can anyone give me tips on cleaning a carto can i just soak it in alcohol and let it dry ???
cleaning a carto
- Thread starter Sterno
- Start date
- th_trl_thread_readers 0
- Status
I have tried a lot of ways, not a lot of success. If you figure it out, let me know.
Same here. Soaking, boiling, ... At best I get one more day of lack-luster performance. I gave up.
Seem to last about a week on the Reo, I am sure the liquid makes a lot of difference. I just took one off that had a dark mostly vg juice in it after 8 days, it still worked but you could tell it was dropping off. 8 days and less than 2 dollars = trash can 
Scott, I clean my cartos this way -
1. Blow them out, run warm water through them and blow out some more
2. Fill a pot full of water and bring it to a boil
3. Put the cartos in the boiling water and let them boil for 5 minutes
4. Take the pot off the burner and let the water cool until you can put your hands in the water
5. Run clean warm water through them and blow out both ends
6. Stand them threaded sides up on a paper towel and let them dry out for a couple of days. After 24 hours I lay them on their sides so air can get through them for get completely dry.
I do this with my ikv 510goldv2 cartos and can usually get at least 3 cleanings out of them for most of them. I toss them when the draw gets too tight after cleaning them. I usually do about 3 or 4 at a time.
1. Blow them out, run warm water through them and blow out some more
2. Fill a pot full of water and bring it to a boil
3. Put the cartos in the boiling water and let them boil for 5 minutes
4. Take the pot off the burner and let the water cool until you can put your hands in the water
5. Run clean warm water through them and blow out both ends
6. Stand them threaded sides up on a paper towel and let them dry out for a couple of days. After 24 hours I lay them on their sides so air can get through them for get completely dry.
I do this with my ikv 510goldv2 cartos and can usually get at least 3 cleanings out of them for most of them. I toss them when the draw gets too tight after cleaning them. I usually do about 3 or 4 at a time.
Last edited:
Yep, when I threw away 9 bucks a day on cigs I never gave it a second thought.
Even if it starts tasting funny after 2 days for some reason .... thats a buck a day Trash can.
For the record i tried at first being thrifty and cleaning them .... they never came back to 100% so it didn't work out.
Even if it starts tasting funny after 2 days for some reason .... thats a buck a day
Trash can.For the record i tried at first being thrifty and cleaning them .... they never came back to 100% so it didn't work out.
Pbusardo (ECF and youtube handle) has a nifty video on his youtube channel on how he cleans his cartos.
I'd link it but I'm at work and youtube is blocked.
I'd link it but I'm at work and youtube is blocked.
I used a carto for a total of 4 days and the draw tightened, so what i do is vape it till it is mostly dry (which is hard because sqonking has become second nature), boil some distilled water, put whatever cartos I have that need cleaned in cereal bowl, and pour the water over them. I let them sit for 10 minutes. I have modified a turkey baster with a pen grip, it makes the perfect flexible adapter, air and water tight, I then draw the water in and shoot it out into another container with each cartomizer. I then get the water boiling again, and empty the bowl of water and refill it with the fresh and drop the cartos back in for another 10 minute bath. after that bath I ensure that whatever water that is soaked in the filler that I can get out with the baster is removed and let dry until I need to use them. I NEVER put the caps on my cartos, otherwise the residual water will mold in the polyfill and taste like a dirty sock. MMMM!
Hope you don't mind, but as a carto user (no REO, yet...) I have found that a cheap ultrasonic cleaner (usually for jewelry) and vodka work well. I tried using water but could never get them to dry in a reasonable amount of time. 30 mins in the vodka on shake, blow or spin them out, and bake at 180F for 15 mins battery connector down, they are generally ready to fill the next day.
I have had mixed results. Some just dont clean.
I have had mixed results. Some just dont clean.
Last edited:
I do either way, boiling or boiled water with big syringe and childrens medicine nipple depending on whether I have some attys that need boiling too.
The best way I have found to get them dry, after using the baster/big syringe to take out most of moisture is to put them in front of full sized Notebook, air exhaust, for hours!!!, and then store them with desiccant packs. I store everything with desiccant packs (all different sizes on Amazon). My Netbooks don't blow out exhaust very strongly, and my (both older) Powerbook and Ibook don't have exhaust. I'm sure people will run into not having the source of air flow that a big Notebook will provide.
So..............
Open for suggestions. I like dual usage of appliances, like venting the clothes dryer into house in winter (filtered through water) and such. Hair blow dryers do use a lot of energy!!! and it takes a long time to really get the moisture out of a stuffed carto. A gas oven on very low would be a better choice or a convection oven so that air is moved by a fan, but my big oven doesn't have low enough temp setting for convection. A microwave oven that can be set for no microwave, like a dehydrator setting, or even out in the full sun would be good and energy efficient. A small clip on fan, blowing into the cartos, in a relatively dry area of house.
I kind of like the "out in the sun". Goodness, I can cook a full meal, in a homemade sun cooker (aluminum foil and a cardboard box) in below freezing temps, on a sunny day.
Main thing is to store them with some kind of desiccant. Certain rices absorb moisture without having too much powder residue but I forget what kinds. That is going to be the absolute cheapest form of desiccant storage. I used to use rice, in small plastic, sealable containers, but use desiccant packs in all of my storage boxes/containers now, not only vaping stuff but everything I store.
Alice
I have a cheap small jewelry cleaner that I got just for cleaning atty/cartos but I was disappointed with results. So is it really safe to use alcohol in those?
Alice
- Status
