All Dried Up! Remedies to Make Ink Printer Cartridges Usable Again
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Loading ...One of the most common problems faced by inkjet printer users is the drying up of the liquid ink in the printer cartridge ink tanks. Not only would this cause printer nozzle to clog up, but would allow you to print lesser amount of pages. This is because when a printer tries to clean a clogged up nozzle, it would require a substantial amount of ink to unclog this.
Why Do Ink Printer Cartridges Dry Up?
There are many causes for ink printer cartridges to dry up prematurely. Some of these reasons include:
- Long shelf life. If you carefully examine your printer cartridge box carefully, there is an expiration date that is printed by the manufacturer. If the printer cartridge is used after this expiration date, even if it is still unopened, the ink inside the ink tank would begin to dry up.
- Infrequent usage of printers. Once a printer cartridge is installed in a printer, it is now susceptible to outside air to seep in. Just like any liquid that is exposed to air for an extended period of time, the ink would eventually dry up. This is particularly true for the printer nozzles found in the print heads.
- Ink Refills. When a printer cartridge is refilled with ink, openings are made on the cartridge. This, plus the fact that the ink tank is already open as a result of previous use allows more air to enter the cartridge itself.
Using Your Printer to Clear Up Clogging
When a printer unit is installed, it comes with a maintenance program which you can use to remove clogging. This is the most common and most costly method to remove dried up ink because you may be using more ink to clean up the printer, depending on how much clogging in the printer cartridge.
Making Your Dried Up Ink Cartridge Work
More often than not, there is still some usable ink inside the printer cartridge for you to use to print out text documents and images. Here are some ways for you to revive your seemingly dried up ink cartridges.
- Print Cartridge Kits. There are a number of print cartridge cleaning kits that would allow you to remove the dried ink clogging your ink printer cartridge so that you can use them again. Just like ink refill kits, make sure that you read and follow the instructions listed carefully.
- Warm water baths. If your printer cartridge has not yet been used, but has already passed the expiration date, you can loosen up the ink by soaking the bottom portion for a minute or two in warm water. This can only be done on printer cartridges that have a copper portion on the bottom part of the printer cartridge.
In the Future…
To prevent future printer cartridge problems from happening, here are a few simple tips:
- Do not overstock on printer cartridges
- Always check the expiration date of the printer cartridge before buying
- Have ink refills done by companies that specialize in this service
- Regularly clean your printer
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March 4th, 2009 at 11:34 am
Hi, i just find remedy blog to ink printer. nice blog and i will try this sharing.
Thx, dnlhartman
July 30th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
[...] with dried ink to work. You can use a cotton swab moistened with rubbing alcohol to clean away the dried up ink so it can flow [...]
August 26th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
[...] contributor of Office Supplies Information & Resources. More information on the subject is at All Dried Up! Remedies To Make Ink Printer Cartridges Usable Again, and related resources can be found at How to Save Printer Ink and [...]
March 17th, 2010 at 12:51 pm
Thank you so much for thi tip, i can print now…..
September 18th, 2010 at 2:57 am
Just tried the placing dried-up cartidges in a little warm water trick and it worked brilliantly. Thanks!
November 19th, 2010 at 2:08 pm
Thanks for the tip. I hadn’t used my printer in awhile, and the ink was all dried up. I put the bottom in warm water for just a minute, and now it prints like new again.
February 12th, 2011 at 8:17 am
Using a toothpick, put a drop or two of rubbing alcohol into the nozzel of the cartridge…presto, ink flows again!
March 16th, 2011 at 12:25 pm
OMG IT WORKED!!!! I had a black cartridge that I got notice on was empty, but I left it in for while and it worked fine…so I left it in longer……I had enough in to last me 3-4 weeks the way I print, after printer told me to change…..I had a bunch of “empty” cartridges hanging around, so I put one in, but it was dried—-I soaked for 1-2 mins as you said it it works fine…..THANKS
August 8th, 2011 at 11:21 am
I believe the best solution to the ink problem is to buy another brand of Printer! I have bought 2 Kodak printers ( within the last 6 months)and both have failed to accept another cartridge after the original has run out. I threw the 1st one away. The second goes to the garbage tomorrow.
I would like to print not spend days and weeks trying to trouble shoot the damn cartridges. By the way I have 6 new cartridges that are going to the garbage also, none of them work either!!!!!
December 17th, 2011 at 12:11 pm
I cannot find/there is no expiration date on my Kodak cartridges or the boxes they came in. I also tried soaking with no luck.
@ Sherrie: I would NEVER throw away printers and cartridges bought within even the last year. Return them to the store for exchange, repair or refund! What, are you in the 1% ?!?!?! (I kid…)
December 28th, 2011 at 6:07 am
This worked perfectly. Now my printer is back to normal after no use for 2 years! Thanks.
December 31st, 2011 at 4:43 am
My online cartridge supplier asks me to open the two new color printers I purchased from them and test them. (This was after I emailed a complaint that the two black cartridges that came in the same order triggered an error message when I tried to print…”cartridge faulty or incompatible.” I’m requesting they replace all four cartridges with good ones. Before they’ll do that, he asks me to test the remaining two new cartridges. My question is this: if I open and test the two new cartridges, and if they work okay, then how do store them without their drying up? Will testing and re-storing them shorten the number of printed pages I will get once I need to use them?
January 15th, 2012 at 11:03 am
I might have printed 2 color pages with my latest $20.00 Kodak color cartridge and I’m getting “Your Color Ink is Low” messages. That’s $10.00 per page! And these cartridges have that stupid chip that keeps me from refilling it myself. I didn’t think “drying out” was an issue till I googled here.
If I print < 2 pages a month would it be worthwhile to store the cartridges in a sandwich baggie, with water (or alcohol?) and plug 'em in when I need 'em?
January 16th, 2012 at 6:11 am
Thank you for your help. Soaking up ink-cartridges in warm water a minute or two did it. Now it works fine.Thanks a lot. God bless you.