4 Tips For Longer Printer Life

4 Tips For Longer Printer Life From Hewlett Packard

1.    Avoid remanufactured ink and toner

 This is far and away the most important step you can take to extend the life of your printer. Some businesses try to reduce printing costs by purchasing ink or toner “remanufactured” by a third party. It may seem less expensive up front, but too often, using remanufactured ink or toner means sacrificing print quality and ink or toner cartridge reliability—and adding hidden costs in the form of support calls, having to reprint low-quality output, and wasted supplies.

Remanufactured toner is also more likely to harm your printer. In one study, nearly 1 in 10 HP LaserJet printer customers using remanufactured toner ended up with damaged printers—and 26 percent experienced printer downtime as a result of cartridge problems.

 The bottom line: to extend printer life—and enjoy consistently high-quality printer output—stick with the manufacturer’s ink or toner. If you want to save money on printing, print on both sides of the page, use lower-quality (e.g., “draft”) print settings for everyday use, and shrink documents to fill fewer pages. If you want to save money on ink or toner, buy higher-capacity cartridges if they’re available for your printer.

 

Sure, you'd expect a printer maker to put this item first to encourage use of their consumables but over the years I've seen first hand the damage caused by cheap 3rd party toner and ink carts.  At our offices, we use nothing but original manufacturer cartridges to avoid "toner bombs" and other messy problems that are common with off-brand products.

2.    Turn off your printer before unplugging

You may not realize it, but sudden power surges or outages aren’t the best thing in the world if you’re looking to maximize the life of your printer. To lessen your risk in this regard, make sure to power down your printer before unplugging it.  And if by mistake you unplug your inkjet printer in the middle of a print job, don’t try to move the print nozzle back to its standard resting position—instead, power the printer back up, which will cause the nozzle to return to the standard resting position automatically.

3.    Use a surge protector to protect you printer

Using a surge protector to protect your printer can also reduce the risk associated with power surges, especially if you’re in a lightning-prone area.

4.    Use quality paper

There’s good paper—quality multipurpose or recycled paper, or paper made specifically for laser printing or special jobs like photos, glossy brochures, and iron-on transfers. And there’s bad paper, often made of ground-up newsprint, which leaves an excess of dust behind inside your printer and is more prone to jamming which results in lower-quality print jobs. Good paper requires only a minimal additional investment, and is more than worth it if you want to produce higher-quality documents and extend the life of your printer.

 

To minimize paper jams and other feed problems avoid cheap, poor quality paper.

Of course, regardless of what steps you take to extend printer life, eventually even the most well-cared-for printer will need to be replaced. Luckily for your bottom line, manufacturers have a variety of trade-in programs which can offer significant savings via discounts or rebates. For example, HP’s trade-in program offers allowances you can use toward the purchase of any new HP product.