Save ink, protect your printer, and keep your prints clean with the right tools.
One of the most common causes of poor print quality in inkjet printers is a clogged nozzle. According to printer manufacturers, the most effective way to prevent nozzle clogs is simply to use your printer regularly.
Why? Because ink is a liquid, and like all liquids, it dries out over time—especially when left idle in fine nozzles or narrow ink channels. If you don't print frequently, the ink can dry up or allow air to enter the system. When that happens, your only option is to run the printer's built-in cleaning cycle, which forcefully flushes ink through the nozzles to clear blockages.
Unfortunately, this cleaning process is very wasteful. It consumes a large amount of ink just to recover functionality. In fact, if you only print occasionally and rely on the cleaning function every time you need to use the printer, you could end up wasting more ink on cleaning than on actual printing over the course of a year.
The easiest and most cost-effective solution is to set a recurring reminder to run a maintenance print at regular intervals—say once every 7 to 14 days. This keeps ink flowing and prevents buildup in the nozzles.
But it's not enough to just print anything. To properly maintain all color channels, you need to print a file that includes every color your printer uses. Otherwise, some channels may still dry out.
If you don't want to worry about reminders or manual printing, try NozzleClogFree:
