The simplest method to achieve optimal performance from your vape is cleaning. Vape juice normally does not stain your vape gear, however, over time residue accumulates affecting the performance of your vape. Vegetable glycerin (VG), one of the main ingredient in e-liquid and darker juice flavouring are extremely notorious for gunk build-up on coils. As the gunk builds up, you will notice a reduction in flavour and vapour production, in the case of tanks, it can also lead to leakage and a burnt taste (yuk!!). So let's take a look at a few vape maintenance ideas.
Cleaning a vape tank
- Take the tank apart by separating the individual components (coils, glass tube, drip tip, etc...)
- Run each part under running water.
- Dry with a paper towel or the like.
- Let air dry until no water or condensation is visible.
If you have not cleaned your tank before or in a long while carry out the following steps:
- Place a cup or bowl of water in the microwave for about two minutes.
- Place the vape tank parts into the bowl and let it sit until the water has dropped to room temperature (cooled down).
- Use a paper towel to gently dry the vape tank.
- If using a blow dryer to speed up the drying process, make sure you do not apply to much heat and damage the O-rings.
An alternative to water, you may use propylene glycol (PG) as follows:
- Add PG to a bowl or cup.
- Place the disassembled tank for an hour or longer.
- Once done, remove all the components and place on a towel and let them drip try.
- This is one of the best methods for removing leftover flavours.
If the above are not giving you the results you want, its time to move up to the next level using a few common household chemicals for deeper clean.
- Vinegar: is an acidic cleaning agent and a great cleaning agent, however, it is very important you thoroughly rise the components otherwise, a strong smell will linger
- Baking Soda: Just ask your mother how good this stuff is for a sparkling clean tank.
- There are many other chemicals you can use, such as Ethanol (NOT!! Isopropyl alcohol) and Vodka.
Cleaning Coils
There are two types of coils, a sub-ohm replacement coils that are encased in metal champer and contain absorbent cotton (wick) and rebuildable coils that you install and wick yourself.
Replaceable coils: Replaceable coils heads for sub-ohm tanks are not really meant to be cleaned, because they contain cotton(Wick) and seriously how do you wash cotton and dry it and still maintaining good performance out of the coils. Therefore, the most you will get out of them is perhaps a few extra days if you are lucky. Here we go:
- Soak coils in ethanol, vinegar or vodka for at least a two hours or more
- Rinse thoroughly under tap water
- Rinse once with distilled water
- Set aside until all water has evaporated
The coils will now look nice and bright, but sadly you will soon still need to replace despite how they may look.
Rebuildable Coils: Rebuildable coils must be cleaned as Gunk on these types of coils will make your vaping experience suffer by reduction of flavour and vapour production. Let's take a look at how to clean rebuildable coils:
- Remove the wick from the coils
- Dry burn (fire the mod) the coil lightly but don't let them glow too much
- Remove the tank from the mod
- Place the tank under running water
- Brush the coils lightly with a coil cleaning tool
- Rinse again
- Dry burn to remove any leftover gunk
Note: There are times no matter how much or how well you clean coils they are just way beyond cleaning. In this case, its time to rebuild your tank, however, proper vape maintenance will extend the life of your coils.