Printer Maintenance Tips

Printers and photocopiers are hard-working machines. They work tirelessly day in, day out. But when they stop working it can cause terrible upheaval and disruption.

As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure. This means making sure you’re looking after your trusty devices. To prolong the life of your printer, we’ve put together a few handy tips, which we recommend you follow.

• Do stop dust from getting inside your printer by keeping it covered. This is particularly important if you’re not going to be using it for a long period of time.
• Do clean the outside of your printer at least once a week. We recommend you use a damp lint-free cloth dipped in water. Alternatively you can use a small amount of alcohol to wipe away dust, dirt, animal hair and other contaminants. But don’t use strong cleaners as it can damage the printer casing.
• Do remove the toner cartridge and clean the gears and rollers along the paper path. To clean the rollers use alcohol or Bestine (available in art stores).
• Do consider investing in a small portable vacuum to clean dirt and dust from the inside of your printer. Don’t use a compressed air blower though as the dirt and dust will simply be blasted back into the printer.
• Don’t store toners in a hot room. They must be kept away from direct sunlight.
• Before replacing the toner cartridge, do shake it gently from side to side. This will prolong the life of the toner. It also redistributes the toner so that your printer prints evenly across the page.
• When using a new toner do remember to print a blank page first. By running a clean page through your printer it will pick up lint, dust, and stray toner.
• Faulty, damaged or poor quality toner and ink cartridges are responsible for the majority of printer problems. Do buy genuine cartridges only.
• Before you seek technical help, you should try changing the ink cartridge first. It could just clear up the problem.

Common printer faults

You want your printer to run smoothly. But it can so easily develop faults, leaving you tearing your hair out screaming at it to work.

Common printer faults can range from paper jams and faded print to ghosting and ink smears. So let’s take a look at some of the most common difficulties printers run in to.

The printer won’t print

Is it switched on? We kid you not – it’s more common than you might think. Check the USB cable is plugged in. In case of wireless printers, make sure it’s connected to the Wi-Fi network and if it still won’t print try using a USB cable instead. Are there any warning lights or error messages? Is there printer paper in the tray? Has the printer run out of ink? Always eliminate the basics first.

Paper gets stuck in the printer

It’s an annoying but common problem. There could be a tiny shred of paper stuck in the paper feed mechanism. To try and eliminate the problem, remove the paper from the tray, open the printer flaps and check inside. It could be a tricky job so arm yourself with a torch and some long tweezers. Some printers have access panels underneath, giving you easier access to clean the paper feed mechanism. To avoid printer jams make sure you don’t overfill the tray and the paper is aligned properly.

Poor print quality

The nozzles on inkjet printer heads can often become blocked and this can lead to horizontal streaks as well as poor colours amongst other things. Cleaning the print heads can solve this problem. Check if there’s an option to do this on the control panel of your printer, or in the printer software on your computer. If in doubt, always refer to your manual. Don’t forget the quality of the paper you use can affect the quality of your printing too. You get what you pay for, so to get the best results use good quality paper.

Help! My multi-function printer/scanner has stopped scanning

Unfortunately faulty scanners aren’t unusual if you’ve got a cheaper MFP. And that can often mean having to replace the whole unit. But before you write it off, try reinstalling the printer’s software.