winter storage?

[Bimbob]

My friend stored her Canon iP3000 with the cartridges still in it, maybe half full of ink....over winter in a storage unit in Wisconsin. Obviously the water based ink would freeze, but we need to know what to do when we hook it back up. Assuming the carts didn't bust (if so, we'd replace), just run a clean/align/nozzle check and see what happens? TIA

 

[Simon R.]

Yep,

just run those checks, clean if needed and all should be ok

 

[Bimbob]

we did just one regular clean, nozzle check, and it works fine! Whew! thanks!

 

[emerald]

Bimbob"s post answers my question about printers and freezing temperatures. There are very few posts about this subject. I wonder if others have had problems?

I would appreciate anyone sharing with me their experience and information about exposing printers to below freezing temperatures. I would think the print head and ink cartridges could be damaged by below freezing temperatures because the ink is mostly water. I understand that some inks have a little alcohol in them to speed drying but wonder if it's enough to prevent freezing at sub-zero temperatures. Most Canon printers have print heads separate from the print cartridges so new printers exposed to sub-zero temperatures should not have a problem with the print heads because they are sealed with no ink in them. However, many other manufactures including Hewlett Packard design the print head as a part of the cartridge. Summer residences where winter temperatures are very low are sometimes winterized by shutting off the water and heating utilities. If printers are a permanent part of the residence, are they susceptible to damage from freezing? Could freeze damage be a cause of printer malfunction? Also, the varying environments printers are exposed to during shipment and storage are many. There are unheated storage units, garages, warehouses, shipping and loading docks, trucks, trains, boats and planes. I wonder what conditions the U.S. postal service, Fed-Ex and UPS are prepared to deal with regard to temperature extremes?

 

[Grandad35]

Why not throw a cart in your freezer and see what happens?

Several years ago I bought some bulk ink during the winter and was also concerned about freezing, as UPS just drops off packages outside my garage, rain or shine, sun or snow. The ink vendor told me not to worry about freezing, as there is enough glycol in the ink to depress the freezing point sufficiently for most areas of the country. The ink arrived when it was below freezing and never had a problem.

 

[emerald]

Grandad35: Good idea.

I'll put a Canon OEM and a Hobbicolor refill BCI-6 along with a Canon i960 print head that has over a dozen bad nozzles in the deep freeze for a couple of days. I'm not sure if I have a outdoors thermometer around the place, but if I do I'll record the temp and the results and report back I still have the old service mode print nozzle pattern saved. It might be interesting to see what changes occur after the big freeze.

 

[emerald]

This now five days later (Christmas eve day) and I'm reporting back as promised. However, I didn't put a print head or a Canon cartridge with OEM ink in the deep freeze.

I filled a Canon OEM BCI-6 PC cartridge (flushed and dried sponge) with Hobbicolor PC ink. I put it into my chest type deep freeze for 2 days. I left it thaw out at room temperature for 4 hours and put it in a Canon i560 printer. I did two normal cleanings and printed out a 4 color bar chart. It seemed to suffer no ill affects.

The ink was frozen solid. A few drops of ink had escaped from the outlet onto a wax paper. There were no breaks or splits in the plastic cartridge. Check out the pictures.

Check out this thread.