Almost time.

[Rtsjr]

Well over 50ml through one eGo-C atomizer with a booster and it's finally starting to get weak. The crud is changing the taste and lowering vapor production. It's almost time for the first dry burn on my C. Two months and 50+ml! Woohoo, now what to do with all those 301, 510, 510 tank, clearos, and smokeys..... I'll be posting the results of the dry burn here when the time comes.

[Knoton]

The first time I did a dryburning/cleaning of my C-Atties I had not learned yet
that I could take the spike off to see the inside, the crud and misscoloration...
I had to go on performance and taste only.
I dried burned it as stated on the manual and assembled it again and tried it out.
No difference what so ever when I think I either read it or thought it "repeat if necessary"
So I did and to my big surprise there was a huge difference in both taste and performance 
And I can do this without voiding the warranty  Not that I would care, to much trouble to
send them back for that little money.
I think the dryburning works but will only works when things has not gone to far.
I do it every now and then to be on the safe side. And my C atties seems to last for ever 

[lordy]

Quick question - when you do a dry burn is the objective to get the coil looking completely untarnished?

[Lettie22]

That seems to be the objective based on everything I've read and some things I've seen on u-tube.   However, would like some "experts" to confirm this!

[lordy]

I dry burned an almost-dead atty at the weekend, spike plate removed. I got the coil glowing for a few seconds at a time, allowing a few seconds cooling period between each. I did it for a good 3-4 minutes and the coil still looked oxidised when I'd finished. Did I not keep going for long enough?

[Knoton]

I am no expert, far from it.
I had no idea it should look untarnished.
I go by the performance and taste.
I was thinking my dry burning about once a week was to keep it fairly untarnished.
But maybe I should do it even more or rather longer.
Lettie, are you sure your studies said completly untarnished?
I am way to lazy to go through posts and dont like video since I have a hard time with the language...

[Lettie22]

Since no expert has come along, I will share with you what I have.  I am very anal . . . when I come across something in a thread that I think I might want later on, I will copy and paste it into a word document for further reference.    All of this information came from this forum, but I can't tell you exactly who!  Based on this information, it's my belief that yes, you can burn off all the gunk from the wick and coil; but this is just my humble opinion based on the following!

This is from what I believe was Astreks:   you will eventually see the coil glowing and the spirals of the coil will become visible, never let the coil glow for more than a second or two at a time, and continuously blow on the coil to cool it down, when the coil begins to glow clean you have successfully dry burned the coil.

Another quote:  don't let it get too hot.  You can do it in about 3 second bursts while it is gunked up, and let it cool, and repeat until it glows red.  Once it starts to glow red, (it will likely not be the whole element glowing if it's clogged up) you want to be careful, because you can burn out the element.  It's important to let it cool for about a minute or so inbetween dry burns.

Another quote:  I took the spike plate out using a flat blade screw driver, held the spike with some long nosed pliers and stuck the lot in the gas flame on my cooker hob, I think some people use those little kitchen blow torches too; all the black sticky gunk burns off, at first you think it's actually the wick burning but it isn't. After a few passes in the flame the wick will become a greyish white, let it cool then pop the spike into the hole on an empty cart and push it back into place, it's an interference fit so it will need a little pressure.  Oh and I forgot to mention, whilst the spike/wick assembly is cooling attach the rest of the atty to a battery and dry burn the coil, just press the battery for a second or two, I blow on it too, a) because a lot of smoke comes off and b) because I think it might help it not over heat, I think astreks mentions it somewhere, once you can see the coil go red then stop immediately, this can kill your atty completely if the coil blows so do this only if you have nothing to lose and a spare back up atty, same warranty disclaimer applies.  When doing the dry burn, be sure to only keep the button pressed for just a couple of seconds at a time. Then allow the coil to cool a little. Repeat the burn until the coil glows nice and cleanly 

 


Here is the u-tube video I watched.   It's sorta long, but if you go to about the 3rd minute it actually starts talking about the actual process of dry burn and shows pictures. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzdcjs34Ok8

[Knoton]

Ah goody seems like we are or at least I am missreading :-)
I thought it was: The coil should be completly clean and with no misscoloration... the coil should be untarnished...
It is the coil should glow clean... meaning when it glows all over it is done.
Dont think it is possible to make the coil look like brand new with a used atty. but I am far from an expert
and started to think I was thinking wrong or something...

Keeping good stuff from threads in a document is a excellent idea.
There is so many times I wounder where did I see that. What did they actually say and so on...

[Lettie22]

Me too Knoton, and a lot of times you don't know how the person wrote the thread, i.e. did he/she use "Atty" "Atomizer" or "A," and you've got to use the same term they used as you use in the search engine.   

Being a newbie, I need all the help I can get!

[Rtsjr]

The objective here is to burn the thick layer of crud off the coil so the liquid can touch the coil directly and vaporize it efficiently. The coil won't come completely clean but the metal coil will become free of blockage. When the whole coil turns red on a 2-3 second burst it's done. That means all the crud has hardened, cracked and fell off.

[Lettie22]

ahh, 1 of my experts has spoken.   Glad my thoughts were accurate (but of course they were based on what I read from the experts)!

[Rtsjr]

Well I ripped my C down last nigh and looked atthe coil and wick. Very dark and dirty. I held a lighter to the wick and it caught a small flame. I let it burn out then rinsed the spike and sat it on a tissue. Next I put the cone back together without putting the spike back. I hit it with a few dry burns until the coil lit up red from end to end. You can see the ash on the coil at this point. Took it apart again and washed the cone and atty head. Sat the rest on a tissue to dry. I had enough time to make a batch of lime zinger 24~mg and green cow 18mg for the pats game like I had planned. Mixing is done so I sped up the drying by blown on the parts and dabbin with tissue. Prim the spike (this is important after cleaning)! Also a drop directly on the coil. Put it all back together. Filled the tank. Took another hard draw without pressin the button to make sure the coil and wick were saturated.
Omg it's a beast again!!!!!!!!!!

[Lettie22]

After experiencing a decrease in performance on both of my C attys (only about 25ml of juice through both of them), I did the same as Rich except for 1 thing.   Before I took the atty apart, I blew it through with very hot water on both ends.   The reason I did this is because when taking apart my previous attys, the wick was always stuck to the coil and then when I tried to take the wick off, it fell apart.  Also, after I dry burnt it, I didn't wash it again.   Of course, I did prime it directly to the coil and the top of the spike.

Wa-lah -- brand new C atty!

[Rtsjr]

Yes, it seems to work flawlessly. The only reason I wash after dry burn is the crud turns to ash after burning. I have OCD so I had to get every bit o ash out. OCD OCD OCD I do a lot of things because of OCD.

[Knoton]

I also got inspired and took the spike off and did a really well maintainance on it tonight.
As brand new again 

[lordy]

I dry burned one of my C attys about a week ago now in the same way as you describe.

I was amazed at the difference - it really was performing like a beast. However, I ended up thinking 'well it MUST be degrading by now' and decided to throw another one on. Although the dry burn made a big difference, it still didn't compare to the familiar snap, crackle and pop of a new atty.

[Rtsjr]

I get the fresh crackle after every dry burn. I would easily compare this renewed atty to a fresh one. I like getting every bit out of everything though.

[Lettie22]

Rich, have you ever re-wicked one?   I just got my wicking material and will be having a go at it (because 3 of my wicks stuck to the coil and then just came apart).   Gonna use Astreks guide.

[Rtsjr]

I haven't tried yet but I recon soon I might have to. It's not wicking so great. I believe crud is stuck in the spike restricting flow. Luckily I have many many ce2's to rip apart for wicks. Do let us know how it comes out when your finished

[Lettie22]

Hootie-hoo -- I just successfully re-wicked 3 of my tornado attys using Astreks guide.   The only thing I did different on the last 2 was that I wet the wick with vodka before working with the wick because it is really very delicate to work with and with it being wet, it seemed to make it easier.   Of course, it dried pretty quickly.   

I'm not sure how long they are going to last because they are pretty loose in there.   Perhaps next time I might try and wrap some realllllly thin wire around the top of the wicks so that it stays in place (like the mesh that they have in the original wicks).   I play around with jewelry-making so I have some really thin wire.

Let us know Rich when you decide to re-wick.   I didn't have any ce2 to rip apart, but a very gracious fellow vaper gave me some silica to use and I have lots left to use in the future!