How to clean the print head and nozzles of an HP printer?
Different manufacturing technologies entail many problems for those who purchase equipment - ordinary buyers. Each of us buys something wanting to make our daily lives easier, but this doesn’t always work out: for example, not everyone knows how to clean an HP printer. Meanwhile, every owner of a printer from any company should know how to clean this device in order to prevent any troubles and malfunctions.
Cleaning the Printer Using the Software
Before describing the procedure for cleaning an HP printer manually, it is worth remembering such an excellent opportunity provided by the Taiwanese manufacturer as cleaning using software pre-installed on the computer. Typically, when purchasing a printer, a disk with programs, drivers and useful reference information is included. The program offered for installation on the disk, HP Solution Center, can help clean the printer. It’s very simple: you just need to launch the program, and then find the “Printer Toolbar” menu, and then find the “cartridge cleaning” utility. If the printer has not been used for a long time, you can do this procedure several times. But, unfortunately, software cleaning is not always enough - if only because it does not affect the print head nozzles, and in such cases the owners have no choice but to try to clean the print head in particular and the printer in general with their own hands.
Cleaning with a special liquid
It is, of course, safest to entrust cleaning of the print head to specialists. But this does not mean that you cannot try to carry out this procedure yourself in order to save time and money.
So, to clean the print head of an HP printer, you will need the following items:
- a plastic container with a flat bottom that you won’t mind throwing away (disposable plates or food containers);
- a thick, highly absorbent rag or gauze;
- a specialized printer cleaning kit (it can be purchased both in electronics stores on the Internet and by searching in offline stores) with varying degrees of action: for old dirt - aggressive, for cleaner heads - regular.
The cleaning process itself, however, does not depend on the degree of contamination of the print head. It all starts with the service liquid being poured into a plastic container prepared in advance, and then this container is set aside. A piece of rag or gauze comes into play - it is moistened with water, and with this piece the bottom area of the print head is wiped. The next piece is moistened with a special liquid, and then it is used to wipe the entire print head along the contour of the nozzles. If necessary, a piece of gauze can be changed by dipping a new one in the liquid in the same way.
Attention!
You need to be careful and try not to touch the nozzles themselves with a cloth. Their contact with contaminated liquid can lead to clogging.
Head cleaning can last only as long as it takes to completely clean each object - it all depends on the initial condition.In any case, after cleaning the head with gauze, the sealing rubber bands of the inkwell are removed from it. Simply rinse them with warm running water and then return them to their place. After this, the most difficult and most important action begins: directly cleaning the print head, but from the inside. In addition to the head, by the way, the printer nozzles are also cleaned. To do this, gauze or a rag is placed under it, and the service fluid is heated to approximately 55 degrees Celsius. Then, using a special syringe, the heated liquid is dripped onto the ink pickup fittings until ink remains on the gauze located under the head. If necessary, replace the gauze, and when the cloth remains clean, cleaning the HP printer is complete. It's not that scary, right?
Routine printer cleaning
Above we described what to do with the cartridges and print head. But we should also not forget that the printing device does not need to be used in everyday life - at least once a week it is worth wiping it with a slightly damp (if there is a lot of dust in the room) or dry cloth to avoid excessive dust. In addition, sometimes, for preventive purposes, we recommend performing the procedure for cleaning cartridges, which was described at the beginning of the article. This will help keep the printer in working condition for a long time. Yes, besides, this procedure allows you to keep CISS clean. But it is not a panacea: once a year it is still necessary to completely clean the printer’s print head and its nozzles.
Cleaning the continuous ink system cartridges
Some owners, in order to save money and not buy cartridges, purchase a special device consisting of four permanent cartridges that cannot be replaced and a small ink tank. It is imperative to clean this mechanism so that the printer nozzles do not dry out. In order to clean the CISS (this is the abbreviated name for this device, its full name is in the subtitle), you need to purchase a cleaning liquid and rinse all the tubes, tanks and cartridges with it. You need to empty the tank of ink, rinse the holes with water, and then flush out the service fluid in the same way as ink when refilling it. By the way, cartridges for HP printers are expensive, and therefore the demand for CISS for these printers is very high.
So, cleaning an HP printer is a task that only at first glance seems difficult. If you approach it with due responsibility, diligence and accuracy, everything will work out, and the task of cleaning the HP printer will be solved with ease. The main thing is not to forget that any equipment requires care: everything in our homes works only to make our lives easier, and all we can do is help the equipment last as long as possible. Good luck!