How do you clean your cartos?

[Konstantine]

My Wife is Greek. Came over here when she was 6. She is from Athens, the rest of her family is still there. Loved it when i went there, But as of late, we both think staying here is best lol. (not making light of the situation in the least over there).

Harry

Wise decision, i would stay there too. Imagine i am a lucky Greek with 900 euros per month as a salary (others are like 500-600 and keep dropping), 250 is the rent and i have 650 for the month. I work in the worst conditions (rain, extreme cold/wind, snow, heat) and also many hours (10 sometimes 12-15 hours). Using the volt reduced my expenses like 85-90% but it's also a nice excuse to clean cartos lol!

 

[rave]

If I'm not feeling too lazy to clean cartos then:

I blow out as much residual nicquid as possible,

Soak the cartos overnight in warm water with a couple of Polident Overnight Whitening denture cleaning tablets (NON-mint). Quite awhile ago, folks were having a lot of success with removing carbon from their atomizers by soaking in Polident. It worked well on my 510's atomizers then, so I figured I'd try it on cartos.

After the overnight soak, I syringe flush with clean hot water, blow out as much as possible,

And then dry them. That can be done by propping them up in sunny window for two or three days - on a tilt, so that you can get airflow on either end. Or, you can use a food dehydrator if ya have one. Some folks bake 'em. I've never tried that, so I can't offer an opinion.

 

[marlou]

Rave, your method sounds great. I'm going to try it.

 

[Konstantine]

Polident? Is it a kind of mild acid?
It could work fine, those tablets usually have a mix of citric acid and sodium bicarbonate on them. Mostly 90%.
I would rinse with alcohol at the end just to get rid of the water and it will help for faster drying times.

 

[cricque]

I clean mine via the syringe and hot water way.. then I run cheap vodka through it.. with I could find cheaper.. this bottle was like 10 bucks.. I hate vodka.. lol I'm a gin man muhself.. mmmmm.. Is it too early for a gin & tonic if I use an orange??

It is never too early for a gin & tonic


I tried boiling em with mixed results, I tried the coca-cola with mixed results, I tried the syringe with mixed results, I tried the wodka

Anyway these all work, from my experience, there is no better/worse method. But if you use water I would use distilled water and not just tap water

 

[rave]

Polident? Is it a kind of mild acid?
It could work fine, those tablets usually have a mix of citric acid and sodium bicarbonate on them. Mostly 90%.

Ingredients: Sodium Bicarbonate, Sodium Perborate, Potassium Monopersulfate, Citric Acid, Sodium Carbonate, Sodium Hexametaphosphate, Sodium Metasilicate, TAED, Sodium Lauryl Sufoacetate, Sodium Benzoate, Potassium Pyrophosphate, Aroma, VP/VA Copolymer, Subtilisin, Sodium Nitrate, Blue 1 aluminum lake, Blue 2.

Holy cow - Lotsa sodium!

Anyhow - This stuff should be safe if folks are using it to clean their chompers, but I still syringe rinse with clean water after the soak.

 

[Konstantine]

Coca cola also has acids in it.
I guess you need an acid and a neutralizer for the bubbling reaction/neutralization and some kind of "soap" for cleaning.
Plus if you have excess acid it will help with the reaction on the wire.
Additionally Boric acid can be used for dissinfection too lol!

 

[rave]

Coca cola also has acids in it.
I guess you need an acid and a neutralizer for the bubbling reaction/neutralization and some kind of "soap" for cleaning.
Plus if you have excess acid it will help with the reaction on the wire.
Additionally Boric acid can be used for dissinfection too lol!

Back in the day, a lot of folks were cleaning carbon off of atomizers with colas, but many found that the sugars were hard to get off.

 

[Konstantine]

Hmmmm!
Let's see, Sodium Metasilicate is corrosive on metals, also a very strong base and can be used as a cleaning agent too.

I was right about citric and sodium bicarbonate.
Sodium perborate is a bleaching agent rich in oxygen also an antiseptic.
Potassium peroxymonosulfate is an oxidizing agent.
Subtilisin is an enzyme (WTF??)
Sodium benzoate is a preservative.

Well, i see many acids, some bases , cleaning and bleaching agents and preservatines.
It could be easy to manufacture with home chemicals tho.

 

[Wuzznt Me]

I understand people on low incomes and tight budgets having a go at cleaning them too, but they are meant to be a disposable product and I'm lazy hehehe

Exactly. But a few cleaned ones in my Armagadon drawer have come in handy for various reasons.

I've stated this before, I'm too cheap to throw them away and too lazy to clean them.

But I do occasionally try to clean some that just have a funky taste but are still producing. The ones with a crud nugget, (a SteelJan term) that develope a tight draw and get hot are a challenge. Nothing I have tried will resurect those and they've become a challenge. Alcohol nor PG seem to phaze those.
I've got a method I've been wanting to try when I get up the ambition. The idea came partially from the DIY thread when they were talking about adding a little lemon/lime juice or vinegar. It seems a lot of manufacturers use an acid similar in the juices we vape to neutralize PH. I'm going to rinse them out and shake them as dry as I can get them, then bottom fill them. Some with concentrated lemon juice and some with vinegar, finish filling them to the top and put the top cap on. Let them sit for a couple of daze then power flush with purified water and let dry for a couple more. Basically like de-scaling a coffee pot. I may be waaay out in left field but what the heck. Nothin to lose right? If it works I'll be poor but famous. If it doesn't you'll never hear another word about cleaning cartos from me again. If anybody is as crazy as I am and tries it first you can take full credit. Just please let me know if it doesn't so I don't waste any lemon juice or time or if it does so I can clean my cartos.

This boring message brought to you by Chuck.

 

[rave]

Hmmmm!
Let's see, Sodium Metasilicate is corrosive on metals, also a very strong base and can be used as a cleaning agent too.

I was right about citric and sodium bicarbonate.
Sodium perborate is a bleaching agent rich in oxygen also an antiseptic.
Potassium peroxymonosulfate is an oxidizing agent.
Subtilisin is an enzyme (WTF??)
Sodium benzoate is a preservative.

Well, i see many acids, some bases , cleaning and bleaching agents and preservatines.
It could be easy to manufacture with home chemicals tho.

Well, color me impressed! Are you a chemist, or just really, REALLY good with this stuff? I can't even pronounce most of it!

 

[marlou]

LOL....you made my day, Wuzz

 

[SuperLuckyLady]

I lost too many with boiling water.

I put mine in a mug with hot water, stir, let sit, stir, drain off water, repeat, shake out excess water, let dry overnight. No syringe needed.

This cleans about 9 out of 10 enough for me. I toss the other 1.

 

[Konstantine]

Well, color me impressed! Are you a chemist, or just really, REALLY good with this stuff? I can't even pronounce most of it!

Bahaha! Chemistry is really usefull on my hobbies, (pyrotechnics). I'm not a chemist but i try to read as much as i can.

I think i found a way similar to polident but i have to find something more corrosive (not too corrosive to destroy metals) as a cleaning agent, or maybe something to react with carbon. The rest is easy. Polident seems to be mild for metals.

 

[rave]

Bahaha! Chemistry is really usefull on my hobbies, (pyrotechnics). I'm not a chemist but i try to read as much as i can.

I think i found a way similar to polident but i have to find something more corrosive (not too corrosive to destroy metals) as a cleaning agent, or maybe something to react with carbon. The rest is easy. Polident seems to be mild for metals.

I would think that "mild to metals" would be a good thing. Damage to the coil and filaments would worry me.

E

 

[Wuzznt Me]

LOL....you made my day, Wuzz

Thanx Marlou. Glad you enjoyed it.

 

[Konstantine]

Yes that is why i would like to use something to attack carbon. But even with metal corrosion, just doing it on a micron scale would not hurt the resistance of the coil or the coil itself, nickel and chrome (nichrome alloy) is pretty much resistant to these acids.
So really if you have something that dissolves carbon/PG deposits should do the trick.

 

[Gormy]

Yeah i have a ton of calcium and stuff in my water.. tastes fine.. but sucks for my coffee maker.. so use whatever bottled water I have hehe.

It is never too early for a gin & tonic


I tried boiling em with mixed results, I tried the coca-cola with mixed results, I tried the syringe with mixed results, I tried the wodka

Anyway these all works, from my experience, there is no better/worse method. But if you use water I would use distilled water and not just tap water

 

[cricque]

You could also distill water yourself, but that's not worth it, unless you are on a very tight budget. But you should be able to get distilled water cheaper then bottled drinking water

 

[Konstantine]

5 liters cost 70 cents