If your printer reports that your print cartridges are dry or empty, first try cleaning the printhead of your printer.
A printhead cleaning can save you money on your printing.
Keep reading to see how to clean your printer's printhead in this guide.
Clean the printhead and save money
If at any time you find that your inkjet printer does not print optimally, then it is time to clean your printerhead.
The printhead is the part of an inkjet printer that transfers ink onto paper drop by drop, and by cleaning it the clogging of the nozzles is removed and the condition of the printhead restored.
Cleaning of the printhead can be done automatically and this way it removes i.a. residue of dried ink, which can give your prints streaks, for example.
Instead of immediately concluding that there is no more ink in your cartridges if your prints are not satisfactory when it comes to quality, we advise you to perform such a cleaning of your printer's printhead; there can be a lot of money and ink to save!
The printhead is dry
When a printer's printhead is dry, it is often seen in the form of white streaks on a print sheet. The most common reason a printhead dries out is that the printer is not used at regular intervals. It is said that 3-4 weeks without use may be enough for a printhead to dry out.
It is important to distinguish between printheads that have dried out and printheads that are worn out, as the latter requires a replacement of the printhead in order for your printer to print optimally again.
A printhead wears out mainly due to mechanical stress caused by the use of the printer, but it also wears out when cleaning the printhead.
New inkjet printer models show on the display when it's time to replace a printhead, otherwise you will find it when cleaning the printhead no longer remedies poor print quality.
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Printhead cleaning - CANON printer
! Cleaning of your Canon printer's printhead is required if horizontal white streaks appear on your prints.
! Please note, however, that ink is used to clean the printhead, so printheads should only be cleaned when necessary.
! If you clean directly from your printer, the nozzles are cleaned of all ink colors. If you are cleaning from your computer, you can select an ink group to be cleaned.
To clean a printhead directly on a Canon printer:
1. Make sure your printer is on
2. Hold down the Resume / Cancel button until the Power light flashes once. Then release the button again.
The printer now automatically starts cleaning the printhead on your Canon printer.
When the cleaning is complete, the Power light will light up after flashing.
A cleaning program takes 2-3 minutes, so do NOT perform other operations on your printer until cleaning is complete.
3. Finally, check the condition of the printhead by printing a nozzle test pattern.
You can print a nozzle test pattern by holding down the Resume / Cancel button until the Power light flashes twice. Then release the button again and the nozzle test pattern will print.
If the above printhead cleaning guide on your Canon printer does not help after two attempts, you will need to perform a thorough printhead cleaning.
Here's how:
1. Open the installation window for your printer driver
2. Select Deep Cleaning on the Maintenance tab.
When the Deep Cleaning dialog box opens, select the ink group you want to clean.
If you are in doubt about which ink group to choose, click on Initial Check Items and you will see which ink groups you need to clean.
3. Now perform a cleanup by first checking that your Canon printer is on. Then click Execute and the cleaning will begin. Click OK when you receive a confirmation message.
4. After cleaning, open the Nozzle Check dialog box.
5. Check the print quality by clicking Print Check Pattern. Click Cancel to cancel the process.
NOTE! A thorough cleaning uses a significantly larger amount of ink than a regular cleaning.
If you find that your print quality has not improved even though you have performed a thorough cleaning, wait 24 hours and try again. If there is still no improvement in the print quality of your prints, then there may be no more ink or the printhead is worn out and needs to be replaced.
The above guide on how to clean the printhead of your Canon printer is based on Canon's own solutions.
Printhead cleaning - HP printer
In this section, we will walk you through how to clean a printhead on an HP printer.
Cleaning involves the use of ink, so clean your printer's printhead only when necessary.
This little step-by-step cleaning guide is based on HP's own guide:
1. On the Home screen, click Settings and you will now see the Setup menu
2. From the Setup menu, select Tools.
3. Press Clean Printhead and cleaning is complete.
A cleaning process can take 2-3 minutes. DO NOT perform other operations on your printer while your HP printer is running a cleaning program.
Printhead cleaning - EPSON printer
If you find that your Epson printer's print quality has suddenly deteriorated due to a lack of ink, then it may be necessary to clean the printer's printhead to correct the problem.
Cleaning the printhead ensures that the printer nozzles deliver the ink correctly onto paper.
In this guide, which is based on Epson's own guide, you can read more about how to clean your printer's printhead from your computer (Windows and Apple guide).
Since cleaning involves the use of ink, it is recommended that you first use the Nozzle Check tool to check if there is a need to clean your printer's printhead.
If your ink level is low, you will not be able to clean the printhead, in which case you will need to replace the specific print cartridge(s) first.
To perform a printhead cleaning (Windows):
1. First make sure that your printer is on and that no error messages appear on your printer display.
2. Make sure the printer is loaded with paper in the sheet feeder.
3. Now right-click on the printer icon in the taskbar at the bottom of your computer screen and select Head Cleaning.
4. Now follow the instructions on your computer screen.
5. The light will now flash and your printer will perform the cleaning.
NOTE! It is important that the printer is not turned off while the light is blinking, as this may damage your printer.
If the above cleaning does not remedy the poor print quality after 4-5 times, turn off the printer and wait at least 6 hours. Then perform a nozzle check again and possibly a thorough printhead cleaning.
To perform a printhead cleaning (iOS):
1. First, make sure your printer is on and that no error messages appear on your printer display.
2. Make sure the printer is loaded with paper in the sheet feeder.
3. Open the Epson printer Utility3 (printer driver).
4. Click Head Cleaning in the Utility dialog box.
5. Follow the instructions on your computer screen.
6. The light will now flash and your printer will perform the cleaning.
NOTE! It is important that the printer is not turned off while the light is blinking, as this may damage your printer.
If the above cleaning does not remedy the poor print quality after 4-5 times, turn off the printer and wait at least 6 hours. Then perform a nozzle check again and possibly a thorough printhead cleaning.
Cleaning and maintenance of your printer
In order to extend the life and functionality of your printer as long as possible, cleaning and maintenance of your printer is highly recommended.
Cleaning your printer can, for example, take the form of cleaning the printer's printhead.
However, printhead cleaning should only be done in case of poor print quality (white streaks on printed documents, faded image quality, etc.), as printhead cleaning involves the use of ink.
If you only use your printer once in a while, you may also risk the printhead drying out, for which a cleaning will also be necessary.
If you do not need to print very often, then you can just occasionally print a 'maintenance print'. This way you ensure that your printer's printhead does not dry out.
For example, if too much ink has accumulated on your printer's printhead, you may need to clean the printhead manually (provided the printhead is replaceable).
In that case, the printhead must be removed and with a little warm water, or cleaning fluid intended for cleaning printers, and paper towel, you should be able to dissolve a lot of ink residues.
If you want to make sure that the manual cleaning is done as professionally as possible, we recommend that you buy an inkjet cleaning kit that contains everything you need for a manual cleaning of your printer.
Such a cleaning kit usually consists of cotton cloths, cleaning fluid, wet / dry napkins, roller fluid and foam spatulas (reminiscent of cotton swabs with only small foam heads).
The function of the roller fluid is cleaning and restoring the grip on the rubber and silicone rollers in the printer.
The cleaning fluid is for cleaning the contacts, and the wet / dry napkins as well as the cotton cloths are for the external cleaning of your printer when dust has been accumulating, for example.
If you clean your printer with an InkJet printer kit once a month, you will ensure that your printer is kept in the best possible condition.