What Can You Do If The Print Cartridge Has Dried Out?

Open "printer settings" on your computer or laptop and search for the "clean print head" option.

This new news 1. Find a bathroom close by that has a sink that can give you hot water. The closer the better 2. Place some old newspapers or paper towels in the counter of the sink. We don't want ink everywhere. 3. Make sure your printer is plugged in and your computer has the printer drivers installed. When the print cartridge has dried up, one option to solve the problem is to activate automatic print head cleaning. Open "printer settings" on your computer or laptop and search for the "clean print head" option. The description of this option may vary depending on the printer model. Info What Can You Do If The Print Cartridge Has Dried Out? and about Open "printer settings" on your computer or laptop and search for the "clean print head" option..

What Causes ink to dry up · Infrequent use · Cartridges have expired · Manually refilling cartridges · Stored near radiators or in warm rooms.

More info What Can You Do If The Print Cartridge Has Dried Out? These almost never dry out because the system keeps them sealed. Usually you will find these in printers with four or more cartridges; three separate colors and one black (aka CMYK). If you have a sponge or open head cartridge, and you already did the other methods to no avail, your cartridge is dead. This often happens if you've not used your printer for a long time, as the stationary ink has time to dry out in the nozzle. It's important to use your printer semi-regularly to try and avoid this. and that You need to know, What Causes ink to dry up · Infrequent use · Cartridges have expired · Manually refilling cartridges · Stored near radiators or in warm rooms..

This often happens if you've not used your printer for a long time, as the stationary ink has time to dry out in the nozzle.

Furthermore When you urgently require the use of your printer but the ink cartridge has dried up for an unforeseen reason, it can be extremely frustrating. There can be a vast number of reasons for why your ink cartridges are failing on you at the crucial times you need them, but some of these issues are more prominent than others. Inkjet cartridges don't come cheap and I have an inkjet printer by Canon I use on occasions. Sometimes it goes unused for months at a time and when I need it most, I only find that the ink cartridge has dried out or is completely clogged. If I'm lucky, cleaning the inkjet cartridge head works, that's the fact What Can You Do If The Print Cartridge Has Dried Out? This often happens if you've not used your printer for a long time, as the stationary ink has time to dry out in the nozzle..

Your printer cartridge is only a few weeks old and yet your printer only ejects a white or patchy sheet of paper?

Then it seems reasonable to assume that you have not used your inkjet printer for a long period of time because of vacation, illness or other reasons. The result: The print head of the printer cartridge has dried out and the printouts remain white or have gaps. This phenomenon is very common in inkjet printers . Depending on the model, some printers may have a dried-up cartridge sooner and other printers may have a dried-up cartridge when the printer is not in use.

This article gives you tips on what to do if your print cartridge has dried out and also presents some tricks you can use to prevent your print cartridge from drying out at all in the future.

If the printer cartridge has dried out, there are several steps you can take to ensure that you are still able to use it.

Printer cartridge dried up - what now?

Like most owners of inkjet printers, you are probably familiar with the problem:  You rarely use your printer, but if you then want to quickly print out something important, the printout shows horizontal, white stripes or the paper even remains completely white .

You have already guessed what that means: The print head of the printer cartridge has dried up again . This is especially annoying if you recently bought your cartridges and they are almost full. But you don't have.

Automatic cleaning by the printer

Most inkjet printers come with their own printer software that enables maintenance of the device. Call up the program on your PC and look for key points such as nozzle cleaning or printhead cleaning. This is offered by almost all printer programs. If you have a printer for which there is no special software, you can carry out maintenance via the control panel of your computer. Find your printer in the list of installed devices and open the Maintenance menu item. Here you have the option of performing normal cleaning or intensive cleaning .

Before you carry out manual cleaning, it is essential that you use all of the automatic cleaning programs. If you notice after cleaning that the quality of the printout has already improved, it makes sense to carry out certain cleaning steps several times. Note, however, that such cleaning programs use a lot of ink. The automatic process is only worthwhile if your printer cartridge still contains sufficient ink. After all, it would be annoying if the cleaning was successful and then you could only print a few pages before the print cartridge was empty. If you do not achieve any success with the automatic cleaning of your printer, then you only have to clean the printer cartridge manually.Clean the dried out printer cartridge manually with a cloth


The first step in manual cleaning is to clean the dried out printer cartridge with a damp cloth or cotton swab . To do this, remove the printer cartridge from your device, dampen a lint-free cloth or cotton swab and very carefully clean the underside of the cartridge at the point where the nozzles are . Always use warm water and avoid using detergents. Then reinstall the print cartridge and print a test page.

The printout is still incorrect? Then you have to bring out heavier artillery. Buy at the pharmacy rubbing alcoholand soak a kitchen towel generously in it. Then place the cloth in a shallow bowl. Then remove your printer cartridge again and place it on the kitchen towel overnight so that the nozzles are in direct contact with the damp cloth. You can reinsert the cartridge the next morning. Now run an automatic nozzle cleaning and print a test image to find out if your cleaning with alcohol was successful. 

Manual cleaning with a warm water bath


Your printer is still printing blank pages because the print cartridge has dried out? Then you can do a cleaning in a warm water bath .
You have two options for this:

Option 1

  • First, you should put your printer cartridge in a waterproof plastic bag (such as a plastic bag ). Then let a water bath at about 60 degrees hot water into the sink and place the packaged print cartridge completely into it. Wait about five minutes , remove the print cartridge, and test to see if this method worked.


If this is not the case, it is time for the second variant:

variant 2

  • Fill a shallow bowl with warm water about 60 degrees again and this time place the cartridge with the underside on which the nozzles are located directly in the water bath. After about half a minute , the dried color of the print head should have dissolved. You must then carefully dry the printer cartridge with a clean, lint-free cloth
    . Do another test print and check for streaks on the printout.

Professional tricks for technology savvy


If none of the previous tips worked for you, the nozzles on your printer cartridges are obviously really stubbornly clogged. But even then, there are still two professional tips that you can try out if the printer cartridge has dried up:

  • The first method is an ultrasonic bath . This cleans almost all printer cartridges, even if they are very dry. To do this, you need an ultrasonic cleaner, which you can buy from electronics retailers for around 30 euros. This variant is therefore only recommended to save very expensive, dried-up printer cartridges.

If you're tech savvy, you have one more option:

  • You can use a tin suction pump , also known as a desoldering pump among specialists, to loosen the clogging of the pressure nozzles. Such pumps can also be found in electronics stores for a few euros.

What if nothing helps?

If none of the suggested methods helped you to rescue the dried out printer cartridge, then the only thing left to do is to dispose of the cartridge . In this case, you will need to buy a new printer cartridge. In addition to the original cartridges , compatible printer cartridges from third-party manufacturers are also available at low prices in the TonerPartner printer cartridge shop . The price comparison between original and compatible printer cartridges is worthwhile!

Tricks to prevent printer cartridges from drying out


To prevent printer cartridges from drying out, simply consider the following tips:

  • In general, you should always leave the printer in its idle position when you switch it off . You can do this by switching off the printer directly on the device instead of simply pulling the power plug. This moves the printer cartridges into a rest position that prevents them from drying out.

  • Especially if you are not going to use the printer for a long time , you should print out a test page once every two to three weeks so that the nozzles can be used and prevent drying out. Are you afraid that you might forget about it? Then simply set up a reminder on your PC or smartphone.

  • If you are absent for a longer period of time due to vacation, a business trip or for other reasons and therefore do not have the opportunity to regularly print out a test page, you can still protect your printer cartridge from drying out .

  • Simply remove your print cartridge, wrap it in cling film, and store the wrapped print cartridge in a sheltered, cool place.

  • If you don't have cling film on hand, you can also protect your cartridge by carefully covering the nozzles with tape . Even then, you should choose a cool, sun-protected place to store the printer cartridge.

  • Alternatively, you can also find out whether there are special storage boxes for your type of printer cartridge . Such boxes are also well suited for storing the removed cartridges and protecting them from drying out.

Source: https://www.tonerpartner.de/druckerpatrone-eingetrocknet

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