Keep Your Nozzles Clean One of the worst problems to have is a clogged print head or ink cartridge
. When that happens, you?ll notice gaps and streaks, inconsistent colors, or possibly no prints at all. The two most common causes of clogs are 1) Under use - Leaving your inkjet printer idle for even a week can allow the ink to dry 2) Poor ink flow - Weak flow allows the ink to dry out in the print head as well as let the tiny wires in your print head overheat and burnout. That?s why it?s very important to ensure your carts flow properly. And to keep them flowing you need to keep your printer?s nozzles clean and print heads clear. To do this you need to: 1) print color images/pages at least once a week 2) run the head-cleaning program when you change cartridges and/or 3) run the utilities that came with your printer at least once a month 4) check to make sure you have good ink flow Try to print a test page at least once a month to help make sure that your print heads stay in shape. Some printers run a maintenance routine on start-up, meaning that you can keep the nozzles clear simply by turning your printer on and off once a week. Check your printer?s manual to see if it has this feature. There are some inkjet printers that every time they begin a print they do a cleaning cycle. Which squirts (wastes) ink into a trough to make sure the nozzles are clean. Keep Your Cartridges Clean Keep ink fresh by storing extra cartridges upright in their factory-supplied containers or in a sealed bag. Keep Your Cartridges Fresh Epson recommends ink cartridges should be replaced after 6 months, whether empty or not. (great advice if you have lots of money!) In reality most cartridges have a shelf life of 18-24 months. LEARN MORE ABOUT INK & PAPER at http://www.freephotopaper.com/ink-guide-offer.htm