Oh cool, thank you for responding! I also got the same response from an arizer rep today, so I feel confident about using it again, which is a relief since this is my daily driver. Although, I may have made another error in the process of examining it, I rubbed a bit of iso on the top to try to remove the stains before I reached out to the company and the community here, something that the rep told me is not advised...so now I'm wondering did I ruin it by doing this? Now that I know the ceramic element is a porous material I understand why it's a bad idea, but surely the little bit I rubbed on there would either be evaporated by now or could be purged through a "burn off cycle" right? I hope....
I don't know why the Arizer guy would tell you not to put ISO on it. Any trace of the ISO will be gone before it reaches vaporizing temperature the first time you heat it up. Most of us use ISO for cleaning ceramic parts all the time. I would have done what you did without a second thought. I'd even try a Magic Eraser* soaked with a little ISO.
*Before someone reacts in horror, the Magic Eraser is an abrasive foam pad and contains no chemicals, toxic or otherwise.