interesting the shape - these are important clues. Might be bubbling. Might be temperature profile related; the deposit grows more where cooler, so bumps grow out like stalagmites (self-reinforcing). Might be some kind of attractiveness / repellant forces. Or fluid mechanics related - turbulance patterns for example.

Hey, this beats Sudoku

 

[exogenesis]

Can I ask Pete, do you flash heat your coils i.e. with brief 4.5V applied ?
It's just the feeling from what you're saying, that you're trying to
physically chip it away before it's been ashed.

 

[surbitonPete]

Can I ask Pete, do you flash heat your coils i.e. with brief 4.5V applied ?
It's just the feeling from what you're saying, that you're trying to
physically chip it away before it's been ashed.

I can't actually look at any of my coils until they are actually dead exo and I take them apart....so although I have tried flash heating a coil I don't know what it looks like afterwards......I have tried heating a coil for ages with a lower voltage and listenened to it bubling and frying away...but that vaped so much worse when I used it that I took it apart before it was dead.....and that particular coil was one of the worst I had seen for amount of the black gunk

 

[jesrf]

I've been following this thread for a while now and while I see some have suggested this, I didnt see where anyone had tried it.

Yesterday I had my first atomizer die, a 401 (pilot hybrid). I've been waiting for one of their atomizers to die before trying something as I didnt think the coke thing was helping much and the idea of putting ice machine cleaner in an atomizer wasn't very appealing (though it may work quite well).

First, I suspect the 401 atomizer is permanently dead, its cold and I suspect the wire is broken. Having spares for both the Npro and the 401 I decided to give it go and put baking soda inside each atomizer (as best I could and then immerse them in a shot glass of White vinegar.

First, the atomizer from the nPro I removed this morning. Rinsed with hot water from the tap, and added a few drops. It is working great, much improved, looking down into it, I can even see the coil/wire inside (I never could before, I used the nPro for about two weeks before reading this thread) prior to this all I could see was a black spot.

The 401 is still soaking, I will take it out later, dry it and give it a try, I suspect it will fail because I suspect the wire is broken, in which case I will attempt to dismantle it to see the results of the soaking. Any advice on how to dismantle it for better viewing would be appreciated.

Also, there is now a great deal of black/gray particulate floating in the vinegar.

 

[kinabaloo]

jesrf - did you notice a 'fizz' whereupon the acetic acid of the vinegar was reacting with the baking soda? Seems likely that the bubbles played a big part in the success here and suggests that denture cleaner tablets, which have a similar formulation, but with citric acid rather acetic, might also work just as well.

Did you add the baking soda as a powder to the atty of in a solution?

Good to hear that you found success with this. The atty was about 2 weeks old, right?

 

[jesrf]

Yes, it fizzed like crazy.

Both atomizers were about 5 weeks old, I packed them in baking soda first (tapping them on a counter to try to get the powder all the way thru) on the nPro atomizer the powder actually began to come out thru the hole on the bottom, so I knew it was good.

Then I dropped it in a small glass of white vinegar (about two ounces).

I think I read on another thread where someone tried denture tablets but it was ineffectual.

 

[kinabaloo]

The denture tablets might work just as well if crushed into a powder and then put into the atty ready for some hot water.

Either method is easy to do and uses cheap, easily-available substances. This is looking promising.

The breaking apart of the deposit by expanding gas bubbles is possibly what made the cola method effective. In fizz terms this is the super-cola. Perhaps this super-cola will be better than our first guess concentrated phosphoric acid super-cola'.

Maybe this will be the tea-bag breakthrough

 

[jesrf]

I've pulled the 401 atomizer from the vinegar and its definitely much cleaner, I can see the coil now.

I'm going to let it dry and I'll see if it works though I'm not hopeful. But its definitely cleaner...

Should it fail (as I expect ) can anyone advise on the best way to take it apart....

 

[rsngfrce]

rsngfrce--where the atomizers used with PG or VG and also try soaking it for up to 36 hours in the NuCalgon if you still have it--as 16 hours will not do it in many cases--it appears that Vg is easier to clean of then PG--also, which NuCalgon did you experiment with---Thanks--Sun

Well, stuck the two atomizers back in the NuCalgon for another 48 hours (in addition to the 24 they hard already been in)... maybe a bit of difference but not much... still caked with deposit. Must be tough PG I am dealing with? One interesting thing is that the deposit on the really caked coil now looks slightly red to me, but I may be seeing things.

 

[Sun Vaporer]

Well, stuck the two atomizers back in the NuCalgon for another 48 hours (in addition to the 24 they hard already been in)... maybe a bit of difference but not much... still caked with deposit. Must be tough PG I am dealing with? One interesting thing is that the deposit on the really caked coil now looks slightly red to me, but I may be seeing things.

Rsngfrce--I will be able to confirm that PG is much more difficult to clean of the coil then the residue of VG--test results and photos to come. As for the redness, I have noted that as well, just before it really starts to disipate in the solvent--Thanks for the additional info---Sun