Atty cleaning/ressurection--AWESOME

[Starkweather]

Another tip from highping on the e-cig forums. I had an atty that was really lacking in vapor, and soaking it and drying it in all kinds of things did nothing. THIS DID IT!!! Below is pasted from his post:

This is the only method I use, and I have attys that are 4-5 months old and still going strong. One in particular, I have vaped well over 300ml through and it hits like the day (after) I got it.

1. Blow out any excess juice.
2. Rinse with hot water and blow out thoroughly. (no need to dry over night, or anything. They have a built in dryer )
3. Connect to battery...preferably something higher voltage than stock. I use my variable voltage power supply that's connected to a PS passthrough and set it to about 5.2V for a 510 (6.5ish for an 801), but if all you have is stock, then that will work too.
4. Push button until you see orange hot...carefully...not super bright (white hot).
5. Let off button and blow down the barrel (from a distance, not with your mouth actually on it), this kind of flash cools it and also gets some of the moist air out to speed the drying process.
6. Repeat (steps 4 and 5) 5-10 times... you will see that gradually (once you've got it dry) the glow will occur much quicker.
7. Once you have it to this point, press and release the button at a rate that just holds the orange glow (kind of a manual 'pulse width modulate'). Keep this glow going for 20-30 seconds, being very careful to maintain the glow at low orange (not bright red/white) or you'll pop it.
8. Once you have done that, repeat steps 2-7 one more time.

At this point you will have an atty that performs like (or better than) brand new. I have used this technique with 510, 801, 901, 401, and 4081 attys and it always works for me. I like this method because it is quick and simple. No need for any cleaners or overnight soaking. Takes 2-3 minutes and you're back in business.

** You do have to use some caution, as you can pop an atty pretty easily until you have the method down. I haven't popped one in quite some time though.

**Also, no need to remove the wick (that's in there for a reason), as you are baking all the gunk out when you do this. This is the reason for the second rinse in the middle of the process. You basically turn the gunk to ash with the sustained orange glow, then rinse the ash out.

If anyone tries this, give some feedback and let me know if you find any ways to perfect this method. Seems to work great, but there are always ways to improve

Edit: (some tips on the "rinse, dry and burn" stages of the process)

**Tips on the 'rinse' stage (step 2)
Step 2 is meant to get as much juice out of the atty as possible. The more juice you can get out with the water rinse, the faster you will get the atty dry in steps 4&5. (The water will evaporate off much quicker than juice.)
- Rinse by just running hot water from the tap first. Then once you have it somewhat clean, fill the atty barrel with water then (before all the water runs out), put it in your lips and blow the water through really hard. This will give all the nickel foam that's in the atty a kind of "power wash" and get most of any remaining juice out.

**Tips on the 'dry' stage (steps 4 & 5):
Steps 4 and 5 are meant to get the atty 'bone dry', before you move on to step 6 and the button pulsing.
-The more water you can blow out before connecting to the batt, the better. Blow through the atty really hard from both ends (not at the same time)
- You can also blow gently down the barrel (from a distance), while holding the button in step 4 to speed the drying process. This will clear the hot moist air out of the atty and allow for a quicker drying time. The key in these steps is to get the atty dried out.

Tips on the 'Burn' stage (step 7)
The whole key to not popping the atty is keeping a good visual on the coil, and watching the hottest part while pulsing the button. I have had a few attys that will get bright hot on one end of the coil and nothing on the other end of the coil. The way to make this method the most effective is to maintain that orange glow at the hottest end while pulsing the button. If you keep it up long enough you will see the glow slowly migrate across the coil. When you are all done the entire coil should glow when the button is pressed.
Once you are past the drying step, you should not hold the button for more than one second. It should really be much shorter than that. More like a button pulse of 2-3 times a second.
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[Evil Ernie]

Very cool!!!
I have my Atty#1 that came with the Magma preorder kit. Recently, it's kinda gotten flavorless and performance isn't what it used to be. I'm willing to sacrifice it if need be. I'm gonna give this a try.
Thanks for the info Stark!!!

[Starkweather]

Definately try this bro...it resurrected my last one (my 2 new ones will be here tomorrow) and I love it. Along with his cart mod I'm one happy vaper on this wonderful memorial day.

[Evil Ernie]

I guess #1 atty was on its way out....I did the first burn and it flashed, and burnt the coil. D'OH!!!! *facepalm*...
RIP #1 atty...I'll miss ye..

[Starkweather]

It might have been almost dead. I know that guy states clearly just to get it orange then stop. Since my volcano passthrough wont allow me to "pulse", I just repeat steps 4 and 5, rinse, then do it again. I've done it after every cart on this atty 3 times and now its back to where it was for sure. No waiting overnight to dry. I let off just as it starts to glow and I'm not buring the wick either, because it's definately wicking well with the "AZFM".

[Ashfont]

HOLY CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WIIIIIICCCKKKEEEDDD!!!!

I couldn't get it to stay lit for 20 - 30 seconds, but I could do it for 4 - 5 seconds, waited 2 sec, then did it again. I could definitely see it get hot faster each time. Saw a bit of ash in the water each time, kept dumping it and re-rinsing. Repeated the steps (for the most part) pretty accurately and AWESOMEEEEEE! Definitely like it's brand spankin' new! I may use this method every time! Thanks a bunch for this post! Just in the knick of time!

Btw - Also noticed that my atty isn't whistling anymore. Very nice!

[Starkweather]

glad it worked for you. I can't take credit for it, but I'm sure glad I found it. Freakin awesome right?

[Spliner]

Uh.. how do you see the coil on a Magma atty without removing the mesh? I have one that gets hot but isn't producing crap for vapor. I had assumed it was dead. Would be worth a try. Can you see the glow on the inside of the Magma atty?

Edit: *Slaps forehead* Ok at an angle I can see the glow. Working on my first atty now. I'll post the results. All I have to use though is a manual passthrough. Seems to be glowing orange though as expected.

Spliner

[Spliner]

Resurrection!! Thanks for the post! My oldest atty is now producing vapor again. Soak after soak after soak in alcohol was doing it no good. I had given up. This should be a sticky!

Using the manual passthrough it was tough to get the pulse going but after the atty was good and dry it was easier. Rapid presses on the manual passthrough produced nothing but short 1/2 to 1 second presses did the trick toward the end. I never let it get white hot, just orange. Working like a champ now!

/bow

Spliner

[Starkweather]

YAY! I HELPED!