How To Clear A Stubborn Inkjet Printer Clog

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Foreclosure Article: How To Clear A Stubborn Inkjet Printer Clog

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Do you own an inkjet printer? Has the printhead ever clogged up on you, creating streaks or missing colors from your printing?

Clogs can be incredibly frustrating. Normally when you find out you have a clogged printhead, its because youre right in the middle of printing something important. Its one of those problems that you never ask for. It just seems to throw itself in your lap without warning, and then taunts you in your efforts to fix it.

The printhead is the mechanism of your printer (or inkjet cartridge), where the ink actually comes out.

For the most part, printhead clogs can be normally be flushed out with a couple of head cleaning cycles. A head cleaning cycle is a built-in function of your printer. Its a specialized routine meant to address this type of problem.

This cleaning cycle works by sending a strong print signal to your printer, while at the same time drawing a small vacuum from underneath. The combination of these two steps works in an attempt to suck out clogged ink from the printhead. From my experience, youll probably need to run between 3 and 5 cycles to fully clear a clog.

The location of the head cleaning cycle proceedure varies for each printer brand, so refer to your printer owners manual for specific instructions to find yours. Check the index first.

If you dont have your owners manual anymore, you can check our your printer manufacturers website. Most likely, they will have your printer manual online.

There are times however, when a few standard head cleaning routines dont seem to solve the problem. A stubborn printhead clog like this can be persistant enough to make you want to rip out your hair.

For times like these, youll need to pull out the big guns!

For stubborn inkjet printhead clogs, there are various cleaners out there specifically for this purpose. These cleaners are formulated to disolve dried or gummy ink which may have accumulated from infrequent printer use, or even just a general build-up over time.

I personally brought an old printer back from the dead using a product called Clog Buster. It was a printer I had purchased off of eBay which apparently hadnt been used in awhile. I spent a few hours trying to revive the printer, and Clog Buster was the only thing that worked when nothing else did.

The only downside with using a cleaning product like this however, is that you usually dont have it in your immediate possession when the clog hits. Unless you have some already on hand, youll have to wait for it to be shipped to you. In the meantime, your printing project will have to remain on pause until it arrives.

(But maybe I can help...)

The good news is that you MAY be able to solve the problem using some basic household products. In fact, Windex glass cleaner can actually work well for dissolving dried ink. Whats the secret ingredient?

Ammonia.

Tough printhead clogs can usually be brought into submission by soaking the printhead in a solution of 50/50% ammonia and distilled water.

A important word of warning... Ammonia is potent and powerful stuff. When working with ammonia, always make sure youve got adequate ventilation, and avoid mixing it with other chemicals. Very important.

So, if your printhead is located on the inkjet cartridge itself, youll want to soak the printhead in the 50/50 solution for an hour or two.

If the printhead unit is located inside your inkjet printer itself, then youll first need to remove the inkjet cartridges. After those are removed, put some of the solution into the top of the printhead (directly into the nozzle holes) and let it sit a few hours. Go ahead and put a little more into the printhead resting seat. (This is the rubber rectangle part that seals off the printhead unit while the carriage is in its resting position.)

If this initial soaking doesnt work, then repeat another time using 100% ammonia for up to one hour. Afterward, make sure to rinse completely with distilled water.

If the clog doesnt immediately clear, go ahead and let the printer sit overnight and try it again the next day. Sometimes the clog will breakdown slowly and release later as the ammonia takes its toll.

Finally, for those of you wondering about the effectiveness of using alcohol to unclog cartridges and printhead -- heres a quick note...

Alcohol wont work as well as ammonia, but may work better than a few cleaning cycles. The downside is that alcohol may actually dry out the plastics and metals in the printhead. This could actually increase the chances of clogging later on down the road. So try to avoid alcohol if possible.