There are more homes in the UK that have printers than those that don't - fact - but many people experience problems with their printer due to one common fault: they don't use them enough.
This article will, hopefully, give you tips to protect your printer from blocking up (the most common printer fault) and increasing the lifespan of your printer and get the best out of your printer cartridges.
Inkjet printers have many moving parts - after all, they are machines - and like any machine, if you constantly use it, you will experience considerably less problems than you would if you do not use it very often. Basically this is due to the print heads being open and the ink drying up and clogging your printer.
The following tips can help prolong the life of your printer and printer cartridges:
1. The best way to get the best out of your printers and your printer cartridges is to write a document using the following colours: red, pink, dark blue, light blue, yellow, green and black. Make a habit of printing this document every fortnight or so in order to lubricate the printer heads and eliminating the likelihood of a blockage occurring.
2. This may not sound very eco friendly but a printer will run more efficiently and is less likely to experience difficulties if it is left switched on all of the time. When on standby, a printer uses very little energy, but will keep the print heads closed, which in turn eliminates the air drying up the printer cartridges and lowering the chances of a blockage.
3. Utilise your printer's print head cleaning cycle. If you're sure your printer cartridges are full, yet one or more colours are not printing correctly, then read through your printer manual and run the print head cleaning cycle. If this does not correct the problem first time, perceive by running the cycle a few more times and the blockage will clear, with all colours restored. It is best to run a cleaning cycle monthly.
4. Always use the on/off switch when turning your computer off as switching the mains socket off can damage a printer's electronics.
5. Only remove a cartridge from your printer when you are ready to replace it, otherwise leaving the printer cartridges cradle empty can cause problems.
6. Use your printer regularly. Even if you don't need to use it, make sure you run a test print weekly to keep it running and stop any parts from seizing or clogging.
7. Low quality paper can cause paper jams so be aware if using the cheaper stuff.
8. When installing printer cartridges occasionally you can encounter difficulties. If your new cartridge doesn't work straight away try the following. Put a couple of small drops of white spirit or nail polish remover on a tissue and wipe the micro electric copper strip, leave it to dry then put it back into the printer. This can clear a blocking.
9. If you're printer cartridges are not printing correctly, remove the cartridges and stand in a small bowl of warm water for 30 minutes. This can loosen any dried up ink. Wipe the print head with a cloth or tissue and re install the printer cartridges.
10. Always bear in mind that printing images or photos uses up much more ink than printing a text document, so in order to use your printer cartridges efficiently, monitor your colour printing.
Author Resource:-
Shaun Parker is a computer engineer with many years of experience in the printer components industry. Find out more about printer cartridges at http://www.inksave.co.uk
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