I'm reporting on the nozzles of my Epson 4000 printer because I can't believe how many people have come to my blog after they have googled Epson 4000 clogged nozzles. It seems like there are three or four hits everyday. I think that confirms that there really is a problem with the ink delivery system of the Epson 4000. For a while I was hopeful that since my machine was made during the end of the manufacturing period that Epson had made some engineering adjustments and that the problem might be solved. Don't think so since the newer model, the 4800, is also experiencing clogged nozzles.
I first wrote Clogged Nozzle Anxiety on March 1 when I was worrying about what was happening to my Epson 4000 while it was sitting idle for 5 weeks. I left it in a room with a humidifier running because it resides in a very dry desert location. We came back and I started it up with anxiety. The printer told me that I need to do a cleaning but I didn't. I just ran a nozzle check. Perfect. I printed something. Again the printer told me to do a cleaning. I didn't. I printed something else and it quit telling me to do a cleaning.
I've had it off for a couple of days and just printed something else today. First a good nozzle check, then the print. I think I should be knocking on wood. The other shoe may drop any minute.
I am keeping the humidifier running but there is no way it can put enough humidity in this room to come anywhere near a minimum of 40% humidity because there isn't any air-conditioning and we have to leave the windows open to catch the breezes. At night when the room is closed up the humidifier is able to catch up and even goes off from time to time. During the day I'm going to try the procedure we used with our children when they were small and needed a humidifier, I'm making a tent over the printer, putting the humidifier under it and I'll see if that works or if I end up with condensation under the tent. Since it cuts off when the dialed in humidity is reached maybe we will not have a condensation problem.
So to my Clogged Nozzle Readers, stay tuned. I'll keep reporting on my experiences with the Epson 4000. And Dear Clogged Nozzle Readers, if you find a solution or solutions.....let me know so I can be prepared.
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5 comments:
Perhaps that explains why I've had no problems with my 2400, even though I'll sometimes go months (yes, believe it or not) between printings.
It's set up in my office in our basement. We keep a dehumidifier running all year round and it's set to keep the humidity from going *above* 40%. Except during the very coldest days of the winter, it will run all the time.
Tommy, the manual for the 4000 says for "guaranteed print quality"
59 to 77 degrees Farenheit
40 to 60% relative humidity (without condensation)
I've never had any problems with the 2200 printer. It seems like the problems are with the large format printers. Some of the discussions I've read seem to think that there is a pressure problem in the large cartridges and feed to the nozzles. Who knows...it is a worry. I'm still interested to see how the new Canon large format printer "wears."
Well, as I've said before, we are running an Epson 4000 in heavy daily use at my University, and while we do nozzle checks once a month or so, and have run the cleaning cycle a few times, I would say we have a "clogged nozzle" problem. In the 18-months since we've owned the printer, I would guess we've put 5-7 full sets of the 220-ml cartridges through it. It just keeps hummin' along.
Pitchertaker
MISTAKE.....I meant to say "WE DO NOT HAVE A CLOGGED NOZZLE PROBLEM." Sorry 'bout that.
Pitchertaker
Pitchertaker, I know that we bought our 4000's about the same time. I'm still hoping that by the time we bought them, near the end of the manufacturing cycle, that some adjustments had been made that means we will have less probelms. The 4000 that you have gets lots of regular use from multiply users. Mine is a single user machine and isn't run as often so it will be interesting to see how this all plays out.
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