Inkjet Printer Troubleshooting

23rd September 2019

Inkjet printers are inexpensive but the cartridges dry out quickly and the cartriges are very expensive. To the point that sometimes it is cheaper to buy a new printer than replace the cartridges.

Diagnosing cartridges; put 1cm or 1/2 inch of hot water from your coffee maker in a disposable Tim Horton’s coffee cup. Warning i cannot vouch for the safety or effectiveness of using other cup brands, also purchasing Starbucks will undoubtedly cost more than replacing the cartridge. Put each cartridge, 1 at a time, nozzle down into clear hot water. 2 sides of the ink cartridge should have a brown plastic strip. The side with dots is the electrical contacts and the side with a wide line is the nozzle. If the black cartridge turns the water dark there is still ink in the cartridge; leave it in the hot water for 15min to dissolve any hard ink then re-install in the printer and run a cleaning cycle. The color cartridge should make the water a purple color, which is the combination of blue and red. if the water turns only blue or red you are likely out of a single color; replace the color cartridge. Otherwise leave the color cartridge in hot water for 15 minutes, then dry the cartridge with your Tim Horton’s napkin and re-install in printer. Run a printer cleaning cycle.

Recommendation 2: Keep children away from printers; they will print all sorts of non-sense and cost you lots of money.

Recommendation 3: Toss your ink jet and e-print everything at Staples (or wherever is closest)