TIPS FOR PREVENTING & REMOVING CLOGGED INK

From Inkjet Printheads and Cartridge flow valves

If you're going through a period when you are away from your printer or not doing a lot of printing, put a sticky on your computer, or on your fridge, or on your calendar to remind you to run a print test once a month. Simple spray test will keep things moving nicely and save you from headaches later on.

When storing any ink cartridge outside of your printer, always store it in a plastic bag. As I have stated somewhere else on this website, I use a ziplock, and as I am closing it, I push the air out, then use a straw to pull the rest of the air out and then finish pressing it closed. It will look vacuum packed.
Once you have it packed in plastic, store it upright in a dark area, like a drawer or closet.

Place the clogged cartridge or print head in a small bowl of distilled water, so that the ink flow hole is submerged. In the case of the print head, you can submerge the bottom of it. Let it stand till the ink flows out. This can take a few minutes or overnight.  

Then remove the cartridge or print head from the solution. Using a soft cotton paper towel or lint free cloth, carefully, gently clean and dry it off. Do not touch the ink flow sponge. 

For the print head, you need to make sure it is dry before you put it back into your printer. I find that using a diluted bit of windex (1 part to three parts distilled water) in a small saucer will get it clean very fast and that it dries faster as well. Most of the professional cleaners we have come across are some type of diluted glass cleaner.

Now put it back in your printer and then run several sheets of paper through it till you get a good solid print sheet. Because there may still be some water in the print head, your first few pages may not be perfect, so don't try printing anything important till you test it.

For old, dried ink cartridges, I clean them by squeezing them lightly while in the water. After going through about three bowls, I find the ink is loose enough to flow through the sponge, so then I let them dry overnight and then fill them. This seems to work fine for me.

Why I do not use tap water
I don't recommend it because there may be particulates in tap water that are larger than those recommended for good ink flow and I prefer not to have this type problem clogging my print head. But there are lots of folks out there who do use tap water. This is your call. I don't recommend it.

Get a small bowl of distilled water big enough to stand the cartridge in. Take the cartridge out of the printer and place it in the bowl so that the ink flow hole is in the water. After several minutes you will see the ink color flowing into the water. Take the cartridge out, dry it carefully with a paper towel or lint free cloth. Put it back in the printer.

If that does not solve the problem do it one more time.

If that does not solve the problem. Put windex on a paper towel put it in a bowl and place the ink cartridge on it, so that ink flow hole is on the paper towel. Let it sit overnight. Place it back into your printer and now it should work.