How To Take Apart and Clean the Volcano Vaporizer – Photo Illustrated
UPDATE – Please see updated photos here – Taking Apart and Cleaning the Volcano Vaporizer
One of the most daunting tasks for the new Volcano Vaporizer owner is taking it apart and cleaning for the first time. Here’s a step by step photo illustration of how to disassemble all the parts of the Volcano Vaporizer and clean using rubbing alcohol and sea salt. If it’s your first time taking apart the inner workings of your Volcano, this will help make sense of it. You’ll need some simple supplies; rubbing alcohol, sea salt, a large freezer bag glass jar, a pair of pliers, some q-tips and paper towels. Remember kids – a clean Volcano is a happy Volcano! You can substitute Formula 420 for the alcohol and sea salt.
just a week into the ‘classic’ experience. very happy. i’m an old guy, so lots of this escapes me, but since i got the easy valve, am i correct tht i only need to clean the chamber where the lavender and chamomile goes? beyond that, i am also confused as to where the honey oil is supposed to collect. thanks a million for your site.
I didn’t see it in the post, however I apologize if it was there and I missed it. I’m trying to figure out how much sea salt to add to the rubbing alcohol… help?
About a tablespoon works for me.
Re: brushes to clean the chamber/screen/grinder, dry, after each use, paintbrushes seem a little too nice for the task and the brushes are soft.
I recommenced “acid brushes” – they’re pretty much perfect. They’re very cheap horsehair brushes often with cheap rolled tin handles, the bristles are fairly stiff, they’re disposable, and often purchased in a pack of many for very little $. Used by a variety of industries, I use them with alcohol for soldering cleanup. Or my volcano. They’re all over the net for dirt cheap, here is a variety pack of 12 for $1.78!
http://www.amazon.com/Acid-Brushes-Piece-Assorted-Widths/dp/B000O5JOYE
how can i clean the part where the air exits? i’m moving and i want to mail my volcano to my new home out of state…any suggestions for making this thing “mail safe”?
I recommend a vacuum, but you’re never going to be able to get it perfectly ‘mail safe’ without taking it apart me thinks. There’s probably some crumbs or dust that have settled into the base.
Yobo – have you tried water filtration?
I have had mine for a couple years now, I have the early model without the air filter. Even after I clean the parts and replace the bag, the vapor is pretty harsh on the throat and lungs. Even at a setting of 5.5 it has me coughing like crazy. I’m tempted to take the whole thing apart and take a look around, but I don’t know. Got any ideas?
1). How often should you change the bag you are using? Five came with the package, but I am not sure if that is because people blow them up overfilling them or if they should be changed routinely.
2). Do you have to clean the easyvalve Volcano?
The bag will start to get sticky and eventually may crack and leak. I change the bag every time I clean.
The easy valve parts are disposable – no cleaning involved.
“Here’s a step by step photo illustration of how to disassemble all the parts of the Volcano Vaporizer and clean using rubbing alcohol and sea salt.”
Where is Here? I don’t see anything besides a description.
@Zak thanks for the headsup – the updated post is here – http://volcanotips.com/volcano/volcano-vaporizer-taking-apart-and-cleaning/
THE PHOTO STEP BY STEP WAS PERFECT, IN ANY LANGUAGE. I almost broke the plastic ring with the gator teeth. Your picture explained exactly. Now, what are those white foam-ish filters, and the metal disc filter(?)? Any tricks to getting the balloon to equally wrap around the ring? I’m still looking over the blog but are we suppose to take the ‘volcano’ apart? The ‘heater’?
The white foamish filter is the air intake filter. It goes on the bottom of the heat generator. It rarely needs to be replaced. Flip the Volcano over in your lap and you’ll see a twist out plastic piece perforated with holes. Remove it and you can inspect the air filter to see if it needs replacing.
There’s no need to take apart the heater, keep it clean and occasionally vacuum the top where the hot air exits.
The metal woven filter pad thingy is for heating essential oils instead of plant materials.
Thanks for stopping by….
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great job, this really helped.
I am looking for some idea and stumble upon your posting
decide to wish you Thanks. Eugene
This was a cool tutrial…I even learned something…I didn’t know the metal chamber in the bowl piece came out. But I think you’re overlooking one of the coolest aspestcs of owning a volcano. The brown gunk that forms on the metal pyramid piece and inside the metal cylinder that screws into the pyramid piece is active ingredients oil. Scrape that gunk off with a knife and press it into some keif and bam, you got yourself high quality jelly active ingredients! Try it and let me know what you think… PeAcE!
Awesome demonstration. Exactly the same process I use with a couple of differences in the details. Epsom salt I have found works slightly more effectively than sea salt. I clean the the filling chamber less frequently than the other parts. Sometimes after cleaning I reuse a bag for a time or two more if it is not ripped and if the open end can be stretched gently across a surface without sticking too much.
After single uses I recommend cleaning the filling chamber (and insert) with an appropriately sized paintbrush. Paintbrushes are also good for removing dust or residue off the Volcano near the exhaust vent.