Over the past few years, it’s obvious that pre-filled and refillable vape cartridges have taken over a major segment of the vaping industry. If you’re a lover of herbal extracts, there’s a good chance that most of your vaping experiences involve vape carts as well because they’re so much more user-friendly than dried herbs.
With vape carts and oil-based herbal extracts, there’s nothing to store, nothing to grind, and nothing to clean. There’s also no need to worry about controlling smells that might annoy your neighbors. Whenever you want to vape, your device is right there – all that you need to do is puff on it.
As easy as vape cartridges are to use, though, they can also be a little problematic when they don’t work as expected because they’re such simple devices. When a vape cart doesn’t work, it can be a little difficult for you to figure out what to do because there doesn’t appear to be much for you to troubleshoot.
So, do you have a vape cart that isn’t working? If that’s the case, this is the guide for you. As you’re about to learn, there are actually more troubleshooting steps available to you than you might realize. Here’s what you can do to fix a vape cart that doesn’t work.
Isolate the Root of the Problem
If you have a vape cartridge that isn’t working, the first thing that you should do is isolate the root of the problem if you can. That way, you’ll know whether you’re troubleshooting the cartridge or the vaping device itself. The easiest way to do that is by replacing the cartridge.
If you try another cartridge – and the second one works – you know that the first cartridge has an issue. If neither cartridge works, you know that the vaping device has a problem. Once you understand the root of the issue, you can choose the appropriate troubleshooting steps from this list.
The first troubleshooting step in this guide involves both the cartridge and the device.
Clean Your Vaping Device and Cartridge
The first thing you need to understand about using a vape cartridge is that the cartridge can only work if it has a solid physical connection to the device. A vape cartridge has a pin in the center of its threading, and the device has a pin in its threading as well.
The two pins have to touch, or the cartridge won’t work. It’s fairly common for oil to leak from the bottom of a vape cartridge. When that happens, it can contaminate the male and female sides of the threading and prevent the device and the cartridge from working.
Thankfully, it’s very easy to remove vape oil with some cotton swabs and a little rubbing alcohol. Just dip a swab in alcohol and blot it until most of the liquid is gone. Insert the swab into your device’s threading and twist it to dissolve the vape oil.
Replace the dirty swab with a fresh one and repeat the process until the swab comes out clean. Do the same thing with the cartridge’s threading and dry both threads completely before you try to vape again.
To ensure that the cartridge’s pin touches the pin in your device’s threading, screw the cartridge in tightly – but don’t over-tighten it because that could cause the cartridge to crack and leak.
Try a Different Brand of Vape Cartridge
There are probably dozens of different factories making empty vape cartridges today, and those cartridges range in quality from rock-solid reliable to outright knockoffs. Makers of pre-filled cartridges source their empty cartridges from those factories and fill them before selling them to you – which means that unless you’re buying empty cartridges and filling them yourself, you really have no idea where a given cartridge comes from.
If you want to buy top-quality empty vape carts, you need to go to a reliable seller like Rokin Vapes – and if you consistently have back luck with a given brand of pre-filled cartridges, you should consider trying another brand. The best brands test their cartridges before filling them to ensure that you won’t end up with a dud.
Charge Your Vaping Device
One of the most common reasons why a vape cartridge doesn’t work is that it’s connected to a device that isn’t charged. Unsurprisingly, your vape device won’t work if the battery is dead – and if the battery is completely dead, the device might not even blink or display an error message. Thankfully, that situation is easily rectified by charging your device.
When you connect a vape device to power, the screen or indicator light will usually turn on to let you know that the charging process has begun. If that doesn’t happen, that’s the issue you should troubleshoot. Make sure that your device’s charging port is clean and try a different USB cable if one is available.
Turn Your Vaping Device On
If your vaping device has a manual fire button, another reason why a vape cartridge might not work is that the device is turned off. Some very simple vaping devices won’t even give you an indication of a problem if you try vaping when the device is turned off – it just won’t do anything at all. In most cases, pressing the device’s fire button five times turns it on or off. If your vape cartridge isn’t working because the device is off, that’ll resolve the issue immediately.
Check for an Error Message or Blink Code
If you have a vape cartridge that isn’t working, you can often check your device for some clue as to what the problem is. If your device has a screen, it might display an error message like “Atomizer Short” or “Battery Low.”
If it doesn’t have a screen, the indicator light might blink when you puff on the device or press the fire button. In either case, the error message or blink code will give you an idea of what you should troubleshoot. If you’re not sure what the message or code means, check your device’s instruction manual for more information.