Normally, a notification will be displayed on your printer’s screen when there is no ink passing from the printhead. However, if you get faded printing or even a blank page despite the cartridges full of ink, it may be the time to clean printer heads. Some printers provide you with the function of running a cleaning cycle from your computer. Some have a separate button to clean the printer heads. While most of them require cleaning printheads manually. We will discuss all the methods in this article.
When to Clean the Printer Heads?
Before you start cleaning the printheads, you should first know if you really need to clean them or not. Trying to clean it unnecessarily will only cost you more since cleaning wastes ink on your ink cartridge. You should start cleaning the printhead when,
Print quality is decliningThe entire page you print is blurry or unclearIssues getting all colors printed if you have a color printerText is missing on the print
Why Printer Head Gets Clogged?
Before moving on to the process of cleaning the printer head it is necessary to understand why the printhead gets clogged in the first place. If you can escape from the causative agents, you can save some bucks needed to clean the printheads. Here’re some of the reasons:
Inactive for a Long Period: Printheads normally get clogged when your printer is not printing for a long period of time. When the ink dries, it interferes with the normal flow of ink. The irregular passing of the ink on your paper causes low-quality printing.Air Bubbles: If you recently changed your cartridge, improper installation of the cartridge may form bubbles and prevent proper printing. Changing ink can also cause air bubble formation. Foreign Objects: Dirt, debris, or foreign bodies like insects may get into the internals of your printer. If it reaches printheads, it can get clogged and affect your print quality.
How to Clean Printer Heads?
Once you figure out if you actually need to clean the printheads, let’s see how you can clean them effectively. Depending upon the model of printer you are using, the manufacturer provides various methods to clean the printheads. Let’s check some of them in detail.
Using Printing Preferences Option
If you own printers like the Epson L110 series or Canon MP280 series, you can use the printhead cleaning feature from Windows itself. No need to hassle and open up your printer case for cleaning. We have used the Epson L110 series printer for elucidation purposes. You can also check the steps on your printer since the steps are similar if you have the feature available for your printer.
Using Buttons on Your Printer
Many printers from Epson, like the Epson L310 series and L3200 series, have specific buttons on their button panel that can be used for nozzle checking and head cleaning. Follow the steps below to perform a printer head cleaning. Here, we have used an Epson L380 printer for demonstration.
Manually Cleaning the Printer Heads
If running the printhead cleaning cycle from Windows settings or buttons does not work, you have to perform manual cleaning. Moreover, if your printer does not have those features, there is no option except manually cleaning the printhead. Depending upon the position of printheads on your printer, the steps to remove the printheads from your printer casing may differ. However, you can apply the same methodology for cleaning. Before starting the cleaning, you need to gather a use-and-throw glove, a plastic container, a piece of microfiber cloth, a few paper towels, and distilled hot water. Here, we have taken a reference for the Brother DCP-J125 model printer for illustration purposes.
