Leaving my 7900 home alone!

[randal21]

I will be away for two weeks and am concerned about coming home to clogged jets/etc. Epson would say I am "over concerned" I bet but too many people have had problems with their 900 series printer. A good friend just suggested "praying" as I leave it. Any suggestions that don't bring religion into it?

[Farmer]

Do a nozzle check before you switch off.  If it's clear, good and well.  If not, run a clean until it's clear and then turn it off.

When you come back, do a nozzle check.  Clean if needed, otherwise carry on.

[Ken Doo]

I was going to suggest burning sage or incense too...  

Seriously, I would suggest checking humidity levels and aim for a target of 40-60% rh.  I have had no problems with leaving my 9900 "home alone" for short periods when photographing landscapes and haven't had the opportunity for longer periods as my printer gets used pretty regularly and I don't often get to travel!  My last trip I was gone over a week and a subsequent nozzle check was perfect.

If you're on a pc, you can try http://www.harveyheadcleaner.com/  It is a printer utility that runs nozzle checks as scheduled (in your absence).  I have my 9800 piezography printer on this utlility and it does work well.  If you purchase a single license, you can run the utility on all your printers....(I checked)

ken

[DeanChriss]

I've had a 7900 since December 2008. Since then I've left it sit numerous times for between 3 to 5 weeks when we travel. It's often been longer than that because many times I haven't printed anything the week before we leave and don't necessarily touch the printer for 5-7 days after we're back. There are nearly always a few clogs but they never take more than a couple of normal cleanings to clear. In short, I wouldn't worry about it.

[neile]

Don't worry about it. I've left my Canon 8300 home alone for weeks at a time with no ill effects. I just leave it on and let it do its thing.

Neil

[enduser]

Harvey Head Cleaner only works on printers up to 6 inks.

" Large Format Edition
The Large FormatEdition will work well with any make or model of four-ink (CMYK) or six-ink(C, LC, M, LM, Y, K)large format inkjet printer. "

[Ken Doo]

Harvey Head Cleaner only works on printers up to 6 inks.

" Large Format Edition
The Large FormatEdition will work well with any make or model of four-ink (CMYK) or six-ink(C, LC, M, LM, Y, K)large format inkjet printer. "

There are different versions of HHC.  You just need to buy the right one----luckily for me Version III works on my 4800, 9800 (piezography) and 9900.  Version III is specific to Epson printers, not the "generic" Large Format Edition.  See, http://www.harveyheadcleaner.com/buyv3.html  Yup, Epson 7900 included here.  No personal connection with HHC, just an end-user.  But the idea is sound:  keep ink moving through the cartridges/head and keep the capping station wet.

ken

[Mark D Segal]

I have an Epson 4900 which is also an x900 series printer and I have regularly left it alone for up to a month at a time. After a week or so of non-use I find it would need one simple cleaning cycle to bring all the nozzles back into fine printing condition. (This isn't religion, it's practical experience.)

[tsjanik]

Like Mark, I have a 4900 and my experience is similar.  I just returned from a two week trip and had to clean a few nozzles, that's it.  I do leave a tray with wet sponges in the printer when I'm gone.  Does that help - not sure, but it doesn't hurt as long as you leave note to remove the tray before use!

[GeraldB]

I've become more and more convinced that my issues with my 7900 are humidity related. I live in a climate where the outside temperature in winter is mostly below -5c and often below -10C. Inside the house its +20, so the relative humidity is very low. I had endless problems printing in the winter. Week to week I needed to do power pair cleans with all sorts of wierd behaviour. Now its summer and I had the printer off for 3 months. Turned it on expecting the worst. One normal clean and everything is working perfectly.  I plan to humidify the room with the printer this coming winter.

[Ken Doo]

Totally agree with you, Gerald.  It just makes sense to monitor humidity levels. 

[DeanChriss]

I've become more and more convinced that my issues with my 7900 are humidity related. I live in a climate where the outside temperature in winter is mostly below -5c and often below -10C. Inside the house its +20, so the relative humidity is very low. I had endless problems printing in the winter. Week to week I needed to do power pair cleans with all sorts of wierd behaviour. Now its summer and I had the printer off for 3 months. Turned it on expecting the worst. One normal clean and everything is working perfectly.  I plan to humidify the room with the printer this coming winter.

For whatever it's worth, the climate here is about the same as yours in winter. Relative humidity plummets in the house, typically hovering in the 30% range or a little lower. I dehumidify to around 55% (monitored by a reliable meter) in summer but have no humidification in winter, yet summer is when I have all of my clogging issues with the 7900. When it starts getting cold outside and the humidity inside drops the clogging issues vanish and everything runs perfectly all winter. Once it warms up and the humidity rises I have clogs again. This is completely counter-intuitive but this pattern has repeated itself exactly for three years now. I can't imagine that low humidity is responsible for the lack of clogging, but I think cooler temperatures in the printer room in winter may be. As I mentioned the relative humidity drops to 30% or less in winter, but the room temperature also drops to around 18 - 19 C (around 65 degrees F). In summer the humidity is up to 55% but the temperature tops out at almost 24C (75F). The clogging in summer can be a real nuisance but not terrible enough to keep the AC set to 65 degrees F all summer. Anyway, at least in my case, humidity doesn't seem to play be the primary reason for clogging but temperature may be. I should also mention that I've never had to do a "powerful" cleaning since " the normal cleaning has always been sufficient.

[GeraldB]

I'm gobsmacked. Maybe it just has to do with the phases of the moon 

By the way, what humidity measurement device do you use. I need to get one.

[Randy Carone]

I keep my guitar room humidity controlled between 45-55% RH. I use a Venta Airwasher/Humidifier that cleans and humidifies the room. I bought a $20 digital temp/humidity gauge from Radio Shack that is accurate enough for my purpose. This system should work well for your printer.

[DeanChriss]

I'm gobsmacked. Maybe it just has to do with the phases of the moon  

By the way, what humidity measurement device do you use. I need to get one.

I heard it's got something to do with protons from deep space.  

I have a VWR laboratory hygrometer and a $20 Radio Shack model that's nearly as accurate. By virtue of the way they work I think nearly any digital hygrometer will be more than accurate enough. Based on experience that is not the case with the cheap analog hygrometers, which are not very reliable even after calibration. Some hygrometers have a calibration mechanism or function. To adjust it you need to use water and salt in a closed container. That should produce exactly 75% RH.  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7Ap96SlGZA) There's no need to spend a lot on these, but get a digital one.