Is it just me?? Hard Draw on refills

[badfish5446]

Whenever I refill a pre filled carto it works awesome with great vapor production for a little while, then they get really hard to draw on. Am I doing something wrong?? I don't know if I should try to clean them out or if I burnt the wick, I don't want to waste more juice if thats the case.

 

[krazie_Kid]

BadFish, what you can do, take a paperclip, unbend it and stick it though the hole, make it go all the way through and turn the carto, so you get the gunk out. That is what I do when it is hard to draw, and also, take an old toothbrush and clean the battery threads as well, and the centerpost.

 

[Mary Kay]

Cartos were never meant to be refilled, but we do it anyway. They do have a life..hard draw is sign of a failed carto. Burning is the sign of an over vaped carto.
Cleaning the carto will extend the life for a while.
You can take the white mouth piece off and hold it under hot running water then shake it like a crazy thermometer. beforw you put the end back on blow from the moth end into a tissue..that should clear any remaing water.
Good luck, Badfish!

 

[krazie_Kid]

MK to be honest, I have not cleaned cartos in a very very long time, and I am still using the same cartos. But I do recommend it for this problem.

 

[Mary Kay]

Kid, I don't bother much either. But I clean when they have too.

 

[krazie_Kid]

Yeah same here. If I get a hard draw (Which I prefer btw) I will leave it. If I get a really stiff draw, I will actually take a kettle and boil water, then poor it... Ehh I will put the vid up lol, to lazy to explain...

YouTube - How to clean cartos

Remember to let the cartos sit in the water for 10 minutes

 

[Glam]

I use same cartos over and over. sometimes for weeks at a time. Once in a while I clean them, but mostly when the draw becomes hard, I just pitch cause I already got my money's worth. If you top them off a lot, they do last a long time.

 

[krazie_Kid]

If you top them off a lot, they do last a long time.

If you top them off and if you also refill when they lose flavors, I have cartos 100+ refills now.

 

[Rappel_Welch]

I've noticed this more with the thicker liquids like the chocolates. I flush the carts with vodka to clean them, blow them out, and they work fine again. With the lighter juices I've not had to clean any carts. I just keep topping them off over and over again.

 

[twoskinsoneman]

The boiling and sit for a couple days method works perfect for me when the performance starts to taper off. I have some BMF cartos with 2-3 dozen refills. I think it just must be a build up of gunk on the coil over time

 

[teslastick]

Sometimes the air holes in the battery get build up too. Makes for harder draw..... I clean with toothpick, bread twisty wire and paper towel.

 

[curiousJan]

I've noticed this more with the thicker liquids like the chocolates. I flush the carts with vodka to clean them, blow them out, and they work fine again. With the lighter juices I've not had to clean any carts. I just keep topping them off over and over again.

Do you flush them with a syringe?

I've had zero luck with cleaning any of my cartos ... and yes, I realize that they are consumables and aren't intended to last forever. BUT when a carto only lasts me a day ('cause I like my dark juices - vanilla particularly) and I can't clean it, it really isn't worth it for me. The cost of the juice I go through in a day plus the cost of at least 1 carto a day is just too much to tolerate.

I've tried boiling, soaking in hot water, fluffing the filler after, the paper-clip through the center trick ... nothing works.

If I could clean them reliably, I might be willing to keep them in my stock-pile, but since I haven't been able to figure that out I've been moving on looking for something that's a bit more reliable ... I've many times refilled a carto thinking it was dry and wasted my precious juice because the carto had gone 'round the bend.

Jan

 

[SnowDragon]

Just curious...curiousJan, do you ever reverse spin the precious juice back out of those cartos that have gone 'round the ben? Or do you get what you can back with a syringe and just write off the rest of the juice subsequently tossing the carto?

Spinning and Reverse Spinning to Empty Cartos:

YouTube - Vapor4Life The Taryn Spin 2011....Everything You Need To Know

 

[doots]

Do you flush them with a syringe?

I've had zero luck with cleaning any of my cartos ... and yes, I realize that they are consumables and aren't intended to last forever. BUT when a carto only lasts me a day ('cause I like my dark juices - vanilla particularly) and I can't clean it, it really isn't worth it for me. The cost of the juice I go through in a day plus the cost of at least 1 carto a day is just too much to tolerate.

I've tried boiling, soaking in hot water, fluffing the filler after, the paper-clip through the center trick ... nothing works.

If I could clean them reliably, I might be willing to keep them in my stock-pile, but since I haven't been able to figure that out I've been moving on looking for something that's a bit more reliable ... I've many times refilled a carto thinking it was dry and wasted my precious juice because the carto had gone 'round the bend.

Jan

I have had that happen on some cartos. I changed cartos to dual coil and boges and have good success now. good luck

 

[curiousJan]

Just curious...curiousJan, do you ever reverse spin the precious juice back out of those cartos that have gone 'round the ben? Or do you get what you can back with a syringe and just write off the rest of the juice subsequently tossing the carto?

Spinning and Reverse Spinning to Empty Cartos:

YouTube - Vapor4Life The Taryn Spin 2011....Everything You Need To Know

I'm pretty averse to the idea of carrying a syringe with me. I do like the new needle-tip/sealer-tip luer-lock bottles that I got from another vendor that might have worked for this purpose ...

but to answer your question, no I haven't tried that. Honestly, the cartos with which I've experienced this are so dark and the filler so dense at that point I'm not sure I want that juice back for fear it's tainted with the little black crusties that occur with the dark juices as well, AND it always seemed to happen when I was on the go ... I just wanted to vape it, darn it!

I'm currently checking out some of the no-fill, clear options and am having some good luck. I like that there's nothing there to hold onto my juice ... just feed it to the heating element and let me vape it, please.

Jan

 

[curiousJan]

I have had that happen on some cartos. I changed cartos to dual coil and boges and have good success now. good luck

I've thought about the dual-coils ... does it change/improve flavor a lot in your opinion?

Jan

 

[twoskinsoneman]

Impatience was my problem. I remember the first time I boiled them I let them sit a day and them add juice and it would not vape at all! Nothing. I was able to revive it, by flushing but my problem was not making sure they were completely dry. With the water still in them it would vape. Now I wait for a few days to make sure they are dry or bake them in the oven for a couple hours in low heat.

 

[jbmcdan]

using snowdragon's method of flushing them with a turkey baster has worked well for me. And i'm ready for v4l to come out with dual-coil carto's!

 

[jeffree]

Yo, Badfish. It happens to me often, but then again, I don't do anything special to clean my cartos. Still, I wish the CoolCarts' draw was a little easier, in general.

 

[Flowerlady-8898]

This is how I clean mine, and I'm still using cartos that I've had for almost 7 months, now.

Cleaning Method
1- I first remove the little white caps, and place them into a empty water bottle, with some dish detergent & very hot water. I shake those several times, while I'm cleaning my cartos.

2- I throw all of my cartos into a pot, and fill it with hot water and boil them for 15 minutes.

3- After the 15 minutes is over with, I rinse the cartos, in a colander. Then do another 15 minute boil.

4- While the cartos are boiling, again, I rinse my little white caps, and put them back into the empty water bottle, with a little more dish detergent, and very hot water and shake them again.

5- Then I rinse everything, in the colander, after the second boil.

6- I grab some towels, and proceed to blow all of the water out from the top end of each carto. (Gives the lungs a good workout, in this process! LOL)

7- Then I stand each one up, on the top ends, and let them dry out for 48 hours. I haven't had any problems, with the exception of maybe 2 or 3.