What's Your Technique For Cleaning Cartos?

[Evi|grin]

All of this is just a hypothetical question for me but i find it interesting. Someday i may find it useful instead of getting gouged by a local B&M if i run out or if i get too many duds. If cleaning one gets me by until i can get more at a reasonable price, then it has some benefit. The closest B&M charges $3each and only carries the smok DCs in 1.5ohm. My preferred local B&M for cartos has a better selection but its a good drive and it was not convenient last nite.

I have one that just got a bit too tight for me but was still vaping "ok". I guess i will try and clean it just out of curiosity. I got a couple new ones to tide me over until i can stock up and get a punch to try.

 

[dale1962]

I have for years been using isopropyl alcohol 70% to clean my cartos and have had good results.Now I mainly only use tobacco flavors and these probably don't gunk up your coils as badly as real sweet flavors.First as much of u know cant bring back a burnt carto,but one that has been used properly I 90% of the time bring back to life.

I save alot of cartos before I ever clean them but what I do is before retiring one to the save bin I wash out with hot water blow out then throw the condoms on them till ready for cleaning.Once ready to clean them all I first run some hot water in a tupperware bowl and let them soak for days agitating then blow each one out and pour the rubbing alcohol in tubberware bowl and dump all the carts in there.Again let them soak in that for days(here again agitating),after that back into hot tab water blow them out and during summer let them sit in the heat till dry which does'nt take long or winter just air dry.I'm never in a big hurry for them always have plenty of hardware available.

Alot of them are like brand new,some are decent those go to my wife .This is the best and easiest way for me to get the gunk of those coils...

 

[Racehorse]

I've noticed the batting, when no longer new, after it has held ejuice and then of course water if you are cleaning and then drying it (i used the stove on WARM) is just not very absorbent anymore. And the taste is no longer very clean or fresh.

I tried both hot water baths as well as boiling.

I just toss them now. My time is more valuable and at $2.00 I"m not gonna spend the time to clean cartos.

depending on how the battng sits on the coil though, I've taken out the batting on some brands and use as a dripper to test new juices. The coils still work fine.

 

[dale1962]

I get u racehorse believe me I'm not spending much time with cleaning carts maybe twice a year...only reason I do it that much is have a wife thats been vaping for about as long as me and still burns up carts quickly.I mean she doesn't take care of her stuff and then expects me to fix it for her or give her a new carto,so until she takes the time to try to take care of her new carts, or coilheads I always just give her cleaned ones from the ones I used or dryburned heads.Because after she gets a hold of them no cleaning will bring the ones she used back .

I try to tell her this isn't just like lighting a cig there is a little effort(mantinence) to it.You would think the health rewards from vaping vs smoking would make her try harder but after 4 yrs if she hasn't already probably never will..In the meantime she'll use my old cleaned carts and older batts and mods never give her something new.I will throw her a new carto or clearo once every blue moon

 

[K_Tech]

I have a Glad storage container (Pint sized) that has 100-proof bottom shelf vodka in it. I toss my cartomizers in there until there's enough for me to bother boiling, then I boil them two to three times (until the boiling water looks normal and there's no smell), then let them air dry with a bit of paper towel stuffed in the end. Saw the technique in a Pbusardo video, and it works for me.

I've gone through quite a few cartomizers in my short time vaping because I'll put juice in them first to see if it's worth putting into a tank.

 

[Evi|grin]

Well i tried one i soaked for 48hrs in PGA, then a hot water flush and then hydrogen peroxide soak/flush. Then a final rinse in PGA.

Draw is still too tight and flavor is lackluster at best. I can only assume part of the problem FOR ME is the juice i had in that carto. It was a pretty sweet desert 40PG/60VG juice and its just hard on a carto IMO. Its possible that cleaning may work if you don't wait until they get really tight or use a different juice but this one was a waste of time IMO.

 

[ardvaark]

Believe me, if there was a way to effectively clean and reuse cartos, I would have done it. Several insurmountable problems exist for us unfortunately. Crust build-up on coils, even if you could dissolve it or break it up, you can't get the particles out. Collapsed diaper, burned diaper, narrowing of the airway, etc..Yes, the cartomizer is quite an ingenious device, too bad it is by nature disposable in all respects. Now if someone invented a cheap and easily rebuildable carto, you'd be an overnight multi-millionaire! Its very possible and probably coming down the pike at some point. Any investors want to talk? I have some ideas..

Peter