Cartomiser Tank Systems & Re-cycling Carts

[phanto]

Hi all Aussie vapers.


After trying just about every type of PV I have come almost full circle back to cartomisers, but this time with tanks.
I use Boge 510 XL 2-ohm carts with Boge F16 tanks powered by a Joye eVic VV battery and also the smaller F17 tanks powered
by either the eVic or a Joye ego twist battery. My biggest problem is that I go through more than 6 ml of juice per day
and a carto lasts for less than 2 days before there is a marked deterioration in performance. Having browsed the general
forums it seems that 10ml is about the upper limit, and there is much debate about whether to chuck them out or clean them
for re-use. For me its a matter of economics. The best price I have found for a 5-pack of these cartos is $5.99 (Vapeking).
So the "chuck 'em out" approach would cost me over $300 dollars per year for the carts alone. Cheap enough for some but a
bit much for an old pensioner like me. So I've been experimenting with cleaning them, starting with the boiling method as
demonstrated in one of PBusardo's youtube videos. For drying I've decided that an oven provides the best solution. In fact,
I can generally re-cycle a carto in two to three hours by boiling (2 or 3 twenty-min boils), blowing out the excess water,
popping them in the oven at 180 C for about half an hour and then leaving them in the oven as it cools down (unless "she
who must be obeyed" needs the oven for 'something useful").


I have recycled a dozen cartos like this, two batches of six, and tried all of them. Most were pretty good - at least, good
enough for a decent vape even if not quite as good as fresh ones. A couple had very muted flavour so I let them sit for a
couple of days to see if that would help. It didn't, so I binned them. I haven't tried a second re-cycling of any of the
decent ones yet but I may eventually give it a try. Meanwhile, I am happy that I can cut the cartomiser costs significantly.


For what it's worth, for anybody interested in cart-tank systems, I strongly recommend the Boge carts and tanks and the Joye
vv batteries mentioned above. And for everything except nicotine and a few special flavours which have to be imported you
can't do better than shop locally with VapeKing or Vapebar imho.


Finally, I also tried some 1.5 ohm dual coil carts, both with and without tanks. No joy whatsoever. Same goes at the other
end of the range with 3 ohm carts. For me the 2 ohms are perfect. Don't know if that is down to my personal taste and/or the
juices I use and/or the hardware. Your experience may be quite different.


Love to hear about your experiences, good or bad, with carts and tanks.


Happy vaping

 

[fabricator4]

A 20 minute boil seems a bit excessive, however if you can't dismantle the cart then it probably _is_ necessary. The enclosed nature of the cart means that boiling only has a limited effect. The other problem with a cart is that since you don't actually know how much is in them there's a tendency to keep using them until the flavour goes off. Even if you try to keep them topped off you can't be sure. There's also a problem with the liquid wicking to the coils at a slower rate due to the density of the filler and the liquid, so chain vaping can cause the coils to run too dry. Unfortunately once the flavour has gone off you can be pretty sure that the damage is already done.

I'm currently using CE4 type tank clearos. Since I can see how much is in them I've not had a problem with running the coil dry, and the wicking speed is very good as well. After about 4 days and 15 or so ml I noticed that the liquid in the tank was going dark due to the dirty coil back-washing into the tank. I took the hint and changed the atomiser out and boiled the dirty one. Since you can take atomiser right out boiling is more effective and it has restored the flavour. Drying is also much easier - just leave to air dry in a warm place.

Most of these devices have silicon rubber components for sealing or insulation. Boiling them will not damage them, but an oven at 180 degrees might.

I'm yet to find out how well this going to work in the long run, but so far the tank clearo is working much better than cartomisers I've been trying. The more expensive tanks look like they will work out better due to longer time between maintenance (if you don't run them dry) and replaceable coils. There's also similar types of tanks that take rebuildable coils. If this is something you are able to undertake then further savings might be possible, plus it would be possible to fine tune the coil length to give the precise resistance that works best.