Christopher Posted October 25, 2009 Share Posted October 25, 2009 So I said I would pick up an Ultra Sonic cleaner and test things out for you guys. So I did. So far, I'm not feeling it much. I took some really used attys and threw them inside the ultrasonic cleaner for a 6 minutes spin. Then I emptied the water and did it one more time. The result? Same crappy taste. In fact it seemed even worse I'm still messing with it when I have the time. I have a feeling perhaps if you made this a weekly routine it would work. As for trying to bring back old attys, not so much. I'll post back here as I play with it some more Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VegasVapor Posted October 25, 2009 Share Posted October 25, 2009 Geez. Good thing I haven't bought one yet. I'm saving up my used attys. Maybe one day I'll experiment different cleaning techniques with them. So you tried using only water? Are you going to try using other solvents? Or is that not recommended with the ultra sonic cleaner? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted October 25, 2009 Author Share Posted October 25, 2009 I wouldn't use ANYTHING other than water to be honest. I mean after all we are vaping these things, why take the change that something will be left behind. Just my 2 cents Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keenan Posted October 25, 2009 Share Posted October 25, 2009 Heres a noob question. How often should you clean attys, and/or when do you know its time to clean them ? Ive been using my 510 attys HARDCORE for about 3 weeks now. I dont drip much, usually just refill carts. There doesnt SEEM to be any vapor loss or taste diff. Is it something you should just do as a maintenence thing, like changing the oil in your car. Im about blind as a bat, so I cant tell visually. Also, If I remember correctly, I think Chris told me once to just boil them in water, is that right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted October 25, 2009 Author Share Posted October 25, 2009 That is correct you can boil them in water. Although I just changed them out every month or so. (Depending on how well the atomizer works) So when do you clean the atomizer? That's up to you. If you notice it's performing weak or tastes "funny" it may be time to clean your atty. You have to remember that some members on the board use atty's for months before they clean them. I look at it this way, when the manufactures first created ecigs they planned for them to be quit products, not long term products. An atomizer was not designed to be used for a very long period of time. Your going to get build up on the atty over time. So I just switch them out every month. The 510 however seems to last forever. I've had 510 attys last 2 months without ever tasting weird. At the end of the day only you know when it's time to change. And when it's time to change you WILL know (I could sit here and try to describe a flat soda to someone, but most people will know when the soda just isn't good anymore, same goes for an atty ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaspar11 Posted October 25, 2009 Share Posted October 25, 2009 I take it boiling does work if your atty isn't dead? My 901 started tasting funny (posted about earlier - like burnt carpet), so first I tried the dry burn method. Maybe this ruined it, but it was still working just didn't take care of the smell or taste. I did the boiling thing Fri nite, and since then, the atty produces an infinitesimal amount of vapor. I think its officially dead. It only lasted 2 weeks. What irks me, is that I have no idea what killed it: the burn, the boil, or was it just a bum atty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keenan Posted October 25, 2009 Share Posted October 25, 2009 So far, mine seem to be working fine. And I'm a firm believer in "if it aint broke, dont fix it". So I'll just wait till I see a decline in performance. One more dumb question, do you drop the whole black piece of the atty in the boiling water or is there a way to take it apart. Also, how long do you boil it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StringDancer Posted October 25, 2009 Share Posted October 25, 2009 keenan, you boil the entire atty. You can't dismantle them. Well, ya can... I did once, but it took a hack saw and some gnarly pliers. Needless to say, it was an exercise in exploration, not repair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minedbojo Posted October 25, 2009 Share Posted October 25, 2009 So I said I would pick up an Ultra Sonic cleaner and test things out for you guys. So I did. So far, I'm not feeling it much. I took some really used attys and threw them inside the ultrasonic cleaner for a 6 minutes spin. Then I emptied the water and did it one more time. The result? Same crappy taste. In fact it seemed even worse I'm still messing with it when I have the time. I have a feeling perhaps if you made this a weekly routine it would work. As for trying to bring back old attys, not so much. I'll post back here as I play with it some more Hey Christopher did you put in hot water in the sonic or cold? I used to use a sonic to clean my pcb boards were I used to work; I needed to use hot water in combo with the sonic in order to remove residue and gunk from the boards; Maybe this is what you need. How about some coffee pot cleaner works well with gunk & residue from coffee pots and does not leave a bad after taste after. This might work if you add it in the sonic. I usually buy mine @ smart & final. You know I think I will experiment with cleaning my attys to see if it works. Good Luck Christopher! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted October 26, 2009 Author Share Posted October 26, 2009 I only used cold water. Perhaps I'll give hot water a try and see how it works out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VAPRLIFE Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 Hey Chris, You mentioned it spins ? a ultrasonic vibrates at a very high frequency. Also did you try 801 atomizers? because some time ago I remember not having success with 510's or 901's because there resistance is usually less than 3 ohms so they run really hot when in use. And I think they are shot from being cooked for a few weeks, where a 801 runs cooler. Plus you drip, so your atomizers get dry a lot more. Just some thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted October 26, 2009 Author Share Posted October 26, 2009 It was actually 801 atomizers that I tried to clean, which came it just as bad. Either way a few more tests need to be done to make sure this actually does or does not work. With all the Vapor Talk Store stuff going on in the background I just have not had time to really mess with it much -Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jiffy Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 We appreciate you giving us all the feedback. I am sure I'm not the only one who considered purchasing one of these to clean my atty's. I will wait until we have more feedback now because of this review. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minedbojo Posted December 30, 2009 Share Posted December 30, 2009 We appreciate you giving us all the feedback. I am sure I'm not the only one who considered purchasing one of these to clean my atty's. I will wait until we have more feedback now because of this review. Thanks I recently used an ultrasonic cleaner at work; the sonic is a medical grade Olympus model KS-2. It has a timer and it heats the water automatically. I set two attys in there; and ran it for about half an hour. I did notice that it cleaned them very well. I put them under a mag glass and did not see any crud of buildup as I usually see. The only issue I found is that the black paint of the atty started to chip off. Well the attys are about three months old now and have been through hell already. I used to soak the attys in hot water for about 2 to 3 hours before to clean them; now with the sonic It cleans them in half an hour. After the sonic I blow it out with a small compressor I have in the shop. This has worked for me so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schizophretard Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 So I said I would pick up an Ultra Sonic cleaner and test things out for you guys. So I did. So far, I'm not feeling it much. I took some really used attys and threw them inside the ultrasonic cleaner for a 6 minutes spin. Then I emptied the water and did it one more time. The result? Same crappy taste. In fact it seemed even worse I'm still messing with it when I have the time. I have a feeling perhaps if you made this a weekly routine it would work. As for trying to bring back old attys, not so much. I'll post back here as I play with it some more When I got off work a few hours ago I went to Walmart. I found one of those pill boxes that have the days of the week on them. My 510 atties will fit in it. I'm going to use them for my cleaning experiment. I've been cleaning my atties with a water pick. One of the attachments fits perfectly in the battery side hole. I fill up the water pick with as hot of water as I can get out of the faucet. I use all the water on one atty on the highest water pressure. I go back and forth between putting the attachment into the battery side hole and spraying in the cart side hole. When I'm putting the attachment in the battery side hole, I go back and forth between putting my finger on the cart side hole to make the water go out the air holes and not using my finger on the cart side hole to let the water come out of the cart side hole. When I run out of water I blow out the atty from the battery side hole and wipe off the atty with a rag until everything appears dry. When done I let the atty dry for two days. This is becoming a problem because I only have three 510 atties and I like to have an extra ready just in case the atty I'm using dies. It makes it hard to rotate which atty gets cleaned and which two I use. That is what the daily pill box is for. On one of my days off I'm going to Mike's Indy Vapor Shop to get seven atties. I'll have one for each day of the week and the three I have now will be spares. Every day I'll take a clean atty out and clean it at night before I put it back in. This will give every atty a week to dry and every day I'll have a clean atty. I'll be able to tell how dry an atty is by how much condensation I have to wipe out of the pill box every night. I think something like this will work. I think the reason why you're not having great results is because you are cleaning filthy atties that already have dried up crud stuck in them. This reminds me of cleaning an old devise I had years ago. I can't say what this devise is because it is against your rules. Anyway, I found that it was easier to clean this devise daily compared to waiting until all the crud formed into a hard solid film. That is the same idea I'm having with my cleaning method above. I believe that atties get dirtier when they are not in use when you're sleeping. The e-liquid hardens as it dries during the night. When you're using it you're constantly wetting it when you drip or use a cart. If you cleaned all the juice out at night then the build up on the atty would form slower and extend the life of the atty. Think of it like this. When not cleaning it every night you're letting it just sit there for eight hours getting dirtier as juice hardens. When you clean it it isn't getting dirtier through the night. So, you would be adding about eight hours of life to an atty every night. So, if your atty lasts about a month without cleaning every night then it will last about ten more days if you cleaned it every night. If your atty lasts about three months without cleaning every night then it will last about one more month if you cleaned it every night. Basically your losing a third of your atty's life by not cleaning it every night. If you did something like what I described above with your ultra sonic cleaner you may get better results. I'll find out when I'm done with my experiment. Sorry for the long post but I couldn't think of how to explain it with less words. If anybody thinks my method will hurt my atties then please explain how. It would suck big time to kill seven atties! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
three_sixteen Posted January 5, 2010 Share Posted January 5, 2010 Has anyone tried using an ultrasonic cleaner with deionized water? It's a very good solvent, much better than straight tap or even distilled water.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcquinn Posted January 5, 2010 Share Posted January 5, 2010 (edited) I have found that the tastier the juice the more it plugs up the atty.I beleive they must have a lot of sugar or high fructose corn sweetner in them which turns to carbon on the element.Carbon or burnt sugar is not going to dissolve very easy.I have found that if after I clean and dry I put them on my passthrough and poke the button .If I see a glow in there it will vape fine if not I continue dry burning it until it does glow.I figure if it is not going to deliver the goods I cannot hurt it,and if I resurect it I save $10.00.When they are plugged up like that they will produce a little vapor and the atty will feel hot to the touch but with the element insulated it will not get the liquid to the optimal temp. Edited January 5, 2010 by mcquinn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddavelarsen Posted January 5, 2010 Share Posted January 5, 2010 Has anyone tried using an ultrasonic cleaner with deionized water? It's a very good solvent, much better than straight tap or even distilled water.. I like the deionized water idea. Where would one find it? Went looking for distilled water to boil mine in the other day and couldn't find it in the grocery store. Finally I asked someone (!), who sent me to the drinking water aisle... Since my dog was in the car and she hadn't 'stopped' in the yard before hopping in, I didn't want to take too long in the store so I gave up. Will look longer and/or ask an older person next time. I've just boiled mine when they started tasting a little funky. It seems to restore them a bit but they're not like new. I like Schizo's idea of cleaning daily but honestly - no way I have that kind of leisure time. But I think that's right, letting juice dry in it overnight is probably not the best idea. I wonder if just tossing them in a mason jar full of Everclear overnight, and blowing them out & letting them dry during the day would work? But I am really looking forward to the 'last word' on Christopher's sonic experiment. Maybe it's just that I like playing with stuff... Hm. Maybe using grain alcohol in the sonic cleaner? I wouldn't fear vaping that residue, I don't think. If there was any. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nana Posted January 5, 2010 Share Posted January 5, 2010 LOL @ dave - "Will look longer and/or ask an older person next time." I can not even begin to explain how funny I find that comment. And I know exactly what you mean. LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schizophretard Posted January 5, 2010 Share Posted January 5, 2010 I like the deionized water idea. Where would one find it? Went looking for distilled water to boil mine in the other day and couldn't find it in the grocery store. Finally I asked someone (!), who sent me to the drinking water aisle... Since my dog was in the car and she hadn't 'stopped' in the yard before hopping in, I didn't want to take too long in the store so I gave up. Will look longer and/or ask an older person next time. I've just boiled mine when they started tasting a little funky. It seems to restore them a bit but they're not like new. I like Schizo's idea of cleaning daily but honestly - no way I have that kind of leisure time. But I think that's right, letting juice dry in it overnight is probably not the best idea. I wonder if just tossing them in a mason jar full of Everclear overnight, and blowing them out & letting them dry during the day would work? But I am really looking forward to the 'last word' on Christopher's sonic experiment. Maybe it's just that I like playing with stuff... Hm. Maybe using grain alcohol in the sonic cleaner? I wouldn't fear vaping that residue, I don't think. If there was any. It took me longer to type the post on it them it did to actually do it. I visited Mike at Indy Vapor Shop last night and got my seven atties. When I cleaned the Monday atty and mouth piece it took like maybe five minutes. I took off the atty, went to the restroom, filled up the water pick with hot water, sprayed the atty and mouth piece out how I described, blew out the water, dried them off, put them in the pill box, and DONE! It is no more of a chore than brushing your teeth then using mouth wash. This pill box looks nice with all these atties and mouth pieces in it. It is an absolutely perfect way to store them. The mason jar full of Everclear overnight sounds like a bad idea. I wouldn't try it. I would be scared that the paint would come off. I agree with Chris about just using water. I would only use other things for a resurrection. Dry burn maybe, chemicals no way. P.S. It took me longer to write this then clean my atty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcquinn Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 The paint will come ,but they look better without it,nice shiny stainless steel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddavelarsen Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 LOL @ dave - "Will look longer and/or ask an older person next time." I can not even begin to explain how funny I find that comment. And I know exactly what you mean. LOL Thanks nana - that was one of my more thoughtfully crafted sentences. Schizophretard, you're probably right about the limited amount of time that takes, and doing it daily would mean that you could probably get most everything that had built up off of it. It's a good idea and I can visualize the pillbox with all your parts in it. Sweet. Keep us posted how that works for the long term. Whenever we get our water heater replaced and get good hot water again, this is something I'll keep in mind. Very straightforward and no worse than filling travel bottles every day or two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DannyBoyfromWashington Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 @dave, BTW distilled water is just water that has been boiled and the steam collected in a seperate clean container. Prety easy to do yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddavelarsen Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 @dave, BTW distilled water is just water that has been boiled and the steam collected in a seperate clean container. Prety easy to do yourself. Agreed, and I have all the stuff necessary to do that if I ever feel like spending a day doing it. Not a bad idea actually. But cripes, I used to see distilled water all over the place when I was a kid. I guess people don't iron anymore... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nana Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 Agreed, and I have all the stuff necessary to do that if I ever feel like spending a day doing it. Not a bad idea actually. But cripes, I used to see distilled water all over the place when I was a kid. I guess people don't iron anymore... I agree, Dave, I used to see it everywhere and now can't find it at all. But...I know a few people who still iron. What do you need to distill water and how do you do it? I make so much of my own stuff that I may be interested in this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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