What's Your Technique For Cleaning Cartos?

[The Ocelot]

I don't think anyone said it couldn't be done, it's just that the results aren't worth the effort. e-liquid flavors are hard to get out of polyfill. I've never tried to clean one because I vape them until they're dead.

ETA: I highly recommend you don't use vinegar. The taste is next to impossible to get out.

 

[Knosis]

Probably pick up a cheap one from harbor freight. Maybe use vodka as the solution.

Yea, I would take out the poly first. My cartos suck with the poly in anyways.

 

[lightandmind]

I don't think anyone said it couldn't be done, it's just that the results aren't worth the effort.

I'd really just like to find a way to get better results. I already know how frustrating & unsuccessful it can be, (hence starting the thread), and have no need to read over 20 more reminders, lol.

Good call on the vinegar.

Yea, I would take out the poly first.

Does it even come out? And can be put back in somehow? And if so, is there somewhere to buy a huge bag of them? That would be awesome.

 

[bikerbeagle]

Cleaning Cartos? ...I don't. It's WAY too much time and effort for WAY too little reward.

 

[The Ocelot]

Perhaps you might find something useful in this. I haven't read it for awhile, so I can't promise anything. Keep in mind that this is an old page and some of the equipment discussed is probably not what you are using - specifically the type of coils in the cartos. If you haven't done so already, you might want to take one of your old cartos apart to get an idea of how the coil, "sock" (center tube) and filler fit together. It's fun too

Help Thread - Cartomizers, E-liquid, Cleaning, Tips & Troubleshooting - V2 Forum

ETA: I just skimmed the page over. It's older than I thought and geared toward the cig-a-like cartridge/cartos available at the time. I don't know if much of anything will be useful to you, except perhaps for the reverse Taryn Spin.

 

[panther2469]

My friend uses the milk steamer on his Cappuccino machine

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2

 

[Ryedan]

I'd rather go back to using rebuildables than drop the equivalent of a car insurance payment every month.

I have never done it, but if I wanted to try and clean my cartos I would try this type of system:



I would clean them with hot water only, way before I had to so they did not get too gunked up which is what kills them. I would probably clean one after about 5 ml through it. With three in rotation you will have a dry one ready to go each time you need to clean one.

I'm pretty sure I could rig up something to try this with using something like a turkey baster. The condoms that come on cartos could be used to connect things up.

Then again, when I read what you wrote in the quote above, I thought there is nothing cheaper than using a dripping atty with cotton wick. I've got that setup in a Vmod XL bottom feeder with a modified IGO-L running micro coils. I've got 75 feet of Kanthal that cost me about $10 delivered and enough cotton balls to last me most of my lifetime I think for a few bucks. The Kanthal will easily last me three years. Figure around $5 a year if I waste a lot of coils. In the great scheme of things that is about as close to free as it gets. And the vape is superb.

Best of luck with it

 

[pfaber11]

I take out the Polly fill put the cartomizers in a sauce pan with a couple of strerident and bring to the boil then simmer for five minutes or so,then rinse with cold water a few times . let dry and job done. then use them for dripping.

 

[RoseB]

I've cleaned a lot of cartos. Mostly because I was in a pinch. Boil them. I prefer to put the cartos in a bowl, then pour boiling water over them. After the water cools, drain it and fill again. Boiling on the stove is hard on cartomizer stuffing. That's why I started soaking in the bowl. After the second soak run each one under hot tap water. Set the cartos on a cookie sheet. Put them in the oven but only on the lowest keep food warm setting.
In the past I've tried soaking them in booze ect. You really can't get the flavors out. This method has has the best outcome. They still have left over flavor though.

 

[awsum140]

Whether you want to stay with the same flavor or not, there is, truly, no safe, effective, way to clean a carto or any other delivery device short of a dry burn or rebuilding the coil over new wick. You really don't want to dry burn a carto, the poly fill will taste like crap once it's burnt. You could, I guess, take it apart, rebuild the coil/wick and stuff new poly fill into it, but that takes time and patience.

The problem is that, eventually, any coil becomes coated with a polymer like deposit that is a result of the carbon atoms in the PG, VG and flavors combining with the oxygen atoms also in them. It will build up much more quickly with sweeter flavors simply because there is more carbon in sweet flavors. The deposits are a pretty tough polymer and I seriously doubt that even an ultrasonic cleaner could break them up and any chemical strong enough to do the job is something you wouldn't want to inhale. Just for a laugh, I've tried lacquer thinner, paint thinner, acetone and brake cleaner. None of them touched that gunk on the coils so what it would actually take is a question I can't answer.

The bottom line is that compared to cigarettes, cartos are pretty inexpensive and can be discarded when their output or flavor drop off.

(To be read at double speed)
Just my opinion, worth what you're paying for it. Your results and mileage may vary. No warranty or guaranty is expressed or implied. Proceed at you own risk. I am not a chemist or physicist and do not play one on TV. The end user accepts all liabilities and hold the original poster totally harmless.

 

[Knosis]

awsum150 - I was rebuilding PT coils for a while. I figured after spending 30 mins cleaning the coil and re-wicking it. I just bought 2 more coils.

I still do it though because I like cotton wicks better than what they come with. I can get a lot better wicking and taste imo with cotton.

Ocelot - I was gonna suggest vinegar. I'm glad you said that. I use it on my coffee maker and it takes like 2 or 3 pots to get the vinegar taste out.




I use KR808 cartos. The fill does come out but it can be tricky. I saw a good you-tube video of a guy taking apart a bunch of different cartos. - KR808D-1 Cartomizers Explained - YouTube

I tried taking out all the fill and my carto leaked. If I left it all in the vapor tasted burnt. For me I found if I take about half the fill out it comes out pretty nice. I can sort of use it as a drip.

 

[awsum140]

Again, the cost of a carto versus the time involved to rebuild and, in your case, reducing the capacity significantly, is it really worth it? I'm cheap, too, and rebuild T3s and Protanks all the time. I've been fooling with CE3 rebuilds as well, but the results just aren't up to snuff. Given their cost, they are now becoming throw-aways to me, just like a carto.

If someone comes up with a method for removing the buildup from a coil, besides a dry burn, I'd love to hear it and see it actually work. I also went the denture cleaner route, soaking in Everclear for weeks on end and even picking at it with a dental pick. None of it is effective, at least in my experience. The gunk killing a coil is just part of vaping life.

 

[Knosis]

Again, the cost of a carto versus the time involved to rebuild and, in your case, reducing the capacity significantly, is it really worth it? I'm cheap, too, and rebuild T3s and Protanks all the time. I've been fooling with CE3 rebuilds as well, but the results just aren't up to snuff. Given their cost, they are now becoming throw-aways to me, just like a carto.

I someone comes up with a method for removing the buildup from a coil, besides a dry burn, I'd love to hear it and see it actually work. I also went the denture cleaner route, soaking in Everclear for weeks on end and even picking at it with a dental pick. None of it is effective, at least in my experience. The gunk killing a coil is just part of vaping life.

I would have to agree on the coils. The only way I know is a dry burn with a torch, but it needs to be completely disassembled and its time consuming to put back together. I do like the cotton wicks better in the PT coils though. Ultrasonic may work, but might need an industrial one. I have seen them remove some pretty nasty stuff.

 

[CommaHolly]

Where are you guys getting cartos for a dollar? I'm really loving the Ikenvape Fusions right now, but just can't seem to rationalize dropping $20 on just cartos every month.

Revolution Vapor,,,,,,,,,,,if I buy 2 packs of 20 blanks, it's 40.00, free shipping,,,,,,,,,love their cartos too. And their service is wonderful.

but they are 808 cartos, so I just use an 808 to 510 adapter.

 

[lightandmind]

Some great posts here guys, thanks! Anywhere selling the Poly fills in bulk? Would they be interchangeable somehow?

 

[Knosis]

I get mine from The Electronic Cigarette Super Store | myvaporstore.com

$7.25 for 5. Flavored or empty.

 

[cocoloco]

I've been vaping for almost two years. My wife has also. She likes pre-filled cartos and I like to re-fill those using a juice of my choice. I keep all of her spent cartos (I have about 500 of them). When they go out, I throw them away after keeping the end caps.

I keep a set of 30 cartos out at a time for my use. After I've gone through 3 or 4 re-fills of those 30 (about a month), I change them out with another set of cleaned cartos I have stored. It has been my experience that 2 or 3 cartos get thrown out monthly, for whatever reason.

I clean all of the cartos I am using every week. Here's how I do it:

1. I soak all my cartos in plain water after I have taken the caps off an exposed the felt material. Sometimes I soak for days, sometimes only hours.

2. I then put a carto in a baster threaded-end down. I squirt two basters-worth of hot water though the carto.

3. I then collect all of my cleaned cartos and place them on a perforated pizza baking dish (got it from my neighborhood Dominoes). I place this in the oven, set the temp to 200 degrees using the convection setting, and let them dry there for 3 or 4 hours.

When the oven dings, they're dry and ready for either storing or re-filling.

I don't really know why I rotate cartos, but I suppose it's because I want them to last a long time. Like I said, I lose maybe 2 or 3 cartos a month and my wife's spent cartos keep upping my stock. I guess it's just habit and it gives me something to do on Saturdays.

 

[Vwls]

So nobody's ever tried using Vinegar, Salt, Baking Soda or Vodka on here?

What safe substance is capable of neutralizing Propylene Glycol and/or Vegetable Glycerin?

Wishing I were up to par on my chemistry skills.

It's not that there aren't substances that can wash the juice away - it's that the process of doing so compromises the poly-fill material. They are made to be tossed after use... Strangely though, I can get a month of use out of some before they have to be eulogized. Others only last me a few days.

 

[90quattrocoupe]

You can get 510 cartos here for about a $1 a piece shipped. I punch or slot my own. I get a little over a week out of them.

http://www.vaporphoenix.com/Boge-Cartomizers-Mix-and-Match-5-Pack-Deal_p_45.html

A pack of cigs is 5 to 6 dollars.

At $1 a week for a carto. I am sure you can afford that.

Rotating 3 juices, maybe $3 a week. I'm sorry, that is cheap.

That is a 1/2 pack of cigs a week. Less than 2 a day. If you smoked that few cigs a week, then you should just quit and not worry about vaping.

Greg W.

 

[The Ocelot]

Some great posts here guys, thanks! Anywhere selling the Poly fills in bulk? Would they be interchangeable somehow?

I haven't read anywhere what exactly the batting is made of. It's probably out there somewhere, but I haven't found it. I know it's not the same polyfill that's sold in bag for making stuffed animals and such, I have a lot of that and it's different. It might work, but it might scorch at a lower temperature. In a regular carto one of the legs runs through the batting, but I don't know how hot it gets, if at all. The actual coil (the part that glows) is inside of a "sock" that keeps it from touching the batting. As I suggested before, you might want to take a dead one apart to get a better idea of what's inside.

Back when we used the empty cartridge/atty set-up, this was the kind of material we used in the cartridges, so it might work.

myPVshop Electronic Cigarettes - Electronic Cigarette Accessories

Just to clarify a prior post, do not try to dry burn a cart. You will not like the results.