It seems without fail, everytime I get a new ink cartridge, it dries out before it's even half used! Fix?

Question

Practically every cartridge I've ever gotten for this printer winds up dried out, and printing with a lot of breaks in the lines, etc. HOW do I stop them from drying out? Those cartridges ain't cheap!!

I probably should mention I don't have occasion to print very often.

Answer 1

I think you must try the process called Priming. Your Cartridges gets clogged because you don't use them often. You can read about it at http://www.ask4ink.com/faqs.asp
And if still you face problem then you can buy New Compatible Ink cartridges or Re-fill kits for your printer from the same site i.e http://www.ask4ink.com
I must also mention that its the coolest place online to buy Ink.

Answer 2

I've had this problem too. I read that you should always turn your printer off when it's not in use. By using the power switch in some printers, it makes the ink park itself so that the print heads are protected. If it's not parked, it can get air & dry out. I don't know if that'll help for you but it's worth a shot. Also, when I had a new one that dried out quickly I called the printer company (HP) & they told me to wet a paper towel with warm water & squeeze almost all of the water out. Get it as dry as you can, then hold the cartridge on it where the ink comes out of it, not on the contacts. Let it sit there a minute & don't wipe it, just blot it off & try to print again & see if that loosened things up. Sometimes it gets dry on the end but it still has ink inside. Hope you get it figured out.

Answer 3

I used to have this same problem. If the printer sits too long, then the ink won't work, then I would have to print about 20 test pages to get the ink flowing again. I learned all you have to do, is take the inkjet out of the machine when it does this, and run the print head (bottom of inkjet) under hot water, then shake it a little (over sink or garbage), then pat the inkjet dry. Then put back in the machine and print a test page, to make sure it is working.

Answer 4

Prevention is to turn it off or put the printer on stand by. Other than that you can always buy newer printers, since they do have cooling/moving systems that actually ensure the ink is still a liquid. It's pretty nice, but can become bothersome (noise). If you have dry cartridges, you can get a bucket/pool/etc. of WD-40 and dump those cartridges in there, until it becomes reusable again. I heard water works, but I'm not sure on that one.

Answer 5

You should print something at least once a week. I created a file with a few lines of black, red, yellow and blue text. Then, print it once a week just to keep the nozzles unclogged. It probably wouldn't hurt if you went into the printer's maintenance and cleaned the print heads and nozzles regularly.

I know ink is obscenely expensive. They practically give you the printer, then get you on the ink.

Answer 6

Just buy your cartdridge from the company where you bought your computer. Sometimes using other brands not designed specially for the computer causes this problem. They will tell you at other stores the ink works for your computer just to make a sale. They did it to me until I learned better. So bring the cardridge back and get a refund and purchase somewhere else.