Inkjet Printer Cleaning Cartridges & How to Fix Clogged Printer Cartridges & Printheads

Using inkjet printer cleaning cartridges on a regular basis can prolong the life of your inkjet printer’s printhead and provide consistently better print quality.

How do you understand if your print head is clogged? Here are some signs that indicate a clogged print head problem:

If white lines occur when printing,
If faintness or broken lines occur in the nozzle check pattern,
If ink doesn't come out while you are printing,
If the printer is being used again after a long period of time for the first time,
If you are having to perform a printhead cleaning cycle more often than usual (one or two times),

If your inkjet printer print-head is clogged, then you can follow these steps.

1. Install the cleaning cartridge with the same method of replacing ink cartridge.
2. Execute head cleaning and nozzle check procedures. If print quality is still poor, clean the print head again. This method is not suitable for cleaning deteriorated and damaged print head.

If your ink cartridge nozzles are clogged (not the print-head), then follow these steps instead:

1. Rest the clogged nozzles in warm water and then soak them until the dried ink begins to flow from the nozzle.
2. After a couple minutes, take the nozzles out of the water and dry it with a soft tissue
3. Reinstall the printer ink cartridge and run the print-head cleaning mechanism
4. If this does not work, repeat the process.
5. If your ink cartridge still does not print after repeating, uninstall the cartridge and place it on a soft tissue or cotton swab with rubbing alcohol in an upside down position. Let the ink cartridge sit on it for the night.
6. Reinstall the ink cartridge and run the print-head cleaning mechanism

Your ink cartridge nozzles could also be blocked with dried ink. If your ink cartridge has waited outside for more than a few of days, it is likely that they are clogged.

This article is prepared by Christy Berger from MyOfficePortal.org. A longer version of this article can be found at Inkjet Printer Cleaning Cartridges & Fixing Clogged Printheads. Main resource of this article is Epson Inkjet Printer Cleaning Cartridges at PrintCountry.