Printers can be the backbone of any work of home office, so it’s incredibly frustrating when they suddenly stop working. Fortunately, extending the working life of a printer is quite simple. By taking the time to maintain your hp envy 4500 ink and other printers through following these simple tips, you can put off the dreaded printer shopping for a whole lot longer.

Clean the Inside of Your Printer

At least once a month its vital to undertake a thorough clean of the inside of your printer. A good trick to remember, is to check the inside for debris and other nasty particles every time you reload the paper tray.

While it may seem like a simple task, cleaning the inside of your printer is one of the most effective maintenance techniques you can employ to extend the working life of your printer. Dust is the prime culprit for service calls following printer malfunctions, and can lead to permanent damage to your printer if not removed.

Use Care when Replacing Cartridges

It is important to read the instructions before attempting to replace cartridges, as inserting them incorrectly can cause permanent damage to the holder. Touching the bottom of the cartridge when replacing it, can also affect your printers health and the quality of your prints.

Allowing a cartridge to go dry when printing or allowing an empty ink cartridge to sit in the printer, are the two most common and most serious printing errors to make. Aside from providing ink, the cartridges also act as a coolant for the printer head. Without the ink to cool down the printer head, you can burn the entire compartment. This often necessitates replacing the entire printer.

Use High-Quality Paper

While high-quality paper is often the first to go in cost-saving measures, low quality paper leads to printer jams and eventually, replacements. In fact, most printer manufacturers publish minimum paper standards, and won’t provide warranty support until you use the proper type of paper.

It is also important to use new, undamaged paper when printing. Damaged paper can cause paper jams, which can lead to major mechanical problems for your printer.

Use Care When Replacing Parts

Printers are often made of quite breakable materials, including plastic. You should therefore also use care when assembling or repairing them. We all know how frustrating it is when something doesn’t fit. It’s therefore easy to use excess force when trying to assemble printers, leading to parts breaking and a hefty servicing bill.

Keep Your Printer in Standby Mode

Printers are known to overheat when running for an extended period of time. Whilst switching your printer on and off is not good for the environment or the health of your printer, if you know that you will not be using it for a period of time, it is important to keep it in standby mode.

Leaving your printer on unnecessarily for extended periods dries up the cartridges, clogs the header and can cause wear and tear in other areas due to the excessive heat.

Replace Old Feed Rollers

Look out for a slippery, glazed surface over your feed rollers. This is when you know it’s time to replace them. Worn feed rollers are another common cause of paper jams, causing the paper to feed incorrectly while in the paper path.

Download Updates Regularly

Downloading updates is one of the frequently overlooked steps in maintaining your printers overall health. Regular updates can troubleshoot issues, improve your printers performance and clean up any excess files on the server.

The easiest way to ensure your printer is receiving all available updates is to set your printer to download these updates automatically. Otherwise, its best to schedule a manual update monthly.

In an office space or busy home, printers play a crucial role in many daily duties. Giving your printer some TLC through the tips outlined above, is critical to keeping your office buddy in shape.