How to Clean Your Vape Tanks and Coils

How to Clean Your Vape Tanks and Coils

A clean vape is a happy vape

A clean vape is the simplest way to get optimal performance. The ingredients of vape juice will generally not stain your equipment, but residue will accumulate and the buildup will eventually affect performance. Vegetable glycerin, some darker e juice flavorings, and especially sweet flavors are notorious for gunking up coils. A gunked up coil will have lower flavor and vapor production and can make your vape taste burnt.

Even if you change the coil head, the flavoring from your last juice might still be lingering in your device. This is especially true for tobacco, coffee, menthol, cinnamon and other dominant flavors such as melon, grape or licorice. Imagine trying to vape a grape-flavored coffee e-liquid—no offense to the grape coffee lovers out there.

How to clean your vape 

Keeping your vape clean is a simple yet essential piece of maintenance every vaper should be carrying out regularly. Not only does it ensure your vape is looking it’s best and ensure that it is clean and hygienic every time you puff on it, it may also prolong the life of your device. 

1. Paper towel/kitchen roll/tissue

2. What you’ll need

3. Clean water (preferably warm)

4. Antibacterial clean

5. Cotton buds

6. Alcohol

We’ve split up all the various components of different types of vapes so you can easily see how to clean each of them. Just find the sections that relate to your device and you're good to go!


Cleaning a Vape Tank

 

The vape tank is the part which holds your e-liquid and is also the part that you put in your mouth, so it has the potential to get the dirtiest and attract the most germs. This makes it the most important part of your vape to keep clean. Thankfully it’s really easy to clean and can be done in less than 60 seconds.

The best time to give your tank a thorough clean is when you’re about to change the coil.

First step: take the coil out (we are going to discuss coil cleaning later). And while you are at it, take the rest of the tank apart. Pay close attention to how things fit together, and make mental note of what goes where. Keep it all organized and don’t lose any pieces. You can use a small bowl to house everything while you do this.

1. Unscrew all the sections of your tank; mouthpiece/drip tip, coil, glass section, bottom section and top section. Make sure you don’t lose any rubber o-rings from the top or bottom sections.

2. You can rinse everything under a warm tap or soak all the components in a bowl of warm water with a little washing up liquid.

3. Make sure you’ve removed any bubbles and thoroughly dry all the components with some paper towel or kitchen roll.

4. Screw everything back together, prime your coil and refill with e-liquid.

5.Hey presto – you’re done!

The standard rinse

If your tank is relatively clean, warm water works well. Take the tank apart, separating the parts. Place each part under running water, drying them with a piece of paper towel. Let them air dry afterward until no water or condensation is visible. If your tank hasn’t been cleaned for a while, you might have to add an extra step.

Take your cup or bowl and fill it with water. Place it in the microwave for about two minutes. In the meantime, rinse the parts of your tank under the sink, to get the process started. Next, take out the cup or bowl from the microwave and place your disassembled tank inside of it.

Let it sit, until the water cools down, then give your tank one last rinse under the sink. Use a paper towel to gently and carefully dry your tank. Place it aside until completely dry. You can also use a blow dryer to speed up the process, but too much heat can potentially damage your O-rings.

The PG rinse

Instead of water, you can soak your tank in propylene glycol. Simply fill up a bowl or cup with your PG, and let your disassembled tank sit there for an hour or two. Don’t use VG, as that would make cleaning your tank more difficult, since it’s a much thicker liquid.

Once your tank is done soaking in PG, stand it up on a napkin and let it drip dry. This method is excellent for getting out that leftover flavor, as propylene glycol is an excellent flavor carrier.

The cleaning agent rinse

If you want even better results, you can use some simple household items to give your tank a deeper cleaning. Be sure to rinse them thoroughly after application and let your tank sit to get dry is a good cleaning agent that can be used to get tanks sparkling again.

aka grain alcohol, is yet another highly effective substance for cleaning. Don’t get this confused with Isopropyl alcohol which should not be used on the inside of your tank.

Cheap Vodka is not a household item, but chances are you can find it at the grocery store. It will do the job and won’t cost you much

Vinegar is a highly acidic cleaning agent but must be thoroughly rinsed to prevent its smell from lingering.

How to clean your coils

Cleaning coils is a little less straight forward. Replaceable coils in come in two types: coil heads for tanks, which are encased in a small metal chamber that contain an absorbent wick; and coils for rebuildables, which require the user to install and wick. The approach to cleaning the two types is vastly different.

Vape pods with replaceable coils

The best time to clean this type of pod is when you are changing the coil and we’d recommend a thorough clean every time you do replace the coil. It’s a quick and easy process and we’ve broken it into a few simple steps for you.

Remove the coil – best to do this over a sink as any liquid in the pod at this point will start to come out. Rinse the pod in warm water to remove any dirt and the remains of any e-liquid in the pod. You can use a touch of washing up liquid but make sure all the bubbles are gone before moving on to the next step Take some kitchen roll and dry the pod

Flick the pod to remove any water from inside the pod. This is best done over a sink or outside. You want to get rid of all the water inside the pod as if any remains it will affect your e-liquid

And just like that, you’re done. All that’s left to do is prime your coil and refill your pod.

Rebuildable coils

This section is for rebuildable coils only and not for regular pre-made coils which the majority of vapers use.

If you are using a rebuildable atomizer, not only you can clean your coils, but you actually should clean them! Gunked up coils will quickly start suffering in flavor and vapor production. But you can follow some simple steps and have your coils almost as good as new in no time.

The first thing you have to do is remove the wicks from your coils—you don’t want to burn them. If your coils are not that bad, a light dry burn will do the trick. Pulse the fire button a few times until you remove the remaining liquid, let them cool down and re-wick.

But if you have already done this a couple of times, dry burning might not do the trick. In that case, you can follow these steps for deeper cleaning.

1.Remove wicks from coils

2. Dry burn your coils lightly (don’t let them glow too much)

3. Remove atomizer from your mod

4. Place under running water

5. Brush them lightly with a toothbrush or a coil cleaning too

6. Rinse once again

7.End with a final dry burn to remove the last droplets of water

You can also use a bit of dishwashing liquid when brushing your coils, but take care to rinse them thoroughly afterward in hot water.

Clean your vape Pen

 

As with any piece of equipment you use every day, you’ll want to keep your vape kit clean and hygienic. Once you’ve cleaned the section that holds the e-liquid it’s time to move on to the main body of the device. If your vape pen comes with a detachable tank, following the vape tank cleaning tips will do the job. Keeping the battery section clean is also important, but make sure to not use water on it. A soft cloth will work for everyday maintenance, and stains can be removed with the use of a wet towel. Just make sure you don’t get buttons and charging ports wet.

For vape pen starter kits that come in a one-piece design, things get a little trickier. Since water and electronics don’t go well together, even if you try to rinse your device carefully there are many things that can go wrong. The safest and easiest way to clean an AIO vape pen is by using a Q-tip. Soak a Q-tip in propylene glycol or distilled water and wipe the inside of the tank section thoroughly. 

How to change e-liquid

 

First thing to note is that different brands of e-juice are fine to be mixed. Whether you like the taste of the mix is a different story. For most people, thoroughly cleaning their vapes every time they change e-liquid sounds like a lot of work. Is cleaning your tank between juices necessary? It doesn’t have to be.

If you’ve vaped your tank empty before changing e-liquid, it shouldn’t take long for the previous flavor to be completely flushed out. In fact, when vaping on similar flavor profiles, some of the in-between puffs might even be very tasty. But if the two juices are very different, chances are you are not going to enjoy the flavor mix. Here’s what you can do to save yourself some time.

Remove all e-liquid from the tank and take some short-duration puffs—this will dry up the wicks. Don’t take more than 3-4 puffs as a dry hit is lurking. If you are using a regulated device, lowering the wattage will give you some extra safety. With the wicks relatively dry, switching flavors will be much faster—although you might still have some mixed flavor puffs in between.

Cleaning a Drip Tip

If your vape device has removeable drip tips it’s good practise to regularly clean them as this is the part that goes in your mouth and is the most likely part to pick up dirt, debris and germs. A quick rinse under a warm tap should have it looking like new in no time. If it’s particularly dirty or you want a more thorough deep clean, drip tips can be soaked in warm water with a little washing up liquid.

Cleaning a Disposable Vape

Disposable vapes won’t need much cleaning as you’ll most likely only have them for a few days at best, but it is still a good idea to keep them clean and hygienic. The most likely part that will need a clean is inside the mouthpiece which can often attract dust or debris from your pocket or bag. A quick wipe with a tissue will do the job and clear away that pocket fluff. You may also consider giving the whole device a wipe down with a touch of antibacterial spray if it’s looking grubby or you have dropped it on the floor.

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