Does printer ink evaporate with time?

printer inkjet-printer ink

7,748

Solution 1

Simply put - Ink is a bloody con!

I just checked the specifications and you have an all-in-one... I had an all-in-one Epson and found the same - I bought 4x full cartridges and mainly used it for scanning, I went to print and it had gone down by about 70%.

I found out that EVERY time I turned it on, it would deposit a tiny amount of ink. If you do head cleaning or any of the other maintenance tasks, it does a lot more.

However, I think it was just the chip on mine - I got a chip resetter... enter image description here

And was able to use this 3-4 times before it was really empty - I am not sure if you can get something similar for HPs though.

Solution 2

Yes, ink evaporates, mostly through the hole required to let air in when ink is taken out. This is why they are sold sealed airtight.

If this was a perfect world, someone would have added a trivial fix: a rubber pad to close the hole in each cartridge while the printer is not in use. But, alas, it is profitable for printer manufacturers for your ink to evaporate...

P.S. Strictly speaking it's the solvent that evaporates of course; the dye stays behind. If the dye could evaporate too it would leave the paper blank after a while!

7,748

iKarampa

"I have the only working phaser ever built. It was fired only once to keep William Shatner from making another album.''

Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

iKarampa almost 2 years

I have an HP Photosmart C6300. I bought brand new colour cartridges half year ago and have not used the printer since then. Yesterday when I tried to print something, the ink levels were about 20% down.

Does ink evaporate or do I have a leak?
iKarampa about 13 years

I have not heard of chip resetter before, it makes the printer think it's cartridges are full?
William Hilsum about 13 years

@iKarampa - yep... In old days, you would change the inks when it started to fade or nothing would come out - now, the chip tells the printer it is empty even when it isn't... resetting does just that so it thinks they are full. I am able to typically get 2/3 goes out of any cartridge.
Sirex about 13 years

needless to say, unless you are printing colour photos, use a laser. They are about £40 these days and you can refill the toner for £15 to do another 3000 pages. I know alot of people still using inkjets to print documents.
iKarampa about 13 years

@Sirex, if only I knew that before I bought this ink sucker
iKarampa about 13 years

I was not printing all that time in order to SAVE ink!
William Hilsum about 13 years

@iKarampa - They all have chips like this :(
RomanSt about 13 years

@iKarampa you would have even less ink left if you printed all this time :)
Bobson almost 13 years

Are you sure it doesn't just dry up as opposed to evaporate?
Bobson over 12 years

Well I suppose the water evaporates, leaving behind the solid dye particles, but saying the ink evaporates as opposed to dries makes it sound as though the ink is leaving the cartridge, leaving behind an empty, clean cartridge. Asking if the ink dries over time, suddenly the answer becomes painfully obvious since the ink cartridges are not hermetically sealed (obviously, otherwise they would not work).
RomanSt over 12 years

@Bobson, I did not consider that subtlety in the meaning of the words. I don't think the OP wanted to know whether the dye particles leave the container though, only whether the volume of the complete solution decreases.
Kibbee over 12 years

This is why I switched to laser. I print very infrequently at home, so almost every time I would go to print, the ink would be clogged. Laser printers are cheap enough now that price isn't an issue. Especially once you count the price of toner/ink. For the few times I truly need something color, it makes more sense to just bring a USB stick into a print shop, and get them to print it. Phots as well, so cheap to print out that it's not worth the bother of maintaining my own ink jet.
L84 over 10 years

+1 for Simply put - Ink is a bloody con!
fixer1234 over 9 years

The printheads are even more expensive than the ink. Inkjet manufacturers tell you not to remove the ink cartridges once they are loaded. The reason is the same as why you're putting them in plastic bags--the ink dries out. There is ink that remains in the printhead; enough of it that it turns into a plug that is difficult to clean out. You are likely to need to replace the printhead, if it is even replaceable, or replace the printer. You are better off leaving the cartridges in place and printing once a week to move some ink through the printhead to keep it clean.
jvriesem about 9 years

@WilliamHilsum: Where can you get one of these chip resetters? Do you have a link to a reputable site? Can you say something more about them?
bwDraco about 8 years

@fixer1234: 100% correct. HP says that for IIC printers (separate cartridge and printhead), you should not remove the cartridge from the printer for more than 30 seconds and that the printer must never be turned off with missing cartridges. In addition, dry-firing a printhead in printers that use thermal inkjet technology (HP, Canon) will cause it to fail; see superuser.com/questions/409473/….