ViVANT Alternate

ViVANT's cleaning chapter for the Alternate spends every one of its steps on a single assembly: the airflow unit beneath the aluminium chamber that carries the reverse flow protection valve. Nothing else on the device is meant to come apart, and buyers on ViVANT's own listing single out the narrow mouthpiece as the part that needs attention most often.

1. Power down and pull the cell: The manual's first instruction is to switch the unit off and take the 18650 out before anything else. Five rapid clicks powers it off, and it also cuts out on its own after 60 seconds of no use.

2. Open the top cap: The cap twists counter clockwise to expose the chamber. Its seal ring is a consumable, and ViVANT sells the cap itself, now in a V3 revision, as a spare.

3. Unscrew the airflow director: Take out the airflow assembly, then use the edge of a coin to unscrew the airflow director so the assembly separates. The two airflow director seal rings in the box replace the ones on this joint.

4. Expose the valve: Pull the lower portion of the assembly with a small tool to reach the internal section, then lift out the airflow valve. That is as far as the manual takes disassembly, and ViVANT asks that any actual repair come back to them.

5. Wash in a 50:50 mix: ViVANT specifies one part water to one part isopropyl alcohol, worked with the brush from the kit, until no residue is left on any removed piece. Rinse them and stand them out to dry fully.

6. Let the alcohol evaporate: The manual flags the isopropyl as flammable and says every trace must be gone before reassembly. No dry burn or burn off routine is published for the Alternate, so this soak is the whole procedure.

7. Replace meshes rather than scrubbing them: The kit carries stainless mesh in two grades, number 200 and number 50, plus a stainless concentrate pad. All are sold in five packs, so a clogged screen is cheaper to swap than to rescue.

Keep liquid out of the body. The manual warns to keep the device away from water, and the OLED reports heat bar faults as Trouble Codes 1 to 3 and temperature sensor faults as 4 and 5. Grind fine but pack loosely, since ViVANT notes that overfilling the bowl reduces airflow, which explains most tight draws here. The micro USB port handles firmware updates as well as charging, so check for one if behaviour drifts, and wipe the battery contacts under the removable cover when you rotate cells.