@Socks And Sandals, sorry to hear your experience with PBW
. I'm surprised at that since PBW has a long history of working very well and I'm just relaying that same info. However, there are a number of conditions that can limit the effectiveness of PBW. It could be a poor brand, poor batch, not used in enough concentration, not soaked in solution long enough, hard water, cool/cold water, etc
. If you've only used PBW from one bottle/container then that experience is extremely limited and it's not necessarily going to be indicative of the effectiveness. It can be the same thing without testing, evaluating and controlling for all of the other variables previously mentioned. Here's a new picture showing my VapeXnails before and after PBW cleaning in an ultrasonic cleaner
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I did four or five 480 second cycles in the ultrasonic cleaner whenever convenient (walking by); I used hot tap water and a small amount of PBW (my ultrasonic cleaner is small). I let the nails sit in solution for the evening and this time didn't get to pulling them out until the next day. According to the label on my PBW one can use 2-4 oz per US gallon for this type of cleaning. I have been unable to clean this well with ISO and I still have a gallon of over 90% ISO for use. I have avoided other products that have odorants and other compounds added.
Here's some general PBW info for anyone interested
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https://www.piwine.com/media/Products/Safety-Data-Sheets/SDS-PROFESSIONAL-BREWERS-WASH.pdf
https://www.fivestarchemicals.com/wp-content/uploads/PBWTech.pdf
As for ISO, AFAIK the salt is used to introduce a scrubbing contact component. I've never confirmed this though.
As for ultrasonic cleaners, there's lots of info on the net.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultrasonic_cleaning
I don't know how effective using the ultrasonic cleaner is in-and-of-itself (I haven't done much testing of all the variables in cleaning), but I found it did not do as good a job with nail residues with milder cleaners than PBW. The ultrasonic cleaner is hands off which is nice. For simplicity and efficiency I now clean ELBs and the helio dry mouthpiece in the ultrasonic cleaner at the same time as the nails. Let us know how your experience with an ultrasonic cleaner goes
@stressed .
After that, I'm now cleaning my hydratube with the leftover used PBW solution, filling it with the solution and letting it sit for a few hours. Then I rinse out the hydratube with hot tap water 3-4 times, drain the water and rinse it with distilled water a few times. Pop it in the microwave for two minutes and I've got a clean dry hydratube ready to go
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PBW has no problem with organics and resin from my experience and pictures
@elmomuzz. Cleaning organics is literally its strength.
@Modicum, both the helio and calyx will work dry, but the helio can't be used wet. The other differences are more minor. The simpler helio mouthpiece is less complicated inside and easier to clean, and the helio mouthpiece can fit in small ultrasonic cleaners.
Hope this is generally helpful. Cheers