Epson 7890: leave on or off?

[epines]

I've heard and read various opinions about this question. I'd like to minimize nozzle clogs on my 7890, of course. Thus far I've been leaving it on all the time and printing a nozzle check almost every day. I run a standard head-pair cleaning if there's a break in the pattern, and it clears it up.

A couple of knowledgeable people have advised me to leave it on all the time. But apparently Epson recommends leaving it off when not in use. I just read that, when powering off, the machine parks the head in the cap assembly, preventing ink from drying out. So I'm left with these options:

- Continue doing as I've been doing: leaving it on and printing a nozzle check every day.

- Leave it off, and only power it on when I need to print (which is not frequent). Run a head cleaning if necessary.

- Turn it on every day, run a nozzle check, clean if necessary, turn it off. Seems like this option would use a lot of ink.

- Turn it on, say, once a week, run a nozzle check, clean if necessary, make a print, turn it off.

Any thoughts / input?

thanks
ethan

[HowardG]

These printers like to be used and letting them sit for long periods without use isn't a great idea. What I would personally do (and have done when I was printing less) is to leave it off, turn it on every day or two and print a purge file to run some ink of every color through the nozzles on a cheap 8x10 paper. You can find purge files for that printer and others here:
http://www.marruttusa.com/printer-maintenance/inkjet-printer-purge-files.php#col

I'm sure you will get a lot of opinions though.

Howard
www.howardgrill.com

[epines]

Thanks, Howard. Does turning it off and on use ink? Perhaps I'm better leaving it on and making a purge print every few days.

Or is turning it off healthy for the printer, e.g., it parks the head in a cap? Not sure if what I've read is correct or not.

thanks
ethan

[HowardG]

Thanks, Howard. Does turning it off and on use ink? Perhaps I'm better leaving it on and making a purge print every few days.

Or is turning it off healthy for the printer, e.g., it parks the head in a cap? Not sure if what I've read is correct or not.

thanks
ethan

I am by no means anything close to an expert    I do know that turning it off and on does use ink. I believe that even if left on the head is still parked when not printing. Like you, I have read many different things and I can't say for sure which is right. I believe the newer Epsons have options to be programmed to do a little ink squirt now and then when on, but not your model. I can only tell you what I used to do. I do think the purge file is a good idea.

Howard