Hey guys, I have been doing alot of reading on here, and was searching for some ways to clean the cartomizer/atomizer. Seemed the most popular way to do this was to rinse it out with hot water, then let it soak in Alcohol for a bit, and then blow it out, and let try over night. I have done this twice. I rinsed with hot water, let soak in 70% iso alcohol, and let sit in their while I went to work. Came home 8 hours later, blew out all the alcohol, and let dry facing down on a paper towel over night. The problem is, the next day when I fill it and try to use it, the vapor production i virtually ZERO. This is now the second time this has happened, and am afraid to do this again to any of my cartos, or atomizers. Does anyone have any suggestions as what could be happening, or how I can fix them?
Cleaning Cartos/Atomizers
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Atomizers and cartomizers are two totally separate things.
An atomizer has no stuffing in it. It is the middle part of a 3-piece ecig and is mostly all metal except for a small wick in the bridge. You can wash them as you did, blow out and shake out well. I usually am swapping 2 and let mine dry longer. When you are ready to use a cleaned atomizer you need to prime it well with juice because it is totally dry. You need like 4-5 drop of juice on the bridge then wait several minutes for it to soak down to the coil, then try vaping it. You may need to do that again. Don't vape it dry or you can damage it.
Cartomizers - these are the combined disposable cart+atomizer of a 2-piece ecig. These have non-removable stuffing. You have discovered the hard part of washing cartos - drying them. And setting on on end overnight is not enough. Iso alcohol is poison. Do not use iso to clean cartos. You can use edible Pure Grain Alcohol the liquor stores in some states sell. Many people never succeed at cleaning cartos. The best thing to do with cartos is only put juices you like in them and keep the carto damp with juice until it's performance gets weak. Then you can throw it out or try to clean it.
An atomizer has no stuffing in it. It is the middle part of a 3-piece ecig and is mostly all metal except for a small wick in the bridge. You can wash them as you did, blow out and shake out well. I usually am swapping 2 and let mine dry longer. When you are ready to use a cleaned atomizer you need to prime it well with juice because it is totally dry. You need like 4-5 drop of juice on the bridge then wait several minutes for it to soak down to the coil, then try vaping it. You may need to do that again. Don't vape it dry or you can damage it.
Cartomizers - these are the combined disposable cart+atomizer of a 2-piece ecig. These have non-removable stuffing. You have discovered the hard part of washing cartos - drying them. And setting on on end overnight is not enough. Iso alcohol is poison. Do not use iso to clean cartos. You can use edible Pure Grain Alcohol the liquor stores in some states sell. Many people never succeed at cleaning cartos. The best thing to do with cartos is only put juices you like in them and keep the carto damp with juice until it's performance gets weak. Then you can throw it out or try to clean it.
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This is good advice and I see this question over and over again. Do you have a hot key or a file you save your comment in so you can copy & paste it? It would save you a lot of typing.
I have always cleans cartos by boiling them multiple times. One time never seems to get them clean. Then I put them inside a couple of socks and put them in the dryer LOL its always worked. Before I did it that way I used to put them on a cookie sheet and put them in the oven at 175 LOL both ways have worked every time for me. I have NO idea why people let them "air" dry?
This happens every time I clean an atomizer. I suspect it's just taking time to get the liquid flowing through the wick like it should. I would suggest letting your cartos sit for a bit after refilling them.
Great advice so far. The only thing I would add is if using Isopropyl Alcohol for soaking attys is use 91% instead of 70%. It breaks up residual liquid better and evaporates quicker than 70%.
Once dry after cleaning you need to prime the atty with juice, pg or vg to get it going again. A dry atty will produce nothing but harshness and burn itself up. Drip 4 drops or so directly on the atty and let it soak in a minute or so. Try a hit, if it's still dry add another drop or two and hit it gain. Keep doing that until it's producing vapor then do your nomral thing.
Once dry after cleaning you need to prime the atty with juice, pg or vg to get it going again. A dry atty will produce nothing but harshness and burn itself up. Drip 4 drops or so directly on the atty and let it soak in a minute or so. Try a hit, if it's still dry add another drop or two and hit it gain. Keep doing that until it's producing vapor then do your nomral thing.
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I second that advice. Target sells it in their generic brand (cool square bottle now, too!), so it should be very easy to find in 91%.
What about with a carto? How do you 'prime' the bridge if you cant really get to it. Should I just fill it max, and let it sit a while?
Cartos are different and frankly I never had any luck cleaning a filler type carto. I just vape them till they die or not performing well and toss them, not worth the effort to me. If kept wet they usually last a good number of refills.
With cartos just fill them with juice and let it set a while to give the filler time to absorb the liquid. You might want to top it off again after the initial fill as it'll hold more once it's had time to absorb fully.
Ditto Dormouse, you can try Alcohol Everclear, or even I have heard vinegar then rinse really well with hot water and blow them out and soak with new juice. or pitch them and get some new ones, you can get 5 packs from Provape pretty cheap.
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