How to clean a vaporizer with isopropyl alcohol

Everybody knows that vaporizers need regular cleaning. It’s best to do it with isopropyl alcohol – quite a strong dissolvent. How to clean a vaporizer with isopropyl alcohol? Which elements can be soaked or wiped, and which ones shouldn’t come in touch with the alcohol at all? Find out below!

Vaporizer: why regular cleaning is so important?

Why is it crucial for every single vaporizer to be regularly cleaned if we want it to work well? One of the reasons is the fact that due to the contact between the warm vapor and cooler elements of the device, the vapor gets condensed, and sticky, resinous sediment is created. The problem is that the more sediment there is in the device, the slower it will work.

At the beginning, the vapor quality drops, then the airflow gradually gets blocked. In the worst cases, if not cleaned properly, the vaporizer can get permanently damaged. The sediment that accumulates inside the device can be easily removed with a small amount of isopropyl alcohol that dissolves the impurities. You have to be careful, though, because this dissolvent is very strong and not all the elements can come in touch with it.

Which vaporizer parts can be cleaned with isopropyl alcohol?

The easiest way to clean the vaporizer parts is to soak its elements in isopropyl alcohol. The longer you soak them, the less hassle there will be with the impurities removal. You can soak all the glass and steel elements – they can be left submerged in the alcohol overnight. If you do that, in the morning you’ll just need to rinse them well with a stream of warm water and leave them to dry.

Some plastic elements, like the cooling units from Crafty and Mighty Vaporizers, can also be soaked in isopropyl alcohol (make sure you remove the gaskets first!) but you need to be extra careful with plastic parts. The term “plastic” is really broad and includes various types of materials. It’s entirely safe to clean some of them (e.g. high-density polyethylenes or polypropylenes) with alcohol but others may discolor or begin to dissolve when soaked in it.

Hardly anyone knows what kind of plastic exactly they deal with so to be on the safe side, we recommend that you use a different method – instead of soaking the plastic elements, wipe them with a cotton ball soaked in alcohol. This way you can be sure that the alcohol won’t affect the plastic elements of your vaporizer. Wiping will still let you remove the impurities but the material won’t be in contact with alcohol long enough to get damaged in any way.

Materials that shouldn’t be treated with isopropyl alcohol

One of the materials that should never be treated with isopropyl alcohol is wood. When wooden elements come in contact with this kind of alcohol, they can get permanently damaged or deformed. Don’t ever clean any wooden elements with alcohol. Do it with a cotton ball soaked in warm water, instead.

The same goes for silicon, used for gaskets and the majority of inhalation tubes in some desktop vaporizers. It’s best if those elements never come in contact with alcohol as it may result in a chemical reaction that will damage those parts. For gasket and inhalation tubes cleaning, we recommend organic Cleaner LaPilu.

Vaporization after cleaning

Regardless of which elements were cleaned with alcohol and which ones with water, you should „burn-off” the vaporizer after each cleaning. You do it by switching the device on with an empty chamber, set the temperature to the highest level and leave the vaporizer to work for a few minutes. This way you can get rid of all the remains of isopropyl alcohol. It’s much better to evaporate them than inhale them during the first session after cleaning.

Even though – in terms of vaporizer cleaning – isopropyl alcohol is the most effective and the cheapest solution, you should double check what type of materials you use it for. If you have any doubts, you can always choose to clean the device with THCleaner – a special cleaner for vaporizers. Also, remember you can always ask us a question regarding the cleaning process and the materials your vaporizer is made of!

If you have doubts whether your vaporizer is suitable for aromatherapy or you would like to get more information about it – contact us, our experts will be happy to give you professional and free advice!