Flooding, hard draw, and carto life

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madjack

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Aug 17, 2011
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I get around 25-30ml(5-6days) worth of juice thru a carto before I change it out because of flav change...the draw is starting to tighten up as well...it may be your juice...a high VG juice or sweet juice or a dark juice will also clog a carto faster...cartos are meant to be disposable, are cheap and meant to be replaced regularly........
madjack:2cool:

p.s. the numbers I gave are for a non-tanked carto...a carto in a tank is supposed to last longer...I just built a couple and haven't used 'em enough to tell...................mj
 
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mostlyclassics

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It's possible that the central tubes on your cartos are collapsing. Take a look through the central tube on the carto: if you can't see daylight, then your tube has collapsed.

You might want to try this trick. Straighten a paperclip or, better yet, get a longish (3 inches or more) sewing needle. Very carefully insert the paperclip or needle from the battery side and slowly work it through the central tube until you can see it come out through the central tube on the drip-tip side. Slowly and carefully rotate it a couple of turns, then slowly withdraw it.

This trick amounts to Major Surgery on a carto, so you need to check the resistance when you're done, or you could kill a battery if you've shorted out the carto. If the resistance is roughly 2.0-3.5 ohms (depending on the initial resistance of the carto), then you're good. If it's infinite or zero, that carto is dead. I find I kill about one in ten cartos. But the other nine, after cleaning, then function well enough to reuse. They're not like brand-new, but they're still serviceable.

As always, YMMV.
 

donnah

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Aug 22, 2010
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All juices are not created equal! I have a vendor that I love but I can only get a day, maybe two in a carto before the taste gets yucky. I now use my own diy and kbv warm sugar cookie and my cartos last weeks.

I'm scared to order any more juice from that vendor because even though they are cheap and the juice is super tasty... it's not worth it to me to have to throw away a carto evey day because the taste goes bad. I also vape unflavored juice (my own diy with no added flavors) and I like it, I fill a tank with it every couple fills and it seems to flush out the flavored juice and the carto lasts longer

With this setup, my resurrectors last a good long time and the draw never gets tight. I think a tight draw after a very short time indicates the juice is gunking up the carto. Boge cartos seem to be tighter packed than smoktech.
 
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yo vapo

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Nov 6, 2011
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If I try to top off the carto, it floods and stays flooded.
Not familiar with the tank you mention, but if it's a tank that goes around a carto, then you should be topping off the tank, not the carto. If you're filling the tank through the carto, you're going to get flooding.

I'm using Boge 2 ohm cartos punched with 2 holes in a tank I built. It's too early to give an estimate of average carto life, but the last one (same being the first one with my new carto punch) lasted me 9 days. So, a week doesn't sound unreasonable. At ~a dollar a pop, I'm happy.

It seems to go like this: First two or three days are perfect. After that, flooding when topping off seems to begin and then get more pronounced. Early on, I can clear a flood just by firing a couple of seconds before vaping, and repeat that a couple of times. Later on, I have to blow through it and/or give it the thermometer shake to clear it. I always top off before the liquid gets down to where the punched holes are, and never tilt the tank to allow the holes to be exposed to air when I have the tank's refill hole open. This seems to help, but again, I need more statistical data.
 

Duekster

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Dec 18, 2011
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I have the same rig. I run the 3 ohm units on 6 volts.

I agree with a lot here. I have never tried to physically clear a center tube but I have used pga to clean a unit.

I think I should get in to a routine to clean them after a few days rather then run them in the ground then hope they will clean up a little.

Keep in mind the tank slides up and down a little, you can use this feature to change the air flow a little. On some juice with my SB mod, I push the tank down and take a few draws with out the battery on to help prime the carto.

If you find the drip end of the carto drying out, then prime it more often. I have also found that with 2 hole punches are better than slots and single openings.

You might remove the tank and carto and simply blow in it to clear the center tube of juice.
If it leaks from the bottom consistantly even after clearing then likely the carto center tube is burnt and has a hole in it or something making it trash.

I am not sure a tank will make a carto last longer but the risk of having it run dry and burn is less in a tank that is flowing well.

I read some like 50/50 pg / vg - I will try this soon but I find 60/40 works well... not too thick but thick enough to wick well. Juice in my tank does thinken with use. Sometimes I think you just need to clean stuff and start over.
 
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