turning off ink jet printers: Clogged ink jet printer heads are a continuing challenge. Tech support from Epson told me to always turn off my ink jet printer when not in use. Tech...

u1003074 Loc: Goshen, New York

Clogged ink jet printer heads are a continuing challenge. Tech support from Epson told me to always turn off my ink jet printer when not in use. Tech support from Canon told me to always leave my printer on. I know their printer head technologies are different, but I would like to know other's experience with clogged print heads and leaving their printers 'on' or 'off'.

Hippie- 2000 Loc: Mid Central Wisconsin

Me I remove the ink cartridge when not in use. But I hardly use my printer. I never had clog since then.

Hippie- 2000

Hippie- 2000 Loc: Mid Central Wisconsin

Me I remove the ink cartridge when not in use. But I hardly use my printer. I never had clog since then.

Hippie- 2000

Hippie- 2000 Loc: Mid Central Wisconsin

Me I remove the ink cartridge when not in use. But I hardly use my printer. I never had clog since then.

Hippie- 2000

Hippie- 2000 Loc: Mid Central Wisconsin

Sorry for that internet lag causes that.

Jim Bob

Hippie- 2000 wrote:

Sorry for that internet lag causes that.

I have Canon and turn it off when not in use. I make a few prints about every two weeks or so. I have not experienced any clogging issues.

via the lens Loc: Northern California, near Yosemite NP

u1003074 wrote:

Clogged ink jet printer heads are a continuing challenge. Tech support from Epson told me to always turn off my ink jet printer when not in use. Tech support from Canon told me to always leave my printer on. I know their printer head technologies are different, but I would like to know other's experience with clogged print heads and leaving their printers 'on' or 'off'.

I use Epson and mostly leave them on. Only turn off when I go on a week-long trip. They do get clogged. Each time you turn your Epson on it cleans the heads. When one gets clogged I check it through the printer program, then I will turn the printer off and on a couple of times to see if that does it. I'll check it again through the program. If that does not do it I'll sometimes pull out the cartridge and dab a bit of alchohol into the receptacle, that's fixed it a couple of times (have no idea if this is a bad practice). I also run the program software to clean it. I'll repeat all of this until the clogging clears, which it always does. I have two Epson printers and would not have anything else, even though they clog it. Just a part of my photography process.

Shellback Loc: North of Cheyenne Bottoms Wetlands - Kansas

HP ENVY 7640 series - on 24x7 - have had for almost 2 years - no problems.

SS319

I have clogged a few canons. I have decided that I should either buy a Pro 10 and only use Canon inks and remove the ink tanks when not in use, or buy the $79 printers, use Non-OEM ink and consider the printer as a disposable item - office supplies rather than tangible equipment. I have cleaned Canon heads - successfully, but if your time is worth something, you cannot afford to do it. I have replaced Canon heads - at 80-90% of the cost of a printer.

Papa Joe Loc: Midwest U.S.

u1003074 wrote:

Clogged ink jet printer heads are a continuing challenge. Tech support from Epson told me to always turn off my ink jet printer when not in use. Tech support from Canon told me to always leave my printer on. I know their printer head technologies are different, but I would like to know other's experience with clogged print heads and leaving their printers 'on' or 'off'.

I always us HP printers and always leave it 'on', but it 'sleeps' when not in use and is ready for instant use when I need it. I use the printer fairly often. Have never experienced 'clog'. I guess it's more or less a case of whatever works, eh?

pithydoug Loc: Catskill Mountains, NY

u1003074 wrote:

Clogged ink jet printer heads are a continuing challenge. Tech support from Epson told me to always turn off my ink jet printer when not in use. Tech support from Canon told me to always leave my printer on. I know their printer head technologies are different, but I would like to know other's experience with clogged print heads and leaving their printers 'on' or 'off'.

Depends on the printer. Many have a built in feature that wake up at some specified interval, and keep the heads clean and thus, you never need to shut them down. Others, and likely the more inexpensive, need more care especially if not used frequently.

I'd hit google for your model and see what it says.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

u1003074 wrote:

Clogged ink jet printer heads are a continuing challenge. Tech support from Epson told me to always turn off my ink jet printer when not in use. Tech support from Canon told me to always leave my printer on. I know their printer head technologies are different, but I would like to know other's experience with clogged print heads and leaving their printers 'on' or 'off'.

I have had Epson printers for many years and I only turn them on when actually printing, all other times they are off! The only one I ever had a clogged head with, is my first one, a Stylus 1440 (still have it and it still works, although I do not use it anymore), as it is nearly 20 years old. I had my 3880 sit for a year without printing (it is now again sitting idle like that for 2 years), with the inks freezing in the winter ( below zero temps), and then started printing again, and it worked just the way it did before the rest, no clogs, no nothing, but beautiful prints!

DavidPine Loc: Fredericksburg, TX

My Epson and Canon printers (3) sleep. I've never had a clogging issue.

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

My first color printer was a consumer grade Canon Pixma iP4000. It served very well from 2004 till mid 2012 when the print head died. I can't remember exactly what I paid for it, but the list price was $149, so I probably paid around$130. That was kept on sleep mode or powered on.

The Canon PIXMA Pro 9000 MKII that I bought as a replacement is an entry level professional printer and I paid a whole $175 for it. I haven't had any clog problems and ink usage seems reasonable even with low volume usage such as 2 or 3 prints in a month. I use Canon inks and am happy. I leave the printer on almost permanently - except for the occasional power failure or something - and it doesn't seem to have a drinking problem. Each cartridge costs about the same as a bottle of wine or Irish whiskey and cartridges seem to last considerably longer!

Pegasus Loc: Texas Gulf Coast

u1003074 wrote:

Clogged ink jet printer heads are a continuing challenge. Tech support from Epson told me to always turn off my ink jet printer when not in use. Tech support from Canon told me to always leave my printer on. I know their printer head technologies are different, but I would like to know other's experience with clogged print heads and leaving their printers 'on' or 'off'.

Any way you could tell us the exact model Epson you have? That would help a lot.

Some inkjet printers have the print head as part of the cartridge (which is why the cartridges are so expensive,) while others use cartridges as tanks for the ink and the print heads are part of the printer (which is why those printers are more expensive.)

If you paid little for your printer, the cartridge would have the print head and that would be changed every time you put in a new cartridge.

If the cartridges are ink tank, there should be an onboard app on the printer to unclog the print head and you should use that.

My Epson has been on for the last 4-5 years and works like a champ. It is a model that uses tanks.