How To Store Printer Ink Cartridge To Prevent Ink From Drying?

The printer ink cartridge that you are using right now might shock you with printer ink drying out if improperly stored or used. This article has outlined for you to save printer ink from drying out and how to take care of them for ensuring their longer lifespan. Once you know the best practices to store printer ink cartridges, you shall know how long the printer ink cartridges are expected to last.

First Understand What Causes the Printer Ink To Dry Out! 

An ink cartridge might dry up for certain reasons. Air bubbles in the ink cartridge can be said to be the first responsible factor – these block the print head's nozzle. If the printer is infrequently used,  the ink is likely to dry up and clog the print head. Running a head cleaning cycle either once or twice before checking the nozzle fixes the basic print-head check.

Printer Ink can even dry up if the packaging has been damaged. A tiny pinprick in the packaging will cause the seal to break and then the ink will start drying out.

 

What Is the Life Expectancy Value of Printer Ink?

Sealed ink cartridges in the original packaging stored in a cool and dry place will last for 2 years.

 

What Factors Influence The Lifespan of a Printer Ink Cartridge? 

There are several factors that contribute to the life expectancy rate of the printer ink inside the ink cartridges.

The first important factor is sealing or opening the cartridge. Since the amount of air that reaches the cartridge is reduced when sealed, the chances of printer ink drying up are greatly reduced.

 

Factors like printer cleaning cycles, saturation and cleaning and more affect a printer ink cartridge's lifespan. The page life or page yield is found on product pages for both ink and toner cartridges. The count is based on the conducted lab tests done by following the ISO standards. These tests are based on a 5% coverage of an A4 page. Page coverage significantly affects the page yield. The printer consumes more ink for printing complex images with color ink cartridges. To compare the lasting tenure of a printer toner, then as a general matter of fact, page yields are a lot higher with toner cartridges. This massively differs laser printers from inkjet printers.

 

How Should Printer Ink Cartridges Be Stored?

 To enable the long-lasting attribute of printing, the printer ink cartridges should be properly stored. Placing them in a cool and dry location is the best way to keep them stored. Storing them upright, as is normally placed in a printer will cause the ink to settle. Any ink inside the ink cartridges will start rising to the top, thereby allowing ink to freely flow with no air bubbles.

 

The cartridges are moved a lot while being shipped, thus making the air at the cartridges to settle at its bottom instead. If you attempt immediate cartridge installation after receiving it, then print quality will show issues. So, better is to leave it overnight before starting to print. Give the settling down time to ink.

 

When storing the printer ink cartridges when not being used and would not be used very soon, then keep them stored in a sealable bag. This step will prevent the ink from drying up.

 

How Should You Take Care of Printer Ink Cartridges?

Follow these tips to prolong the lifespan of printer ink cartridges

• Apply Different Fonts

Choose smaller fonts for increasing the quantity of text to fit on a page. It further reduces the ink amount and paper counts while printing. This is especially helpful when you are printing heavy text documents. Even different font styles make a difference.

• Print Preview 

Use the print preview feature for checking over the print. You can avoid unwanted repeated printouts.

• Resolution and Image Size 

Larger image resolutions and sizes will consume more ink amount to be printed. So, reduce both for reducing the ink amount. It helps the cartridges to last for a long time.  

• Slightly Ignore When You Receive The Low Ink Warning

Do not completely ignore when you have received low ink warning. Check the print quality to ensure the prints are of the required quality after this message has popped up. If the printouts have been visibly affected due to lack of ink, then replace the ink cartridges. But after receiving this warning, make sure you have a new ink cartridge ready so replacing the used one is quicker when necessary.

Always keep in mind, do not ever let a printer ink cartridge run dry. When the ink cartridges will dry out now or later, but be careful they should not when you are printing regularly. So, follow the best storage practices. Maintain and store the printer ink cartridges properly for avoiding the wastage of printer ink. 

You can extend the operating life of a printer ink cartridge by following the proper storage and usage procedures. Do a study to be sure of the ways.