vinegar melts metal?!

[bea58]

And it was going so well, over 2 months with the same atomizer. All was fine until I cleaned it with a diluted vinegar solution. Prior to that hot water seemed to have worked fine, but I saw a cleaning procedure on here that used vinegar and thought it might do a more effective cleaning.

Oh, it was effective all right. The end that screws it into the battery is now so corroded that it's worthless. Although, the coil part looks nice and clean.

At least I didn't throw all of them into the rinse bowl.

Anybody else have this happen?

 

[Kendra]

And it was going so well, over 2 months with the same atomizer. All was fine until I cleaned it with a diluted vinegar solution. Prior to that hot water seemed to have worked fine, but I saw a cleaning procedure on here that used vinegar and thought it might do a more effective cleaning.

Oh, it was effective all right. The end that screws it into the battery is now so corroded that it's worthless. Although, the coil part looks nice and clean.

At least I didn't throw all of them into the rinse bowl.

Anybody else have this happen?

Wow, I have not had this happen and I've used undiluted distilled vinegar to clean my atomizers twice-- and I soaked them overnight before rinsing them. Any chance you used non-distilled vinegar or some other type of vinegar?

Mine look shiny and clean-- I just took a look at them. You know, I wonder if you have atomizers from a manufacturer that plates them with a different material. What kind do you have?

 

[bea58]

Hi Kendra, I used red wine vinegar, it's all I have in the house, but it says that it's only 5% acidity on the bottle so I thought it would be fine.

The atomizer is from esmokeytreats. The threading end is brass, and frankly I can't tell if it's metal or some other material that's coated with the brass. Wouldn't it need to be metal to conduct the charge?

 

[somberbear]

.... sounds like you made your atomizer into a battery....

 

[Sun Vaporer]

And it was going so well, over 2 months with the same atomizer. All was fine until I cleaned it with a diluted vinegar solution. Prior to that hot water seemed to have worked fine, but I saw a cleaning procedure on here that used vinegar and thought it might do a more effective cleaning.

Oh, it was effective all right. The end that screws it into the battery is now so corroded that it's worthless. Although, the coil part looks nice and clean.

At least I didn't throw all of them into the rinse bowl.

Anybody else have this happen?

Bea--Remember that none of the techniques that are posted here on the Fourm are pefected by any means. I have used the vinegar, but it did not help nor hurt the atomizer. How long did you let it soak and what type was it and also what color was it? Adding this infor helps everyone in an ongoing effort to find a safe and effective way to save atomizers. So chalk it up to taking one for the team so to speak like I and others have. Remember that anything you try is at your own risk. Having said that please share your experiance in depth with the method you used and the type of equitment you have as all atomizers are not created equal. Thanks for stepping up and sorry to hear that it did not work on your atomizer--the additional info would be appreciated!!---Thanks Sun

 

[bea58]

Hey Sun, I'm okay with "taking one for the team", but I hadn't even anticipated the possibility of this happening so was a bit perturbed when I tried to screw it into my battery this morning.

It's a 901 black atomizer from esmokey. I poured a couple TB of vinegar into a bowl, filled it with hot water into same bowl, swirled for about a minute, took it out of the bowl and rinsed it under the tap for another minute. It looked fine when I blew it out, but now today it looks like a squirrel nibbled on the end.

I suppose there could have been vinegar residue on it that ate away overnight, but it's doubtful considering how well I rinsed it under a full on tap of hot water.

Hate to say it, but In future I'll be wary of maintenance advice. The hot water alone method seemed to be working just fine, so going forward, if it ain't broke...

 

[Sun Vaporer]

Hey Sun, I'm okay with "taking one for the team", but I hadn't even anticipated the possibility of this happening so was a bit perturbed when I tried to screw it into my battery this morning.

It's a 901 black atomizer from esmokey. I poured a couple TB of vinegar into a bowl, filled it with hot water into same bowl, swirled for about a minute, took it out of the bowl and rinsed it under the tap for another minute. It looked fine when I blew it out, but now today it looks like a squirrel nibbled on the end.

I suppose there could have been vinegar residue on it that ate away overnight, but it's doubtful considering how well I rinsed it under a full on tap of hot water.

Hate to say it, but In future I'll be wary of maintenance advice. The hot water alone method seemed to be working just fine, so going forward, if it ain't broke...

Bea--Agreed. Until we find a safe and proofen over time approch--the employment of any of these methods should be left to atomizers that are about to go dead in an effort to safe them or have gone dead to see if in fact they cleaned the coil. ---Sun

 

[Kendra]

Yes, it would have to be metal, but I thought that maybe some of the metals have another type of plated material on them and that the plating, not the actual metal underneath, got corroded. It was just a thought-- I don't know.

I wonder if the red wine had some effect? The alcohol, maybe? Even that seems far-fetched because some people use some alcohol to clean the connectors. It's just that I've soaked mine and forgot about them and haven't had this happen to mine, so I'm really wondering why this happened to yours.

 

[surbitonPete]

Can you put up a photo of it bea?...it's very strange that vinegar had that much effect, so quickly.

 

[Faethe]

I've been rinsing my atomizers pretty regularly in vinegar and everything is just fine?

 

[surbitonPete]

I would be worried about using 'that' bottle of vinegar on my food if it had that much effect.........lol

 

[bea58]

Can you put up a photo of it bea?...it's very strange that vinegar had that much effect, so quickly.

Oh jeez, I didn't think to do that. It's trash day and it's long gone to join it's deceased atomizer friends.

Just picture the threading end being all lacy, literally. Part of the rim wasted away, the other side with small lacy holes in it like petite swiss cheese.

The red wine vinegar was really old... hmmm. Used to use it to make sticky rice for nouri rolls, but haven't made them in years.

I dunno, maybe my fault for using really old vinegar. Won't be using that vinegar for cooking anytime soon, I picture my stomach lining looking like the atomizer!

 

[Sparky]

A short trip to Wally World and a few bucks for NEW distilled vineger sonds like is always worth the trip

 

[Kendra]

You know, I don't know much about that, but what if it fermented and was now much stronger than it used to be?

Also, I always used rice vinegar for sushi rice!

 

[bea58]

You know, I don't know much about that, but what if it fermented and was now much stronger than it used to be?

Also, I always used rice vinegar for sushi rice!

Yeah, but red wine vinegar with a little sugar added gives it a bit more kick, still sweet, but tangy also. Perfect complement to the pickled ginger and wasabi I put in them.

Honestly, so what if it was fermented? Which I think it fine, smells just like it should. The thing is supposed to be metal, so a minute of exposure to acidity shouldn't make any difference.

Any-hoo, lesson learned folks, I'm just saying, it can happen.

Be careful out there!

 

[Sun Vaporer]

I would be worried about using 'that' bottle of vinegar on my food if it had that much effect.........lol

Pete--Kidding aside--what is up with that?? How about a pre-made salad with that vinigar---That Vinegar, what ever kind Bea used, sounds even more dangerous to use then other solvents we have experimented with--I have used the vinegar several times and resulted in no negative effects. This sounds harsher then even the acid solvents we have experimented with. Maybe it was a chemical reaction with another product that the atomizer came into contact with. Like I have said many times, solvents should not be used in the mainstream till they are tested many times and a conclution can be made that they are in fact safe---Sun

 

[surbitonPete]

Pete--Kidding aside--what is up with that?? How about a pre-made salad with that vinigar---That Vinegar, what ever kind Bea used, sounds even more dangerous to use then other solvents we have experimented with--I have used the vinegar several times and resulted in no negative effects. This sounds harsher then even the acid solvents we have experimented with. Maybe it was a chemical reaction with another product that the atomizer came into contact with. Like I have said many times, solvents should not be used in the mainstream till they are tested many times and a conclution can be made that they are in fact safe---Sun

I was only joking sun..... lol.