How often to print to keep Epson injets nozzles clean?

justaquestion

Hi folks,

I have three Epson inkjets and try to use compatible ink as much as possible.

Overall I don't do a lot of printing. but like to have a few spare printers so that if I do need to print something important at least one. printer is working.

Got the printers on clearance, and just wondering as as to not let the nozzles get blocked how often do you think its wise to print a page, weekly or bi-weekly.

I take it printing a page like google home page is not enough maybe better to do one page of the home page of Yahoo.

Any advice appreciated.
Thanks

Heedtheadvice

I try to make sure I print with all colours at least once a month, no great amount, keep the printer on standby rather than off. Not had any problems so far, and uses less ink.

esuhl

It really depends on the printer. The last few Epsons I had got clogged up perpetually. I must've wasted more ink running the cleaning routines than actually printing anything. They definitely needed something printed out a few times a week. I've had much better luck with Canon inkjets.

It also depends on whether the print head is integrated into the cartridge. If it is, the cartridges are more expensive, but if it gets clogged you can just replace the cartridge.

Le_Kirk

Go to the maintenance page and print a test page or do a nozzle check. The nozzle check will use less ink and will show which, if any, of the colours need attention or a cleaning routine.

grumpycrab

Blimey - I thought I was bad at having spare kit lying around but 3 printers! "so that if I do need to print something important at least one. printer is working." To make it worse they'll all Epsons. This is not money saving.

debitcardmayhem

grumpycrab wrote: »

Blimey - I thought I was bad at having spare kit lying around but 3 printers! "so that if I do need to print something important at least one. printer is working." To make it worse they'll all Epsons. This is not money saving.

Possibly a mandarin from westminster that needs triplicate Just passing by:cool:

beardiedog

esuhl wrote: »

It really depends on the printer. The last few Epsons I had got clogged up perpetually. I must've wasted more ink running the cleaning routines than actually printing anything. They definitely needed something printed out a few times a week. I've had much better luck with Canon inkjets.

It also depends on whether the print head is integrated into the cartridge. If it is, the cartridges are more expensive, but if it gets clogged you can just replace the cartridge.

I had an Epson WF5620 which I used every day and the black clogged completely after 12 months and no amount of cleaning would clear it. After a lot of hassle with Epson over the use of compatibles they finally replaced the printer under the extended warranty.

So, I don't think it really matters, Epsons still clog no matter how much or little they're used. I won't be buying another one that's for sure.

chib

The problem isn't Epson, it'll happen with any inkjet printer. Unless printing often, an inkjet printer is a bad choice. Printing a colour page every now and then isn't enough and is wasting the ink.

My recommendation is a laser printer and unless you really need colour, a mono laser printer can be a much better investment.

I paid £120 for a Samsung Wireless Mono printer and it's been great. If I want to print photos, I'll take them to Asda on a USB stick.

Norman_Castle

I had an Epson which would always be clogged when needed. The cartridge was separate from the head so I would remove the cartridge and force water through the head with a syringe. This messy process took 30-40 minutes from start to finish. I've now got two laser printers. They can sit unused for months and will still print when needed.

A friends Epson would regularly have a single colour cartridge that had dried up. Because of this the printer refused to print anything, even mono. Thankfully that printer is now dead after having the on button pushed through the casing in frustration.

forgotmyname

I had an RX620 and used see though refillable cartridges ever since it was new. It stopped printing black a while back. But it saved me a fortune in ink.

I spent £30 on the ink carts and refill bottles and another £10 for a set og 6 refills. Thats it in about 10 years. And it printed a lot at times and sat idle for a long time sometimes. I had to use the service reset facility 2 or 3 times over its lifetime.

The newer models just appear to be cheap junk though. Mum had a 4440? and it failed within the warranty and the replacement always had ink blocking issues even with genuine ink.

It would have moments where it decided the genuine carts were fake. It was light and flimsy also.

esuhl

chib wrote: »

The problem isn't Epson, it'll happen with any inkjet printer.

Well, the Epsons I've had suffer from this problem much more than any of the Canons. I can leave the Canons for months and they print fine.

One Canon did eventually clog after several years and was uneconomical to repair, but with the Epsons, unclogging the nozzles was the bane of my life!

One Epson printer became clogged almost instantly and never produced acceptable output. I had to return it for a refund.

There must be hundreds of different models from Epson and Canon, so I've no idea whether my experience is typical, but the issue of clogged nozzles definitely affects some printers more than others.

The printer I have at the moment has the print head built in to the cartridge. This means that compatible cartridges cost about £6 instead of £1, but fixing a clogged nozzle is as simple as replacing the ink cartridge. Perfect for very occasional printing.