Newbie questions about my volt-setup/leakage etc.

[VioletRenegade]

Hi, so my husband and I decided to try vaping since we're both tired of smoking, but haven't had luck quitting. I did a little research here over the weekend and we decided on Volts. We both got an X2 900 mAh, and I got a pack of Cartomizers, along with two bottles of juice (we only ended up with one, but the other is on the way, good customer service, at least). I watched the tutorials for filling the Cartomizers and went to work on them last night after our stuff arrived. Right out of the box I have two that leak no matter what I do. I've tried cleaning them to see if that helps, but no matter what, they leak from the top and bottom. Of the others, I'm having random leakage issues while vaping. Last night, I attributed it to forgetting to keep my volt horizontal or battery side up. I put a fresh cartomizer in this morning and hadn't had issues until I'd vaped about half of it. Now, I keep getting leakage. I'll vape and end up with juice in my mouth (good grief that stuff tastes nasty). So, does anyone have any ideas what I'm doing wrong? And, is there anything I can do to get the two 'duds' to work? We really wanted to use Clearomizers, but of course, the old ones are gone, and the new ones aren't for sale yet, so decided to start out with these instead. I really want to vape instead of going back to 'analogs', but if I can't get it to work right, I'm not sure I'll stick with it.

 

[Scutigera Coleoptrata]

Hi, so my husband and I decided to try vaping since we're both tired of smoking, but haven't had luck quitting. I did a little research here over the weekend and we decided on Volts. We both got an X2 900 mAh, and I got a pack of Cartomizers, along with two bottles of juice (we only ended up with one, but the other is on the way, good customer service, at least). I watched the tutorials for filling the Cartomizers and went to work on them last night after our stuff arrived. Right out of the box I have two that leak no matter what I do. I've tried cleaning them to see if that helps, but no matter what, they leak from the top and bottom. Of the others, I'm having random leakage issues while vaping. Last night, I attributed it to forgetting to keep my volt horizontal or battery side up. I put a fresh cartomizer in this morning and hadn't had issues until I'd vaped about half of it. Now, I keep getting leakage. I'll vape and end up with juice in my mouth (good grief that stuff tastes nasty). So, does anyone have any ideas what I'm doing wrong? And, is there anything I can do to get the two 'duds' to work? We really wanted to use Clearomizers, but of course, the old ones are gone, and the new ones aren't for sale yet, so decided to start out with these instead. I really want to vape instead of going back to 'analogs', but if I can't get it to work right, I'm not sure I'll stick with it.

I am almost one week free of analogs, but bought an overpriced SafeCig brand. Going to return it & have been looking at Volts. I will be watching this thread, as your problem concerns in regard to buying the Volt Kit.

 

[VioletRenegade]

Well, we didn't get one of the kits, bought each thing separately because that ended up being cheaper for us based on what we wanted. But, hopefully some old-timers will respond and we'll both get some insight.

 

[fourthrok]

Hi, so my husband and I decided to try vaping since we're both tired of smoking, but haven't had luck quitting. I did a little research here over the weekend and we decided on Volts. We both got an X2 900 mAh, and I got a pack of Cartomizers, along with two bottles of juice (we only ended up with one, but the other is on the way, good customer service, at least). I watched the tutorials for filling the Cartomizers and went to work on them last night after our stuff arrived. Right out of the box I have two that leak no matter what I do. I've tried cleaning them to see if that helps, but no matter what, they leak from the top and bottom. Of the others, I'm having random leakage issues while vaping. Last night, I attributed it to forgetting to keep my volt horizontal or battery side up. I put a fresh cartomizer in this morning and hadn't had issues until I'd vaped about half of it. Now, I keep getting leakage. I'll vape and end up with juice in my mouth (good grief that stuff tastes nasty). So, does anyone have any ideas what I'm doing wrong? And, is there anything I can do to get the two 'duds' to work? We really wanted to use Clearomizers, but of course, the old ones are gone, and the new ones aren't for sale yet, so decided to start out with these instead. I really want to vape instead of going back to 'analogs', but if I can't get it to work right, I'm not sure I'll stick with it.

I can't imagine why your cartomizers are leaking...unless you are just overfilling. Try the "condom" or "bootie" method. Fill one of the plastic cup things that came with the cartomizer (the one without the little plug in it) to about 3/4 full. Slowly push your cartomizer in with the threading down first and watch the top of the cartomizer (you will have removed the mouthpiece thing) The liquid will soak in...go slow. When you see the liquid up top of the batting stuff..stop. Remove the carto from the little cup thing and wipe down, then gently blow through the cartomizer to be sure the center tube is clear (I like to blow it back into the juice bottle to be less wasteful, but a tissue is fine.) Once you are sure the air is blowing through clear ...then wipe again and then you can vape. It should not leak, and whatever juice might still be in the little plastic cup thing can be squeezed back into your juice bottle. It's not as messy as it might sound...really! And it's much more efficient than dripping as you are sure the wick at the bottom of the carto is getting wet.

Good luck! I use Volt cartomizers all the time and don't have any troubles with them.

 

[VioletRenegade]

I can't imagine why your cartomizers are leaking...unless you are just overfilling. Try the "condom" or "bootie" method. Fill one of the plastic cup things that came with the cartomizer (the one without the little plug in it) to about 3/4 full. Slowly push your cartomizer in with the threading down first and watch the top of the cartomizer (you will have removed the mouthpiece thing) The liquid will soak in...go slow. When you see the liquid up top of the batting stuff..stop. Remove the carto from the little cup thing and wipe down, then gently blow through the cartomizer to be sure the center tube is clear (I like to blow it back into the juice bottle to be less wasteful, but a tissue is fine.) Once you are sure the air is blowing through clear ...then wipe again and then you can vape. It should not leak, and whatever juice might still be in the little plastic cup thing can be squeezed back into your juice bottle. It's not as messy as it might sound...really! And it's much more efficient than dripping as you are sure the wick at the bottom of the carto is getting wet.

Good luck! I use Volt cartomizers all the time and don't have any troubles with them.

Thanks for the response! I don't think that's the setup I'm using though. I don't have anything like what you're describing. Maybe I called it the wrong thing? This is what I'm using: Smokeless Image | Only The Best Electronic Cigarette | Volt CE3 Cartomizer - Bottom Coil - Refill Cartridges I will say I'm being careful not to overfill, so I don't think that is the problem.

 

[filter]

i dont have any experience with the ce3 but i fill their regular cartos and i've never once had a problem. i use the first method in their video Smokeless Image | Only The Best Electronic Cigarette | Refill Liquid and its perfect, can top em off whenever and never a problem. sorry i cant help with ce3. since their regular cartos are compatible with the X2, perhaps you should switch to them.

 

[Vapoor eyes er]

They are problematic with leaking. Don't know if you watched this one:


Also:
"I’ve been using CE3’s exclusively for the last 2 months and have had no problems with them.
The only thing that will cause the leaking is a loss of pressure.
1) Fill upside down
2) Fill it up completely. I fill to the bottom of the wicks just leaving a very small bubble of air
3) If you take it apart, make sure you put the top seal in correctly and right side up
4) Check the outer tube for any cracks
5) One of the most critical parts is poking through the fill hole the first time. If you destroyed its ability to reseal…it will leak.

The only times I’ve had leaking like you indicate is when I butchered the fill hole preventing a good seal and one that had fine stress cracks around where the base is inserted into the tube. All the other ones have worked great for about a month of daily refills with complete disassemblies for weekly cleanings."
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...f-full-then-leak-mr-outlaw-where-you-lol.html

 

[VioletRenegade]

i dont have any experience with the ce3 but i fill their regular cartos and i've never once had a problem. i use the first method in their video Smokeless Image | Only The Best Electronic Cigarette | Refill Liquid and its perfect, can top em off whenever and never a problem. sorry i cant help with ce3. since their regular cartos are compatible with the X2, perhaps you should switch to them.

I didn't realize there was another carto from Smokeless Image that you could refill. I thought the rest were just the prefilled ones. If the new Clearomizers don't come out soon and I keep having problems with these, I might have to look into that.

They are problematic with leaking. Don't know if you watched this one:
<video snip>

Also:
"I’ve been using CE3’s exclusively for the last 2 months and have had no problems with them.
The only thing that will cause the leaking is a loss of pressure.
1) Fill upside down
2) Fill it up completely. I fill to the bottom of the wicks just leaving a very small bubble of air
3) If you take it apart, make sure you put the top seal in correctly and right side up
4) Check the outer tube for any cracks
5) One of the most critical parts is poking through the fill hole the first time. If you destroyed its ability to reseal…it will leak.

The only times I’ve had leaking like you indicate is when I butchered the fill hole preventing a good seal and one that had fine stress cracks around where the base is inserted into the tube. All the other ones have worked great for about a month of daily refills with complete disassemblies for weekly cleanings."
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...f-full-then-leak-mr-outlaw-where-you-lol.html

There's a good chance that I might have committed the error of number 5 on the two cartomizers that are 'duds'. I'm still not sure why the one I've been using all day randomly leaks. I might take a couple puffs (is that what it's still called with vaping?) that are fine, and then the next one gets juice all over me and there's juice between the end cap and the top seal. I take the end cap off, wipe out the area above the seal, and usually it works fine again. At least, for a little while.

 

[filter]

I didn't realize there was another carto from Smokeless Image that you could refill. I thought the rest were just the prefilled ones.

yes their regular cartos are refillable. they sell blank ones to fill yourself or you can refill preloaded ones when they run out.

 

[Vapoor eyes er]

Although I've never used the CE3's I've read that they are very finnicky. I would either purchase the blank cartos or find an 808 clearomizer.

I didn't realize there was another carto from Smokeless Image that you could refill. I thought the rest were just the prefilled ones. If the new Clearomizers don't come out soon and I keep having problems with these, I might have to look into that.






There's a good chance that I might have committed the error of number 5 on the two cartomizers that are 'duds'. I'm still not sure why the one I've been using all day randomly leaks. I might take a couple puffs (is that what it's still called with vaping?) that are fine, and then the next one gets juice all over me and there's juice between the end cap and the top seal. I take the end cap off, wipe out the area above the seal, and usually it works fine again. At least, for a little while.

 

[Berylanna]

Another thing I found with the Phoenix's (which nobody calls cartomizers) AKA CE3's is that on most of them, a standard drip tip can stretch the top enough so that it leaks after that (too big to seal around the silicone seal) so I have to use the little end cap it came with.

And it seems better to add juice when they are about half-empty because air changes pressure more-easily than liquid.

I actually gave up on those and either use regular stainless-steel cartos in a Valley View Vapes tank, or else I use an 808/510 adaptor and a Mini Vivi Nova, but there are beginning to be threads questioning the safety of the Novas as shipped (wicks shred easily and are made of silica) so I'm going to rebuild mine, which is actually easy for an almost-beginner but the very idea would probably daunt a beginning vaper.

 

[VioletRenegade]

Yeah, I'm nowhere near ready to try modding or rebuilding anything. It's still like greek to me at this point. I wish Volt still had the clearomizers. I guess I'll try to make do with what we have and hope that the new ones come out soon. If not, I may have to get some of the regular carto blanks. I just really don't want to go back to analogs at this point.

 

[Berylanna]

Yeah, I'm nowhere near ready to try modding or rebuilding anything. It's still like greek to me at this point. I wish Volt still had the clearomizers. I guess I'll try to make do with what we have and hope that the new ones come out soon. If not, I may have to get some of the regular carto blanks. I just really don't want to go back to analogs at this point.

The CE3's are better than the Volt clearos, BUT the mini-Novas are really really good clearos. (They require an adapter for 808-battery to 510-connector.) I doubt they are actually dangerous, and I've been using them as-is for 2 months before deciding to learn to rebuild them. I just don't feel that I can recommend them wholeheartedly like I used to now that I've read the controversy. There are some folks working on finding out more, and others posting links to things you can buy to increase the safety if you're really paranoid. I'm still using them and in love with them. Most clearos use the same wicks anyway. I'd still recommend them to a friend.

(NOTE: we could only get the adapters to work with MANUAL batteries, not with automatics!)

But back to cartos:

If you like Smokeless Image's flavors, no reason to get blanks, just get stainless steel ones instead of black so you can vape them for now, learn to refill them in a few weeks, and learn to use them in tanks later.

They have an EASY video on refilling them, I got comfortable with it after one try. And their juices are pretty good (until you find some weird flavor out on the web that you fall in love with.) I'd say SI's 555 is my second-favorite flavor after Gandalf, so I got 555 cartos and you can refill them with SI's 555 juice. (Ideally, you'd just keep adding about 5 drops every time vapor production goes down, then a carto lasts a week instead of a few hours, as long as you keep them wet.)

(When they die, put them in a ziploc like I did for a couple of months until I got up the guts to clean them and use them in an advanced manner, like in a tank. ( 3ml Triple V Polypro Tank))