Fairy washing liquid + Print head = kaputt

So, after two months of soaking my IP6700D printhead in 2 desert spoons of fairy and 250ml water I decided to see how it unclogged !

This the jar I used for soaking:


Opening the jar showed a precipitate on one of the ports:


This is the washing sponge showing something has dissolved:


After washing under the water stream the print head was finally dismantled because all ports were 100% blocked, not even air can pass !

I was sure the microchip was washed, but when I removed the nozzle plate is obvious I was wrong!


Therefore because I was not even able to wash the printhead screens in hot water in ultrasonics using 30min washing cycle I conclude that : Fairy liquid is not safe. If it worked miracles for somebody then that's that. But I have not had this kind of failure before. And this head had some clogged nozzles, now it's kaputt.

You reported in another thread linking here that you soaked in Fairy washing up liquid for 2 months. Could this length of time be reason for the new issues with the print head?

Smile said:

I was sure the microchip was washed, but when I removed the nozzle plate is obvious I was wrong!
View attachment 1247

Therefore because I was not even able to wash the printhead screens in hot water in ultrasonics using 30min washing cycle I conclude that : Fairy liquid is not safe. If it worked miracles for somebody then that's that. But I have not had this kind of failure before. And this head had some clogged nozzles, now it's kaputt.

Click to expand...

I think that what killed the print head and possibly also the logic board was not the Fairy/water mixture, but installing a print head that was still wet behind the circuit board, especially around the chip. Any cleaning fluid could have caused this damage.

I have had a similar experience, see this thread and specially note this post. Any conductive residue behind the circuit board or the ribbon cable can cause this kind of damage.

PeterBJ said:

I think that what killed the print head and possibly also the logic board was not the Fairy/water mixture, but installing a print head that was still wet behind the circuit board, especially around the chip. Any cleaning fluid could have caused this damage.

I have had a similar experience, see this thread and specially note this post. Any conductive residue behind the circuit board or the ribbon cable can cause this kind of damage.

Click to expand...

Printhed was never installed, since I could not wash the inlet screen filters even with ultrasonics = print head kaputt. I do not want to kill my printer ! I'm not that stupid to install anything wet, and I dismantled the printhead to see how the chip looks.

stratman said:

You reported in another thread linking here that you soaked in Fairy washing up liquid for 2 months. Could this length of time be reason for the new issues with the print head?

Click to expand...

Well yes two months, but any washing liquid that precipitates at any time length should be avoided imo.

I would not have tried fairy but it had magically washed someone else printhead after 2 week soak etc, in another thread.

see my warning about using dishwashing liquid. This is a very unknown quantity and you need to know what exactly is in there. It is possible that other ingredients within the liquid might have changed with time when mixed with water.

I tried it as an experiment and did not like it myself...too many possibilities and the removal can be difficult. The other thing is that some contain ingredients that "want" to cling on after the rinse to allow the dish to dispel water.

http://www.printerknowledge.com/thr...n-cli-42-carts-the-challenge.8788/#post-69928

I should have read that before my attempt to use fairy !
However what chemicals could dissolve the leftovers from washing liquid?

I suggest to first try hot tap water. Now that the print head is disassembled, you could try to force hot water through the ink inlets using a syringe and some suitable adapter.

Just a thought but could the ultrasonics have been responsible?

"I suggest to first try hot tap water. Now that the print head is disassembled, you could try to force hot water through the ink inlets using a syringe and some suitable adapter."

Air will pass trough, water, ammonia will not. Not a bit.

"Just a thought but could the ultrasonics have been responsible?"

No, because I used the ultrasonics after I was sure I will not be able to unclog it. I also did not use ultrasonics on nozzles, only on inlet screens. If ultrasonics can't clean the inlet screens they will not work for nozzles either.

What did this distilled water + Fairy changed to? That hot water 80C and ultrasonics can't clean?