Inkjet Printer Troubleshooting

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)

sduncan