New printer ALWAYS dies after sitting idle...any suggestions?

[drgeorgezaius]

Hi all, I'm hoping I can get a bit of advice here...

I am an infrequent printer, I probably only use my printer once every two or three months. The problem I am having is that BRAND NEW out of the box printers don't seem to like sitting idle for that long. I've gone through three new ones in the past year, they work fine when I install them, but when I go to use them two months later, they dont work at all. I've tried replacing the ink, but its just a waste of money, as it doesn't fix anything.

So question 1 is...is this normal? If so, what is happening? I am guessing that there is some issue with the print heads...but who knows...

Question 2 is...what is the solution for infrequent printers like myself? Its pretty silly to buy a new printer ever 2-3 months just to print once, but its a pain taking stuff to a proffesional printer to get printed...any thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[ghwellsjr]

Yes, it is normal for inkjet printers to have this problem, especially if you leave them turned off and the solution is to leave them turned on and print a nozzle check every week or so just to make sure the nozzles are still working. On most Canon printers, there is a way to do a nozzle check just by hitting a couple buttons on the printer so you don't even need to be connected to your computer. If you are only printing in black on plain paper, you probably should get a cheap laser printer as they don't have this problem.