Should I leave my inkjet printer turned on or off?

Pawnless Endgame · 1 Jun 2020 at 16:18

Printer is a Brother DCP-J4120DW (from 2016).

I use my current and historic printers a fair bit, but with lockdown, I went 2-3 months without using it. Yellow was low (about 10%) and cyan/magenta+black had about half left. I know it does the weekly nozzle cleaning like most inkjets do.

Then this week, I needed to print an eBay shipping label. Yellow is now completely out, so I replaced it with a spare yellow knowing that it was running out soon. Only now to be told that the other 3 cartridges are also gone. It could have warned me earlier!

Is it common for the various manufacturers to burn through cartridges when you're not using them? It feels like a scam as it costs around £45 for a replacement set of genuine cartridges. So should I leave the printer off if I know I'm not going to be using it for a few weeks?

Zefan · 1 Jun 2020 at 16:22

Printers, particularly inkjet, are just the very, very worst. I hate them.

I have no advice for you, I haven't found a frustration free way of using an inkjet.

Option 1) accept that you'll be replacing inks often but just don't get ~~extorted~~ genuine cartridges.
Option 2) get a budget laser for a out £50 and be done with it, unless you really, really need colour (most people don't).

Pawnless Endgame · 1 Jun 2020 at 17:26

Thanks dude!

When my newest cartridges dry up, I'll have a look at some laser printers.

JRS · 2 Jun 2020 at 07:41

Non-serious answer - set fire to the inkjet printer.
Serious answer - seriously, set fire to the inkjet printer. You're not going to stop it from sucking, because they all suck

So yeah, I agree with @Zefan. When my parents finally got tired of how much inkjet printers suck I got them a Pantum laser printer - which just sits there and works even if left sat for a couple of months. You might occasionally need to whip the toner cartridge out and give it a couple of light taps if it's left standing a lot (done that maybe once in a couple of years), but that's all.

doopydug · 2 Jun 2020 at 09:02

JRS said:
Non-serious answer - set fire to the inkjet printer.
Serious answer - seriously, set fire to the inkjet printer. You're not going to stop it from sucking, because they all suck

So yeah, I agree with @Zefan. When my parents finally got tired of how much inkjet printers suck I got them a Pantum laser printer - which just sits there and works even if left sat for a couple of months. You might occasionally need to whip the toner cartridge out and give it a couple of light taps if it's left standing a lot (done that maybe once in a couple of years), but that's all.

Are you managing to get replacement toner for it at an affordable price - just looked the printer up - seems decent but always worried about getting toner.

Armageus · 2 Jun 2020 at 09:09

Pawnless Endgame said:
So should I leave the printer off if I know I'm not going to be using it for a few weeks?

Turning it off won't help - just means it won't do it's weekly cartridge flush, meaning the ink will dry in the printhead, eventually blocking it or reducing quality.

The answer as above is get a laser printer. If you just need black and white (e.g. for shipping labels and the like), then mono lasers can be picked up new cheaply enough.
If you want colour then worth looking to see what can be picked up used locally (i.e. collection only on ebay or the like) - there are bargains to be had, just make sure they have a decent amount of toner in them, or that you can pick up a set of compatible toners cheaply.

Terminal_Boy · 2 Jun 2020 at 09:14

It makes no difference in my experience whether inkjet printers are left on or off. Having the printer sat in a hot, dry room will have far more impact on cartridges drying out that leaving the printer switched on unless the printer runs really hot.

Never had any success with 3rd party cartridges in Epsom printers. Always leaked and clunged up the ink mechanisms.

Bug One · 2 Jun 2020 at 09:32

As above, the best thing we did was throw out the horrid inkjet and get a cheap laser. We got a HP CP1025 color. Amazing that you can now get a colour laser in such a small package and so cheap. For the occasional printing of homework, labels etc it's absolutely perfect.

JRS · 2 Jun 2020 at 09:47

doopydug said:
Are you managing to get replacement toner for it at an affordable price - just looked the printer up - seems decent but always worried about getting toner.

Last toner cartridge bought for it I think was ~25 quid. Printer model is a P2200W, toner cartridge PG-217S.

chroniclard · 2 Jun 2020 at 09:53

Mine turns itself off after a while. The printer cost less new than replacement ink.

a1ex2001 · 14 Jul 2020 at 15:54

like other I gave up on inkjets a long while ago after the endless dried up ink saga's, I had a cheap Samsung b&w laser for about 15 years and when that finally gave up I replaced it with a Brother color network laser as the costs have come down massively the only thing it doesn't do as well as an inkjet is print pictures but as my inkjet was always dried up it couldn't do that and photobox and the like do a better job for peanuts!

Liquid_Entity · 16 Jul 2020 at 07:34

Bug One said:
As above, the best thing we did was throw out the horrid inkjet and get a cheap laser. We got a HP CP1025 color. Amazing that you can now get a colour laser in such a small package and so cheap. For the occasional printing of homework, labels etc it's absolutely perfect.

Where from and how much. I Google that model number and I get all sorts of different models and there is not a clear picture of the model in question either.

Bug One · 16 Jul 2020 at 09:06

Looks like it's no longer available. I'm guessing it's been superseded with this model.

https://store.hp.com/UKStore/Merch/...XDZ3MqyHy1U_uD2PfukaAownEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Usher · 16 Jul 2020 at 09:32

Infrequent use of our Epson printer dried out the print head and was not repairable, binned it and bought an Epson as the print head is actually on the cartridge, had it for about 6 years then hardly used it for several months and it finally failed even with a new cartridge. Now have a Xerox mono multifunction laser, can be left unused without problems as the 'ink' is actually powder so cannot dry out

Phil2008 · 17 Jul 2020 at 13:40

I make sure the ink carts are nice and large before buying a printer, or yeah you will always be changing them.

Phil2008 · 17 Jul 2020 at 13:47

Armageus said:
Turning it off won't help - just means it won't do it's weekly cartridge flush, meaning the ink will dry in the printhead, eventually blocking it or reducing quality.

Brothers do weekly nozzle checks regardless if the printer is on or off.. Thats why I prefer brother printers.

Usher · 17 Jul 2020 at 14:06

Phil2008 said:
Brothers do weekly nozzle checks regardless if the printer is on or off.. Thats why I prefer brother printers.

how does that work if the printer is turned off?

Armageus · 17 Jul 2020 at 14:14

Usher said:
how does that work if the printer is turned off?

Only if it is in a "soft off" state via the control panel.

Fairly sure it won't manage a nozzle check if turned off at the mains!

Phil2008 · 18 Jul 2020 at 11:35

Armageus said:
Only if it is in a "soft off" state via the control panel.

Fairly sure it won't manage a nozzle check if turned off at the mains!

Yeah it needs power going to the printer. If you can buy a brother printer like the one I have (MFC-5730DW) with the large ink carts, they are better then a laser in my opinion because the printer stays unblocked and you can print out photo's.... These carts last me about a year of heavy use.........
https://www.internet-ink.com/Brothe...patible-High-Capacity-Ink-Cartridge-Multipack