Questions about cleaning/refilling cartos

[Heero]

First off I just wanted to say I really enjoy my VaporKing. I started off with a 510 which was great but the novelty wore off after not being able to find a good filler method and having to drip so often. The flavor on the vk is great and very consistent. So I’ve refilled about 3 cartos so far. Two of them were fine but on the 3rd one for some reason while washing them out the draw became fairly hard and it doesn’t produce much vapor. Before I cleaned it the carto worked fine. I ran water through it and blew out the water to try and clean it, and since it had a hard draw I disassembled it and inserted a small long piece of plastic through the middle of it to clear out anything that might have gotten stuck. I was just wondering if there was anything else I could do to save it. Sorry about the long post, and thanks for your help.

 

[Tasselhoff]

Heero; It sounds like you have done just about everything.You might see if you can find an 1/8 in pop rivet to use in the center hole. It's perfect for centering the hole and pushing the wire back against the wicking material. I have found this to help sometimes. If that doesn't help it's dead. Remember they are disposable. Good Luck and Enjoy!!!

 

[Taryn]

Some things to double check before giving up on your carto, could it be the battery that needs cleaning? Sometimes those pinholes get clogged and cause it to be hard to draw. Remember that how you tighten down the carto has a big effect on the draw, can you try not tightening it down so hard or lining it up better (carto side vents with pin holes below threads on the battery). If any part of the label is covering the vent holes in the bottom of the carto that also makes for a difficult draw and should be trimmed away. Is it possible this carto was overfilled, making a gurgling sound and producing very little vapor, try giving it a short sharp blow through the mouth end into a paper towel. Last off can you see light through the center, possible blockage that you might have missed.

I've never had a carto that I haven't been able to refill at least a few times but yes they are meant to be disposable but it could happen. I assume since you are getting some vapor the little built in atty is firing up yet. Perhaps this one got vaped down past when it was done and melted the batting.

Keep us updated!

 

[Heero]

Well the battery works fine on other cartos and I’ve even tried it with no battery attached comparing it to another one of my refilled cartos and it just seems to be harder to draw on. The way I washed it was by running water through it then blowing the water out and repeating that a few times until the water that was coming out wasn’t brownish (from the previous liquid). During that time I noticed it got harder to blow out the water. Maybe I blew too hard? Oh one thing I noticed as I was typing this is not all the holes on the battery will align with the indentations on the carto. Thats kind of weird. Actually none of the three cartos I have fully align with any of the batteries but the others work fine. Oh well at least it worked well with its first flavor. I guess next time I wont blow as hard =)

 

[Taryn]

They will not fully align, it makes for a more adjustable draw. I'm wondering if something jammed up inside. I wash them the same way and am not gentle when blowing the water out. Wish I could be of more help.