Does the Cartridge Ink Evaporate When Not Used?

People often wonder as to why the ink in their printer ink cartridge evaporates. Well, for those who use printers extensively, the answer is rather simple. The ink finishes as they keep on printing page after page. But there are those printer users who use their printer very rarely and still see the level of ink diminish with time and they wonder why this happens.

Problem 1: Evaporation of the Solvent

So, does the printer ink evaporate when it is not used? Actually, the ink used in the printer is formulated in a way so that it can dry quickly. This is done to ensure that when prints are taken, there are no smudges on the paper. And, the soluble component of the ink does evaporate.

Problem 2: The Syringe in the Cartridge

When inkjet printers are refilled, the refill kit mandates that the ink be injected into the cartridge using a syringe. The syringe pokes a hole in the foil seal of the cartridge. After a few refills, the perforation can become large enough for the ink inside to evaporate. Cartridge ink is made of water and a glycol base and other chemical pigments. When the liquid portion of the ink evaporates, it leaves behind a thicker ink. The thicker ink can sometime gunk the print head. So, when the refill kit is used to refill a cartridge, some precaution is necessary.

Problem 3: Improper switch off

Cartridge ink also evaporates when the printer is unplugged without turning it off first. When this is done, the printer doesn’t get time to park its print heads so that they are not exposed to air. As a result, the ink gets exposed to air and evaporates faster. But there can be further complications than that. Within 30 minutes, the print heads can dry up completely and get sealed. When this happens, the users will have no other option other than to discard the cartridge or go through a very complex and time consuming process of unclogging and cleaning the print heads.

Problem 4: Defective/leaky cartridge

There may be cases where the cartridges are defective and leak ink. So, even if the printer is not being used, the cartridge leaks the ink and finishes it off. It may be a good idea to check for that if the ink level is decreasing continuously.

Problem 5: Less usage

For those who don’t use their printers often, when they turn their printers on after a while, a part of the ink is used by the printer to clean the print heads. So, some ink gets used up in this way. Hypothetically, it is possible to use up all the ink in the cartridge without printing a single page by simply turning the printer on and off.

It is common knowledge that all liquids evaporate. Some evaporate faster than the others. So, even if the printer is kept idle for long periods of time, there is certainly a fair chance of the ink getting evaporated with time.

So, if you have a printer, use it from time to time. Otherwise, after a while, you will feel that paid for the cartridge and did nothing with it and still it got finished.

Did you also check out our Printer & Printer Ink Cartridges Related FAQ pages?

Looking for printer review? Check out our Printer Reviews section! New

Do you need Printer Drivers? We have more than 1600 printer drivers and they are all free!!!

Start shopping ink cartridges here!!!

See speacials page for software and other products on sale...

Printer & Printer Ink Cartridges Information, Facts & Downloads

Disclaimer

PrintCountry offers a wide range of replacement cartridges, generic printer supplies, remanufactured and recycled printer inkjet cartridges for various brands like HP.com , Dell.com, Epson.com, BrotherUSA.com, Lexmark.com, Samsung.com, Canon.com and other brands less known than HP, Epson, Brother, Dell like Pitney Bowes, Minolta, Mita, Kodak printers. All brand names mentioned on this page are used for demonstrative purposes only. PrintCountry is not associated, affiliated or connected with. At PrintCountry.com besides offering deep discounted warehouse prices and online shopping offers and promotions for compatible toner cartridges, replacement printer ink cartridges, you can also find printer reviews about the most popular, best rated, newest printers, coupons and promos for other printing equipment manufacturers, do it yourself guides from friendly kid projects using your printer to great gift ideas using things like photo paper and your printers features. Whether you would like to buy your printer supplies online at discount prices, or save a bunch on cheap ink cartridges without sacrificing from quality prints, we hope you will find our website a good resource & guide to your print supply shopping needs.

Home My Account Order Status Contact Us About PrintCountry	Support Privacy Policy Store Policies FAQ Printer Ink Related FAQ Printer Ink Refill Help Printer Driver Download	Ink & Toner Cartridges Brother Ink Cartridges Canon Ink Cartridges Dell Ink Cartridges Epson Ink Cartridges HP Ink Cartridges Lexmark Ink Cartridges
Information Printer Reviews PrintCountry Blog PrintCountry Articles Popular Printer Search	Sales Corporate Sales Government / Non- Profit Sales Educational Sales Fax / Mail Order Form

Does the Cartridge Ink Evaporate When Not Used?

Disclaimer

Store Rating

Email Exclusives

Testimonials