How to Effectively Spoil Your Printer? 

The general lifespan of an ordinary printer can go up to 5 years (or could be more if you take good care of it). Yet, some people claim that their printer doesn’t last as long. Therefore, based on the logic on premises and condition and some assumptions (yay math!), we have deduced that there are some behaviors that could affect your printer’s life expectancy. So, here are xx ways to effectively spoil your printer (if you’re the type that likes to waste money unnecessarily).

Picking the Sweet Spot to Place your Printer

Most people don’t put much thought into where to place their printer. An average joe would just place it adjacent to a computer or near a corner of a room without much thought. However, if you want your printer dead quick, here are some places you should consider!

• An area that has an inclined surface (not level).

Angle-ing the surface where you put any mechanical machines is generally a good way to ruin it. The mechanical parts in your printer that are designed to work on level surface will try to print anyhow, with extra stress and pressure placed onto it. They may have to work harder to produce the same prints.

• An area that lacks ventilation, or is exposed to abnormal temperature.

Printers generally work best on certain recommended environmental condition. To damage it, it is best to stay away from good ventilation. The buildup of dust especially onto the printer head and rollers adds on additional load on the printer. Also, putting your printer in a place where heat may build up generally promotes overheating, which is a good way to fry the internal working parts.

Cleaning your Printer Inappropriately

We talked about dust collection adding stress onto the printer. Debris, excess ink splatted around (from refilling probably) and presence of small objects do contribute to paper jams and causes your printer to work inefficiently. Some printers have self-cleaning functions especially for printer heads. But don’t let your printer tell you what to do; you take control of your printer! Most people perform some sort of cleaning and maintenance on the cleanliness of a printer themselves. To clean your printer the wrong way, try these few points below.

• Always clean your printer with a fully wetted cloth/tissue

We’re no beginners to electronic machines (come on, what era are you living in?). The number one rule of thumb in order to destroy these devices including printers is exposing them to water. Wiping the outside and insides of the printer with wet and fluffy cloth (non-dry or lint free cloth) is a sure way to shorten the lifespan of the components. 

• If you don’t have a cloth, and you didn’t pay your water bills, manually blow the dust away with your mouth.

Some people use small vacuum cleaners to clean the insides of the device. If you feel like harming your printer, blowing the insides of your printer with your mouth gives it a personal touch to cleaning (along with some additional saliva mix). Any sort of moisture affects the components inside.

• Tear down the entire mechanical components separately to clean, and then assembling them back

Cleaning the insides of a printer is not child’s play. You tend to miss small spots or narrow areas that are hard to reach. To cover all areas, what’s better than tearing all components apart for thorough cleaning and re-assembling it? If you run your printer with a few missing screws or with some components fixed in the wrong way you’ll make sure it breaks down quicker. Hygiene is the number one concern here (Germophobes will agree).

•  Make sure to leave the power on

What a hassle it is to head over to the power source and turn it off just for your cleaning, right? To make sure you shorten the lifespan your printer, you’ll just have to leave it powered on while cleaning. Be sure to take strong precaution while doing this! Wear necessary protection equipment such as gloves and safety shoes. If you accidentally make contact with some electrical parts with bare hands, you’ll end up shortening your own lifespan, which isn’t the goal here.

Use Improper Inks or Papers

To make sure you wreck your printer, there are some crucial decisions that are needed to be made. Using the genuine ink will ensure your printer run with reduced number of problems. Likewise, using good quality papers will ensure the longevity of your printer. To depreciate your printer, you will have to do the exact opposite.

• Pick the cheapest ink cartridges you can find

When shopping for inks, be it genuine, compatible, refilled or remanufactured ones, always pick the one best for your wallet. Poorly manufactured/managed inks are the sure way to go to make sure your printer doesn’t last. There are some myths that say using compatible, refilled or remanufactured inks will ruin your printer and the quality of prints. However, it is proven that good quality ones are practically equivalent to the originals. So, it is tricky to sort out the poor quality from the good. Maybe the reviews and feedbacks from users can help on this. Remember to pick the absolute worst.

• Opt for paper jams

Similar to inks, the papers you use will play a role in shortening the life of your printer. Generally, using too thick or too thin papers (or poor recycled papers) are the best way to cause paper jams. Any sort of paper that are wrinkled, torn or attached with small objects such as paperclips or staplers will almost guarantee scar your printer. Also, here’s some additional tip, removing paper jams using brute force kind of aligns with our objective here.

Allow your Ink Nozzle Sufficient Time to Dry and Clog

A smooth running printer should always have their nozzle and print head running to avoid drying and clogging. How do we prevent that?

• Do not print regularly

Give your printer some space and let it be alone for a while (we took this straight from a relationship advice handbook). This one is pretty direct, just let your printer idle away to dry. A clogged nozzle surely damages the print head the next time you press print. This is equivalent to leaving your pet inside a car on a hot day. Shortening its lifespan is an understatement at this point.

• Be patient with your cartridge replacement

Didn’t your teacher in school tell you that patience is virtue? Printers generally will generate some notification to let you know when your cartridge ink is low. Take the cue and let it be for a while until it dries. By doing so, rest assured, your printer head will undergo some wear and tear before you even know it. 

To wrap it up, these are some of the tips that we offer if you would like to effectively spoil your printer. Jokes aside, nobody in the right mind would want to spoil their printer. This article may sound a little sarcastic, but it is our fun way of providing you some useful tips to extend your printer’s life (with a little bit of reverse psychology). May your printer live a long and prosperous life.