How to clean printer heads: the cleaning cycle first, then by hand

Step by step: how to clean printer heads

Safety first. Turn the printer off and unplug it before you reach in to wipe anything, except when the manual tells you to leave it on so the carriage moves to the access position. Wear gloves, since ink stains skin and fabric, and keep cartridges and ink bottles away from children.

1. 1

   Print a nozzle check

   Find the nozzle check or print quality report in the printer’s maintenance or tools menu, or in its app on your computer or phone. Load plain paper and print it. Gaps in the lines or a missing color block tell you which nozzles are clogged.

2. 2

   Run one head cleaning cycle

   From the same maintenance menu, choose head cleaning (it may be called clean printhead or print head cleaning) and let it run without opening the cover. It takes one to a few minutes and the printer will make pumping noises. Do not turn it off partway.

3. 3

   Check, and repeat only twice more

   Print the nozzle check again. If lines filled in but not completely, run a second cycle and check again. Stop after three cycles in a row, because each one pushes ink through the head and fills the maintenance pad.

4. 4

   Let it rest for a few hours

   Leave the printer on and idle for several hours or overnight. The fresh ink drawn in by the cycles can soften dried ink in the nozzles while it sits. Then print one more nozzle check before doing anything else.

5. 5

   Try the deeper cleaning option

   Many printers have a stronger cycle called deep cleaning or power cleaning. It uses much more ink, so run it once, only after the normal cycles failed, and make sure your ink levels are not low. Check the result with a nozzle check.

6. 6

   Clean cartridge nozzles by hand

   If your printer uses cartridges with the print head built in (common in HP and some Canon models), take the clogged cartridge out. Dampen a lint-free cloth with warm distilled water and hold it against the nozzle strip for about a minute, so ink wicks into the cloth, then dab gently without rubbing. Wipe the copper contacts with a dry cloth, let the cartridge dry for 10 minutes and reinstall it.

7. 7

   Wipe the area around a fixed head

   On printers with a permanent head (most Epson and many Canon models), do not pull the head out unless the manual shows how, and do not wipe the head itself; Canon’s manual says not to rinse or wipe it. With the printer off and unplugged, you can wipe ink buildup from the carriage and paper path with a foam swab barely dampened with distilled water. Then rerun one cleaning cycle and a nozzle check.

Why do printer heads clog?

Ink dries in the tiny nozzles, especially when a printer sits unused, and shows up as missing lines or white streaks on a nozzle check. The printer’s fix is a cleaning cycle that fires ink through the nozzles to clear them. Canon’s PIXMA manual lays out the order to follow: print a nozzle check, clean the head, check again, and move to a deep cleaning only if two rounds did not work. Off-brand ink can add to the trouble: Consumer Reports says third-party inks don’t always work well and at times may even clog the print heads.

That maintenance costs ink. Consumer Reports found that much of the ink in an inkjet is used for cleaning print heads and other maintenance, typically when the printer starts up after sitting idle. That is why running cycle after cycle drains cartridges fast, and why printing a page or two every week often prevents clogs better than cleaning does.

How cleaning differs by printer type

Whether the head lives in the cartridge or in the printer decides how far you can go by hand. Check your manual for the exact menu names and access steps.

On printers with a fixed head, hands off the head itself. Canon’s manual says not to rinse or wipe the print head or the ink tanks. If a deep cleaning does not fix the pattern, it says to turn the printer off, deep clean again after 24 hours, and contact Canon for repair if the problem remains.

When should you stop cleaning and replace something?

Replace the cartridge first if its head is built in and three cycles, a rest and a hand cleaning did not help. On a printer with a permanent head, contact the maker’s support before buying a replacement head, which on an inexpensive printer is often not worth it.

• A color that prints nothing at all after cleaning may simply be out of ink, or the cartridge tape may still be on. Check levels and the cartridge first.
• Streaks in the same place on every page, even with a perfect nozzle check, often come from a dirty roller or paper path rather than the head.
• A maintenance box or ink pad full message means the printer has used up its waste capacity; replace the box if your model allows it.
• Keep the printer covered or closed when idle and wipe dust off the top weekly, so lint does not fall into the paper path.

Mistakes to avoid

• Running five or ten cleaning cycles in a row and emptying the cartridges.
• Cutting power at the wall or power strip instead of the power button, which can leave the head uncapped on some models.
• Rubbing the nozzle strip hard or with cotton swabs that leave fibers behind.
• Using tap water, alcohol or glass cleaner on the nozzles when the manual calls for distilled water.
• Pulling out a permanent print head without instructions and damaging its connectors.