I'm Putting My Printer on Probation

[easysurfer]

Yes, another Epson Ecotank Printer post. Feel free to skip if you aren't interested.

But on the other hand, here the details:

My printer still clogs. I've been printing a print purge sheet (will all the colors) twice a day but it still clogs in about 2-3 weeks even after I've run a clean cycle (which wastes ink).

I remember when the printer was new, I went through several months before needing a clean cycle.

My thought now, which I intend to test (thus the probation period) is maybe the recurring ink clogging is due to the printer's maintenance box haven't been changed before. Supposedly, the printer's LCD panel can check the maintenance box level but all I see is it shows about half way and doesn't seem to change at all. I watched a video on youtube a printer guy says the maintenance box needs to get changed frequently much before getting a message from the printer about needing a change. He said if the box doesn't get changed, this can lead to clogging.

So, I just ran a clean cycle and the nozzle check shows no clog (for now). In a couple of hours (got something else to do at moment), I'm going to replace the printer's maintenance box. The the probation starts to see if the printer can stay about a month or more without clogging (like when it was brand new). If not, what does one do with someone who has flunked probation?

 

[MarieIG]

Ahhh, good luck with your parolee easysurfer.

 

[jgrdarrash]

I ended up hijacked by that same printer after also having to use it every 2 days or it would clog. During the middle of printing very time sensitive docs it stopped dead and said we had to clean the ink pad. Could only order from the company. I didn't have 2 days to wait for their overpriced part so had to go to the library. I went with a cheaper laser printer and no problems so far. My advice is to move on

 

[wolf]

Which is why many of us have switched to Laser printers. Never have to worry about "clogs", when printer sits idle for a few weeks/months.

 

[Dash man]

I agree. We gave up on the Epson long ago. Our Brother Laser for documents and an HP for anything our. They’re both flawless.

 

[disneysteve]

Which is why many of us have switched to Laser printers. Never have to worry about "clogs", when printer sits idle for a few weeks/months.

This. I was someone who used to print in color quite a bit. I switched to a laser printer several years ago and have found that there were truly only a handful of times when I really needed color. When I needed to print a photo, I went to Walgreens. When I needed a document with color, my wife has an inkjet printer and I used that. It's happened maybe 2 or 3 times in 3 years.

Get a laser printer. $99 and you're set.

 

[jim584672]

Don't put yourself through inkjets, not worth it.

 

[5Miler]

I burned out on inkjet printers many years ago and went back to a b&w laser. No regrets.

DGF still uses her HP inkjet and constantly curses it while ordering new cartridges. She uses my laser 90% of the time especially for large printouts. I get my generic toner cartridges from Amazon in a two pack for about $25 to $30 that last over 6 months each and don't clog.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Which is why many of us have switched to Laser printers. Never have to worry about "clogs", when printer sits idle for a few weeks/months.

Yep, ecstatic with my sub-$500 Brother color laser printer. I thought it wasn't worth the money because we hardly ever print....but now I realize the higher cost per page is less of an issue because of that, and it's pretty much no-maintenance, it won't dry out or clog like an inkjet.

 

[Aerides]

I have a super cheap canon ink jet, and have used the same model or whatever amazon says is the newer version, for easily 2 decades. Usually pick one up for about 50-80 bucks, and use 3rd party cartridges (20 bucks a full set) with no issue. Rinse, repeat usually about every 5 years.

My need for a printer would be almost zero were it not for my very small business, but even that I'm sure puts me well into the average use.

I would not have any interest in something that required such maintenance at the OP describes.

 

[audreyh1]

Too bad. Fortunately for us our Ecotank style printer works just fine with infrequent printing. If it’s been months I may have to run through cleaning cycles for colors, but then it works fine. I think we’ve had it at least 4 years.

 

[brett]

I have a super cheap canon ink jet, and have used the same model or whatever amazon says is the newer version, for easily 2 decades. Usually pick one up for about 50-80 bucks, and use 3rd party cartridges (20 bucks a full set) with no issue. Rinse, repeat usually about every 5 years.

My need for a printer would be almost zero were it not for my very small business, but even that I'm sure puts me well into the average use.

I would not have any interest in something that required such maintenance at the OP describes.

I suspect we have a similar Canon TR4500 series inkjet. $50. I have had mine for five years. We do not do much printing. Looked for a recommendation on pcmag. It works as well today as it did the day I bought it. New black cartridge every two years or so.

We use the imaging/scanning/copying as or more often than the straight print option.

If it died tomorrow I would replace it with the same series printer.

 

[easysurfer]

I changed the maintenance box. It wasn't all full but getting there. In fact, the check status was a good representation of how much ink was in the maintenance box.

Don't know if changing will make any difference as for the ink clogging. My guess is probably not but I shall see. I'm going to keep count as to how many times I have to run a clean cycle in the next month to get rid of any clogging.

The probation has started.

 

[Jerry1]

I admire your tenacity.

I went to a color laser. Then, I tried to save money and bought 3rd party cartridges. Big mistake. They leaked and I had a major clean up. Went back to the OEM HP cartridges, which were almost the same cost as a new printer, but for about a year now, everything is working perfectly. If you have the space and money, the color laser multi function is a great alternative. If you're willing to limit your in home printing to black and white, then a cheap monochrome laser is an excellent option. It'll be interesting to see how the probation goes, however, I think the recidivism rate is very high. Good luck.

 

[Texas Proud]

My problem is that my color laser does not do a great job on pictures.. heck, to be honest it is pretty crappy... why I got the Epson (DD needed it for school)...

And I blame OP for it clogging the first time!!! Never did until he posted...

I did change my box and it seems to be working OK now... hope it works for you..

One last reply... I saw videos where people removed the ink tubes and washed out the printer heads with alcohol or something... it was not cleaned with ink... that is a thought...

 

[catii]

Cheap Brother B&W laser printer, with a Tektronix color Phaser printer. Good for everything except high-resolution photographic images. For them, I use Kinko's.

 

[audreyh1]

We recently bought the inexpensive Brother B&W laser printer because it cost the same price as the toner cartridge for the old one, plus it accepts inexpensive third party toner cartridges. Our old Lexmark lasted well over 10 years so can’t complain. It only complained about low toner for 5 years before finally giving out ha ha.

 

[easysurfer]

My problem is that my color laser does not do a great job on pictures.. heck, to be honest it is pretty crappy... why I got the Epson (DD needed it for school)...

And I blame OP for it clogging the first time!!! Never did until he posted...

I did change my box and it seems to be working OK now... hope it works for you..

One last reply... I saw videos where people removed the ink tubes and washed out the printer heads with alcohol or something... it was not cleaned with ink... that is a thought...

Same here about why I got inkjet one of the reasons is laser doesn't do well with pictures.

I saw the videos too of people cleaning the ink tubes. But that seems a lot more effort than should be.

I think consumers should be more demanding of printer companies and try to express the dissatisfaction that these companies can't even create an inkjet printer that doesn't clog up.

 

[PaunchyPirate]

I also recently made the switch from HP Inkjet printers (All I've ever owned since my last dot-matrix printer back in the day) to a black-and-white laser printer. I also am one who always thought I needed a color printer. But so far, I don't really feel lost at all without it.

 

[easysurfer]

Not even 24 hours and I see a little clogging already with the black ink. I watched a video on how to flush using a cleaning kit. A point made in the video, the guy said after the flushing, a power cleaning is still needed. I could probably just run a power cleaning I think without the cleaning kit to get things flowing again.

I'll see still what happens during the rest of the "probation" period. But in the meantime will evaluate my options.

Guess I can keep on running clean cycles when needed But that's a big ink waste and I don't like to waste stuff. I'd guess that I may have used as much ink just running clean cycles as actual printing. The ink wasting is like if you order a meal and when that arrives, take half of it and toss away. What a waste.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Does anyone have a Brother INKvestment (Ecotank) printer, I was thinking about getting one. I have owned Brother printers for over 25 years and never had one fail. I currently have a Brother Color Laser but wanted something that is better for photographs.

 

[Midpack]

Thanks for posting, I've always wondered if I should buy one of the models with large ink reservoirs. I have an HP Inkjet and it works fine for us. Fortunately we resist printing anything we can, I'd rather have PDFs or screen captures for most documents/files. YMMV

 

[pacergal]

I don't print very often, once a month or so.
A few years ago we bought an HP Tango, it has worked flawlessly for us.
I do not print photos.

 

[Aerides]

I also recently made the switch from HP Inkjet printers (All I've ever owned since my last dot-matrix printer back in the day) to a black-and-white laser printer. I also am one who always thought I needed a color printer. But so far, I don't really feel lost at all without it.

I don't understand the need either. Unless you want to print high quality photos, but that's a whole other category of printer.

 

[ncbill]

pay a local place to print any photos you need them in high quality.

color laser if you need color for documents.

otherwise a black & white laser printer or multifunction.

My Brother MFC is well over a decade old...no chipped toner carts required so I can use 3rd party ones.