Storing Ink

[William Seaward]

Hi Guys,

I just watched a youtube video (jtoolman, you're the best!) about refilling and the possibility of introducing contaminates to the ink. While using asceptic techniques to keep the needles as clean as possible while refilling the carts, would there be some "bad" side effects if I would store the ink in a small fridge?

William

 

[stratman]

The usual advice is to keep ink in a cool dry place out of direct sunlight. A refrigerator is such a place.

Potential problems are faster desiccation of the ink, faster foreign contaminant growth if the refrigerator fails, or reduced performance if the ink were to freeze.

[Plastic bottles may not be completely impervious to exchange of moisture from the ink to the outside, especially in a refrigerator which uses the removal of moisture to facilitate cooling.]

Refrigerate away if you'd like but still try to use the ink withing a couple years time frame for best results.

 

[William Seaward]

Potential problems are faster desiccation of the ink, faster foreign contaminant growth if the refrigerator fails, or reduced performance if the ink were to freeze.

The faster desiccation of the ink has me a bit concerned, however, I might just go ahead and try it and keep a close eye on things.

William

 

[turbguy]

The faster desiccation of the ink has me a bit concerned, however, I might just go ahead and try it and keep a close eye on things.

William

I doubt there's much desiccation. If you are really concerned, package the ink bottles in a ziploc bag with a wet sponge inside (a refrigerated humidor).

 

[Nozzle]

This is how pro printers or big printing houses store their ink - in dedicated fridges. around 10 degrees Celsius should keep your ink in good condition for a long time.

Another tip for those who buy OEM ink in large cartridges and extract it for use. Common practice is to extract ink from cartridges into bottles and store it like that. Don't do that. It's much better to keep ink in original cartridges. One reason is that cartridges are much cleaner than your bottles. Second reason is that cartridges act kind of like thermoses. Your ink resides inside a plastic bag, one side of which is glued to the side of cartridge and the other side of which are surrounded by air. So, there's space between the inner bag and the plastic that makes the cartridge. This helps to keep the ink cool.

I discovered this fact a couple of years ago while extracting ink from a HP 83 cartridge into a bottle. It was in the middle of summer here and it was a very hot day, around 30-35 degrees Celsius. When I extracted the ink and took the bottle into my hand i was shocked to realize how cool the ink was! Since then I keep my ink in cartridges and extract only what I need for a couple of months. Another proof is that I have a large quantity of HP 83 cartridges (pigment) that I bought many years ago and which expired in 2006. Some of this ink I extracted into bottles many years ago and it is unusable now - clogs like crazy, while the ink that's still inside cartridges is perfectly usable.