I have been the owner of the Extreme Q vaporizer for half a year now. It was all fun and games until one day I smelled weird plastic smell coming from it. I decided to dissasemble it and check where the problem was. I opened the plastic heater chamber and nothing seemed melted at first but then I noticed this rectangular plastic piece tucked beetwen the wires of the heater element. So much for the "all glass airpath". This piece is visibly melted on the top (where it goes into the ceramic heater element). Now with piece removed and 2 hour burnout period on 260C, vaporizer does not smell anymore. Anyone with the same experience? Why was this plastic piece there tucked into the heater. What is its function. I hope I haven't done any damage to myself inhaling plastic fumes.
It sounds like this is the piece which sparked discussion and debate a couple of times over the past month or so, you might find that useful. Arizer's position is that the piece is mica, and no risk. IME in electronics eng & mfg, I worked with mica and mica
composites which are quite common and harmless. Over time some composites can degrade, even so according to the MSDS sheets I've seen there is no risk. (Some forms of raw mica have risk, but that's not applicable here.) IIRC this piece is not directly in the air path, it is some sort of support brace but is not really necessary. While this doesn't alarm me personally, I'm not surprised that it does others and I agree with other posters that Arizer has not be suitably helpful with an explanation. Is this unit not under warranty?
I've never understood the "all glass airpath". I guess it's true in the sense that the airway is within a glass enclosure, but the ceramic heater element is in there too. I don't think that's what people expect by "all glass".
I haven't changed my original tubing yet, any recommendations on how often I need to change the tubing?
I agree with Stu. I don't know why, maybe because I typically have no better than average herb, but I don't get the resin build-up that others do. It seems that I get a light tint and it stays that way for a good while. When it starts to darken though I replace it. Given the bag whip is only 6", and if you use a shortened whip like I do, 25' will last a long time - I still have plenty left after more than a year. Note that there are some who reclaim from the tubing; I don't let it get that far so I can't comment on that.