Dead Cartos?

[AKat]

okay, maybe I made a rookie mistake.

Got our first order of liquids in and were doing our first round of refilling a carto.

We boiled them, twice... Dried them, and even used a hair dryer. LOL

We started filling cartos, one with each flavor. Out of the six, we have two that we can not get to work with us. Any ideas of what I might have done wrong?

 

[intriqken]

My guess is that they are actually still wet,
You might try dry burning them for a few seconds to see if that clears them up.
After I boil my cartos (I don't actually boil them, I put them in almost boiling water and let them sit for about 10 minutes then flush them with hot water using a child's medicine syringe from WalMart) I put them in a 225F oven for about an hour,
So far-so good. Since I started doing that I've not had any dead or seemingly dead cartos

 

[AKat]

Hmm, didn't think about the oven.

Thanks about the idea! I was thinking that they might not have been completely dry.

 

[Epsilon]

I'll second the boil->oven method. I stick 'em in my toaster oven after boiling them for an hour at the lowest heat setting. Works like a charm. ^_^

 

[darrts]

okay, maybe I made a rookie mistake.

Got our first order of liquids in and were doing our first round of refilling a carto.

We boiled them, twice... Dried them, and even used a hair dryer. LOL

We started filling cartos, one with each flavor. Out of the six, we have two that we can not get to work with us. Any ideas of what I might have done wrong?

I was told to boil them too..worked about the same

 

[AKat]

Trying the boil to oven method now. Will report back!

 

[Liv2Ski]

I know you are trying to reuse them but my vote would be to pick up 10 or 15 new cartos and keep a carto dedicated to a particular flavor. I have found after 20 to 30 mls of juice they just are not worth trying to save. Happy vapes and enjoy the new juices

 

[AKat]

Okay, verdict is. The oven works! LOL

Ski: I have some new blanks on the way, so I hope to be able to do that soon!

 

[Kolie]

Thank you all!! I am also new to vaping and trying to figure out how to clean my carts. I already popped one trying to do it the battery drying way. This sounds way more my speed. The toaster oven idea is great!! The other thing I do periodically is fold a paper towel into corners and get the extra gunk out around the cart. It works really well for me too.

 

[Epsilon]

I'll toss something extra in here, based on another thread I read.

Remember, just because it says a temperature on the dial you set, it doesn't mean it's actually going to -be- that temperature. My toaster oven runs 100F hotter than the 150F it claims on the dial. If the lowest your toaster oven goes is 250, use a temperature probe of some sort to make sure it's not getting too hot.

(In another thread, someone had an issue with cleaning cartos - she managed to nearly melt the covering off it. I'm thinking that the temperature discrepancy between the dial and the actual oven was the culprit there)

 

[Kolie]

Good idea! Thanks

 

[mecocina]

I'll toss something extra in here, based on another thread I read.

Remember, just because it says a temperature on the dial you set, it doesn't mean it's actually going to -be- that temperature. My toaster oven runs 100F hotter than the 150F it claims on the dial. If the lowest your toaster oven goes is 250, use a temperature probe of some sort to make sure it's not getting too hot.

(In another thread, someone had an issue with cleaning cartos - she managed to nearly melt the covering off it. I'm thinking that the temperature discrepancy between the dial and the actual oven was the culprit there)

That happened to me too although I didn't post it. I used the toaster oven and had the cartos laying on it's side. At least I was able to get most of the black label off. The left over glue I used mineral oil, on the outside, and scraped it with a razor. Lesson learned.

 

[oldjoe]

I use alcohol to clean my cartos. Soak them, or use the syringe method to clean. Blow them out and let them sit for a couple of hours and they're clean, sanitary and ready to use.

 

[Katdarling]

I'll toss something extra in here, based on another thread I read.

Remember, just because it says a temperature on the dial you set, it doesn't mean it's actually going to -be- that temperature. My toaster oven runs 100F hotter than the 150F it claims on the dial. If the lowest your toaster oven goes is 250, use a temperature probe of some sort to make sure it's not getting too hot.

(In another thread, someone had an issue with cleaning cartos - she managed to nearly melt the covering off it. I'm thinking that the temperature discrepancy between the dial and the actual oven was the culprit there)

That would be me (embarrassed but is what it is). I retrieved them from the garbage (don't get all Seinfeld here.. they were on the top of juice paper towels, LOL), and peeled off the stickers. Gave them yet another good cleaning (with the turkey baster method) and they are now usable again! But yes, do watch the oven temp!

 

[Dougiestyle]

I had some extra time on my hands today and had some much needed maintenance to do, of which was carto cleaning. I soaked them in PGA with the soft mouthpiece cap removed for about 15min while a pot of water heated on the stove to boiling. I removed the cartos with reverse-springed tweezers with wood handles (they hold your object without squeezing) and tranferred them one at a time to the boiling water. I held them in there til the alcohol boiled out (it boils FAST!), then set them aside on a folded paper towel to cool. When they were all done cooling down, I blew them out from the threaded end with compressed air, then jammed them into the grill of my oscillating fan, mouth-end out, for about an hour with the fan on high. The plastic fan grill held them securely while the air flowed around and through them. Voila! Catros are like new again. Yay for maintenance!

 

[dee5]

Dougie that fan idea is brilliant!!

 

[biffette]

i only did this once cuz i was in a hurry, but it worked...

i put a handfull of soaked & boiled cartomizers in a flour sack cloth, secured it with a rubber band, & ran em through the clothes dryer for about an hour. they all worked. some better than others, but they worked.

i'm a newbie, so that was the first batch i ever tried to dry, except for a couple i let air dry in the sun.

*IMPORTANT* if you try this, don't put anything else in the dryer, & leave out the fabric softener!!!