To clean or not clean. To dry burn or not dry burn

[BGOUGH]

Do you clean your tank, how often, and when?

Do you dry burn, who or why not dry burn?

What do you clean with & why?

[Compenstine]

I use only KPT 2 tanks.

Yes I clean my tank about once a week.

Yes I dry burn and re-wick as vapor production diminishes or juice doesn't taste as it should. I do this with my rebuilds and get a solid month or longer out of 1 coil. I would also do this if I change flavors in the tank

I just use a paper towel and wipe it all down. Some times I will use distilled water or alcohol if I'm changing flavors.

[charliestheman]

I clean my clearomizers/cartomizers about once a week or so, usually I'm cleaning it to change flavors as much as anything else.

I have ordered an Aspire Nautilus and PT3 on order but they're back ordered so currently I'm using an Aspire ET-S stainless clearomizer, Innokin iClear 30S and iClear-30. The 30 has long wicks, don't like it that much or how it vapes. So I try flavors I might not like in it, so my daily driver tanks aren't down a few days with flavor I don't like.

I take them apart and rinse off the tank, caps and things that are non absorbable with hot water. Then I put everything in a container of 91% alcohol, like the "rubbing" type from walgreens except it's the 91% instead of the one labeled rubbing alcohol that's only seventy something percent..

I let them soak overnight usually, then I take em out, dry them as much as I can with a lint free towel or rinse the non absorbent parts again, set it all on a papertowel covered paper plate and let it dry until the next day at least.

I tried soaking a partially clogged Aspire coil unit in alcohol but I made the mistake of dry burning it afterwords and of course it burned the wick and was awful so I have to test another coil and try it without the dry burn part and see what happens. Some people say that their coils last darn near forever if they soak them in alcohol once a week to de-gunk them.

FYI - No amount of alcohol will remove peanut butter from one of my cheap clearomizers, so some strong, stubborn flavors will remain behind even with a week of alcohol soaking/submerging and even with swooshing it around twice a day.

Edited May 3, 2014 by charliestheman

[bcartervol98]

I mainly use one flavor, have a second one I use occasionally. I keep 12 tanks in rotation. 10 are filled with my regular flavor and 2 with my occasional flavor. I generally disassemble and alcohol wash-rinse-dry-reassemble my tanks about once a month. About 30 minutes to an hour in alcohol is plenty, the cleaning agents evaporate fairly quickly and I find this is enough for me. Also keep in mind I am just cleaning and putting the same flavor back in, some flavors will require several cleaning cycles to get out if you are changing. I mainly clean mine just to keep them clean and get the residual gunk out of them.

Remember if you use Isopropyl like I do to rinse, rinse, rinse. It is no bueno to inhale heated Iso.

I do not dry burn, I do not clean coils. They are too cheap imo. I change my coils about every 4 or 5 tankfuls of liquid or whenever the taste starts to diminish or change.

Edited May 3, 2014 by bcartervol98

[Love2VapeDaily]

i dont use tanks but i do re wick my RDA when i feel it needs it. then i may clean the coil by pulse firing it til it glows nice and bright from the center out. let it cool to the touch and rewick, juice up and let her rip.

[charliestheman]

I clean my tanks when I change liquid usually, definitely when I change flavors, with at least a rinse in the sink and dry. I soak my disposable coil units like the protank coils and aspire coils in 91% alcohol, then I rinse them really really really good and let them air dry a day or two.

On my kayfun lite, I use organic cotton wicks. When I change fluiid occasionally I just pull the wick out throw it away, then after rinsing my deck off real good or cleaning with alcohol and rinsing, I dry burn the coil then rewick and refill.

Usually though if I'm pulling the tank, I'm wrapping a new coil while I'm at it.

It's so nice using organic cotton balls, for $3 I bought 6 months to a years worth of wicks, and I can throw them away and rewick easily. The Kayfun Lite is SOOOO easy to clean and rebuild, it takes about the same amount of time to wrap a coil, test it, install it, then wick and prime it as it does to fill the tank with juice.

I have been rebuilding almost every night because my coils keep getting better and better and I like trying new builds and changing and testing, keeping track of my likes and dislikes with the build, then next time trying something else.

I seem to get way more life out of my Aspire coils than a lot of people do, I'm not sure if it's because of the premium regulated power source or cleaning the aspire coils and tank instead of running them till they don't vape. My OCD wants to think it's because I clean them

Edited May 29, 2014 by charliestheman

[bcartervol98]

I have not cleaned any of my tanks in a long time, not sure there is any reason to since I only have used one flavor for about the past 6 months.

[Earthling789]

I clean every tank when they are new... just because I'm OCD about ensuring cleanliness I disassemble what I can, set the parts in HOT (at least 180-deg) water for 3-5 minutes, and soak/rinse them in 91% IPA for a couple of minutes, then I let them air-dry for several hours, at least.

I don't clean new coils, nor do I see a benefit for dry-burn when new. But, I have "dry-burned" a coil that was gunked-up from a heavy/sweet juice... it cooked the residue off the coil nicely, and gave me another week of good flavor on that coil. I tried soaking a coil in IPA overnight to get rid of a flavor I tried (and didn't like)... then I boiled it, and let it air-dry... it seems to have worked, but the first tank-full tasted "bland".

I've only been vaping for a couple of months, but I have had to clean a couple of my in-use tanks already... one was washed, soaked in HOT water, and sanitized because I could not get the peanut-butter and caramel flavors out of it any other way... and another because it just started to look "gummy" on the interior of the glass.

I feel that if you are using the same flavor over and over in one tank, the need to "regularly clean" that tank is minimized, but if the glass of the tank starts to show residue, or the juice doesn't flow smoothly across the glass, it's probably time to clean it, IMO.

Now, drip-tips are a different story!

I wash (or HOT-water soak), and give them an IPA bath/rinse after every couple of tank-fulls... just because that's the part that touches my mouth, and I'd prefer that area to be as clean, smooth, and germ-free as possible!

[SteezeOG]

I briefly clean my nautilus when I'm changing juice. Just a little cold water rinse and a few q-tips to clean and dry quickly. Might do a quick dry burn on the coil head if the change in juice is drastic. Like a dessert or custard juice going to something fruity. Then a few drops down the coil to speed up the new wicking and refill the tank. Same process with my protank 2. For my RBAs I just rinse and do the same with drying with qtips. Will pull out the cotton wick and do a dry burn on the coils so they burn off all that discolored juice gunk. Then I rewick and juice. I don't go for the hot water and soap scrubs or anything. Maybe I will after a few months of use or if I can taste old juice. I just rinse out drip tips and blow them dry too.

[bcartervol98]

I absolutely clean every tank before the first use but after that only if there is residue or something on the glass. Since I have been using what I consider "high quality" liquids I have not felt the need to clean the tank itself especially being a one flavor guy. I do very often wipe my drip tips with an antibacterial wipe but thats about it.

I do have an old tank that has been my emergency backup and has had spearmint in it probably for 6 months that I will alcohol soak a few cycles then rinse and dry. It is not easy getting mint flavors out. Once I do that I will officially be a one flavor guy lol. Going to have some happy vaping employees when I bring in my extras I do not want anymore.

Edited May 29, 2014 by bcartervol98

[Mtdobies]

If one could put juice down the center of the tank to the coil, then if put in a pocket or the winds blowing etc Anything can build up in a tank, tip etc. Mold spores, pollens and pocket fuzz, IMO.

I clean (at least once a week) the whole tank, in boiling water, several times. Pull the seals air dry and wipe down and clean the tip.

Seen the juice and condensation under and in the drip tips.. I have. Its a easy place w perfect dark warm moist environment for growth yuck!

[bcartervol98]

If one could put juice down the center of the tank to the coil, then if put in a pocket or the winds blowing etc Anything can build up in a tank, tip etc. Mold spores, pollens and pocket fuzz, IMO.

I clean (at least once a week) the whole tank, in boiling water, several times. Pull the seals air dry and wipe down and clean the tip.

Seen the juice and condensation under and in the drip tips.. I have. Its a easy place w perfect dark warm moist environment for growth yuck!

I really do not want to sound argumentative when I say this but I swab out the shaft at every fillup, change coils about every 4 or 5 tanks, and always swab out the area under the drip tip whenever I fill it up. I have yet to see anything look like anything but liquid when I do this and, imo, as long as the shaft and coil are clean and-or new I see very little need to boil or clean tanks on any sort of a regular basis. The area where the liquid is held is sealed for the most part.

Now if you just unscrew the base and fill without swabbing it out and use a coil till it is absolutely shot then I can see it the need for more regular cleaning.

With that said it depends on the liquid too I suppose. I used to see black spots develop in my liquids and stick to the side of my tanks when I was using cheaper liquids but havent seen that happen in a long time.

[Mtdobies]

Ya I agree simple cleaning like that prevents lots, I just prefer to soak the whole deal once a week to make sure, and I Dont use the same liquid like you do, so after a while flavors all taste the very same lol.

[SteezeOG]

If I put my devices in my pocket I'd probably want to clean more OCD like too. I just don't have small mods and use a carrying case for the one I do take out. I also use disposable silicon drip tip things to stick over the drip tip if I do want to keep stuff out when not in use.

Edited May 29, 2014 by SteezeOG

[Mtdobies]

That's a great idea, I have a vtr so its not small but still stuff it in a pocket on occasion .

[charliestheman]

I ran across something INCREDIBLY DANGEROUS when I first got into "enthusiast grade" vaping and premium parts.

I had a new machined stainless drip tip/mouthpiece, It was one of my first RDA type purchases and my when I got my very first RDA I didn't wash and learned a lesson with the oily taste/vape so I happened to decide to wash this one.

As I was washing it, a stainless shaving about 2 inches long was curled up so about 1 inch curled and 1/8" coils, came out of the drip tip on the mouth end. It just fell out as soon as the soapy water got to it.

Had that been my first RDA, I would have inhaled it, at best sucked it into my mouth and possibly sucked it from the drip tip into my throat and either swallowed it or gasped and ended up with it in my insides.

I've been meaning to make a post to warn newcomers and I had forgotten about it until I saw this thread.