This is how you should store your printer cartridges

If you store your printer’s ink cartridge incorrectly, this can affect its longevity. Correct storage is of fundamental importance so that you can enjoy the high quality of the ink for as long as possible. In the following tutorial, we would like to show you how you should best store your printer cartridges.

Constant temperatures are important

A basic requirement for the long shelf life of your printer cartridges are constant temperatures. It does not matter whether it is the original cartridge of your printer or from a third-party manufacturer. Accordingly, you should make sure that there are no fluctuations between low and high temperatures. Otherwise, this can affect the consistency of the ink and lead to inferior printing results. At particularly cold temperatures, the printer ink may even decompose. It’s best to store cartridges at temperatures between -15 and 35 degrees.

Do not open the packaging prematurely

It is always advisable to take the general storage instructions from the packaging. In the instruction manual, the manufacturers usually point out to you what you should not do. However, there is one crucial tip that prevents you from reading the operating instructions in the first place. You should only open the packaging of the printer cartridge when you actually need it. In their shrink-wrapped form, cartridges are not yet exposed to external influences. A big problem is the risk of evaporation. There is nothing worse than a brand-new ink cartridge that has already dried up when you insert it. If you have already removed the protective film from a printer cartridge, you should not simply stick it back on. Otherwise, there is a risk that the residue on the protective film will mix up several colors. This is at least the case with combined ink cartridges.

Install the printer cartridge immediately

If you have already unpacked the cartridge, the best place to put it is in the printer itself. If you switch off the device properly by ON/OFF switch, the cartridges remain in the so-called “rest position”. In this position, care is taken to ensure that the ink is as difficult as possible to dry out, but remains fresh.

Fresh bag or plastic can

But also outside the printer you can keep the cartridge as long as possible fresh. Here, there are different possibilities. For example, an airtight plastic container is ideal for storage. After all, it is very difficult for evaporation to occur here. Alternatively, however, an airtight freshness bag is also perfectly suitable. It is always important that the nozzles of the print head do not come into contact with the can or the film of the bag under any circumstances.

Otherwise, there is not only a risk of the ink drying up. It is also possible that the colors will mix if your printer uses a combined ink cartridge. Depending on the color, a different orientation of the cartridges may be suitable. While you should prefer to store color cartridges with the nozzles facing down, black cartridges should have the nozzles facing up.

Print regularly

Once the ink cartridges are installed in the printer, you should continue to keep in mind that they can dry up. The most effective way to avoid this is to use your printer regularly. For example, every two to three weeks you can print a test page to check the print quality of your machine. This effectively prevents the ink from drying up in the nozzles. The reason for this is that the ink itself contains solvent. This dissolves the ink residue from the nozzles. However, if you wait too long with the corresponding test pages, the drying is often already so advanced that this maintenance is no longer effective. Of course, these cleanings by means of test pages cost a lot of ink. However, you can avoid time-consuming cleaning procedures.