Life of a cartomizer

[demps11]

Hi,
I have a question about the life of cartomizers. I have heard/read that a cartomizer can last say a week (hypothetically). Well what if I only used this carto sparingly over a week? Will it last a similar amount of time as a heavily used carto in that same week? I guess what I'm asking is this...Is the life a carto dependent on the time it has juice in it, or the amount of time that the internal atomizer has been fired? Thanks everyone!!!

Rob

 

[djwyman]

from my experience it is on how often it is used and if you keep it wet. I have seen them last longer than a week in carto tanks were it never goes dry. 3 things will make a carto go bad: 1. the coil burns out 2. burnt filler 3. the air holes get clogged.

 

[nanovapr]

Hi, welcome to ECF. Cartos' life will not lessen if it is un-fired. A carto's life is definitely lessened if you fire it partially dry. It burns a little bit, and while it will continue to work, you will often still get a burned taste.

Keep them wet, so they look kind of slushy (but not liquid pooled up on it) is the best way to get maximum life.

 

[adl]

I have had one last over a month of almost daily use because I topped it off often.

 

[Covert]

My personal rule of thumb is I toss my cartos after I run 30ml through them. The only other way I will toss them is if they just flat out taste like crud.

 

[yzer]

I got 12 days off my last carto but I'm using a non-flavored e-liquid.

There are two secrets to long carto life.

1. Don't burn the carto, ever. Never "dry burn" a carto. Learn how to fully saturate a carto when filling. I remove the carto from the PV before filling or refilling. I hold the carto and a piece of wadded paper towel or Kleenex in one hand with the carto base resting on the paper. I drip e-liquid into the carto, rotating it 1/3 turn with each drop. I use 30 ml plastic dropper bottles for this job. Don't drip into the carto air passage in the middle of the carto. The carto is filled when e-liquid begins to drip from the carto base onto the paper. I put a drip tip onto the carto and blow a puff of air into the carto, clearing any liquid that has collected in the air passge near the carto base. Press the carto base onto the paper until the base is dry. The carto is now filled and ready to use.

Cartos can take a lot a juice before the filler is fully saturated. I use Smok Tech single coil 1.7 ohm or 2.0 ohm LR XL cartos in stainless steel. The Smok Tech XL will hold at least 1.8 ml of liquid. In practice this is 50 to 70 drops of fluid depending on individual carto differences. The average is 60 drops.

The fluid in the carto acts to cool the coil. If you let the carto filler get too dry it will burn. Once burned a carto is ruined and will never taste well. Although the Smok Tech LR XL carto will hold a total of 1.8 ml I refill the carto before it reaches the half-way mark and usually add 14-20 drops of liquid for each refilling.

2. The lighter the juice flavor, the longer the carto will last. Because you never run a carto dry during it's lifespan old heated juice will collect in the carto. As this darkened old juice becomes more concentrated with each refilling the taste eventually becomes unpleasant. The more flavoring in the juice, the faster this process happens. Unflavored juices contribute to the longest lived cartos.

I get 7 days or about 20 ml use from a carto when using lightly flavored juice.

That last Smok Tech carto I used lasted 12 days under continual use. I vaped about 30 ml of unflavored juice through it before I retired it.

 

[demps11]

Thanks everyone! This is exactly the info that I was looking for!!

Rob

 

[nanovapr]

Yes, the amount of juice vaped is a much more accurate way to state it's lifetime than hours or days. Another quick way to fill a fresh one is wet it around the edges, give it several hard "thermometer shakes" (best to leave the bottom condom on). Wet it again, shake. Repeat several times, a few minutes apart. Blow it out into a tissue because some will probably have gotten into the air tube.

Another good way is to use a syringe, or a really pointy tipped bottle, and inject it between the filler and wall of the carto. With a syringe, you can insert the needle 3/4 of the way down, and gently pull it up while squirting the liquid. Do that on a couple of sides, and you are ready to go pretty quickly.

No matter which method, there is a fabric directly around the coils (often nicknamed a diaper). This has to be wet for it to vape at all. This is also the part that burns if you let it get dry.

 

[Skoad]

A friend I got to switch over to vaping came over today and we were talking about carts..

He has rotated through 5 different carts for the past 2 months. So far only 1 cart stopped working on him and none taste burnt.. He is a pretty heavy vaporererer too... I think he just had great luck.

 

[Lt. Col. Killjoy]

A friend I got to switch over to vaping came over today and we were talking about carts..

He has rotated through 5 different carts for the past 2 months. So far only 1 cart stopped working on him and none taste burnt.. He is a pretty heavy vaporererer too... I think he just had great luck.

Also, his taste buds haven't woken up to a point where they can detect just how washed out the flavor has become in those cartos. They start tasting off to me just hours after I start using them when not in a tank.

 

[Strigoi]

The liquid you're using also plays a big part in how long a carto will last. Dark and sweet liquid will clog up a carto much quicker than a clear liquid will.

I also generally put aside a carto after it's had 20-30ml through it. I may go a little longer if I have it in a tank. I keep all my old ones and do a serious boil on them once I have 40+ saved up. If they're hard to blow through, still smell heavily of the liquid that was in them or have discolored filler they then get put in the garbage. I keep the ones that are still "decent" for liquids I don't like as much or that I only have a small amount of left. After they get used a second time I throw them away.

 

[Sfgiants85]

I have cartos that last me more than a month if i keep them wet and use clear ejuice. Dark juice reduce the life.

 

[Lt. Col. Killjoy]

I never chuck my cartos due to poor performance. They still put out good vapor. I just cant use them when the taste goes south, and that happens quickly for me.

 

[TheGoofyOne]

I think it depends on multiple factors. How thick (how much VG), what voltage, and how much fluid you vape. I personally get about 30 ml out of a carto, and sometimes up to 60, which for me, is less than a week.

 

[adl]

I think it depends on multiple factors. How thick (how much VG), what voltage, and how much fluid you vape. I personally get about 30 ml out of a carto, and sometimes up to 60, which for me, is less than a week.

That would be about the same amount of fluid I put through a carto but I only use about 1.5 to 2 ml a day. I noticed the older a carto is the faster it drains the battery, so as soon as I notice I have drained one battery while the previous one is still charging I retire the carto.

 

[G4sM4sk]

This has been an illuminating thread. Thankyou to all the responders and thankyou to the OP for asking.