moving and storage of an Epson 3880 in the summer heat

[dkressler]

I am moving cross country and am wondering if my 3880 will make it ok or if I should sell and replace it. It's about a year old and working perfectly. The main concern is that it will be be traveling across in mid-July heat for five days and it may be in limbo for a month or more in a parked trailer until we find a new house. I know that Epson recommends leaving the carts in and not tipping it, but I'm wondering if anyone here has any good experiences to report. I'd rather not have to go through the hassle of selling it, but I'd rather that than dealing with clogs for who knows how long. I would drive it myself, but I think the car will be quite full of cameras, computers and film.

[Wayne Fox]

So when you say heat, or you saying sitting in a parked car/trailer exposed to the sun?  So really hot?  Or less severe than that?

I think when Epson says leave cartridges in when moving they aren't talking about extremes.  I think you may be better off flushing the ink, and then re initializing it when you are ready to get it up and running again.  I don't think the heat would make the printer clog more, I'd be more worried about the warm ink getting so thin it leaks into the printer.

But it may be just fine ... I've never heard of an epson 3880 subjected to the extremes you are contemplating.

[dkressler]

Driving cross country mid-July it's likely to hit 90 or even 100 possibly through certain areas. Who knows how hot it could get inside the tractor trailer. Once it gets across it will stay inside the trailer but be unhooked and parked in a storage lot for a month or so until mid-august. I imagine it could easily be above 100F on multiple occasions.

I asked Epson support and they basically said since they don't have a kit for purging the lines they recommend leaving it in. Which makes me think that they would recommend it if they had a kit to sell me. I'm just thinking that the cost of buying the purge kit and the ink lost from purging and reinstalling may make the whole thing a wash especially when you factor in time and hassle. Anyone know what's in the lines when they arrive brand new? Is it air, ink or cleaning fluid?

[Wayne Fox]

I think the trailer will get well over 100 unless it is shaded.

The lines have mostly air in them but once the printer has ink you wouldn't want them to dry out.

So maybe roll the dice.   Good chance you will be ok. Prob better if cartridges aren't very full if that is possible.

[framah]

My thoughts are that as all fluids expand when heated up.. and in a trailer in the summer sun, I'm sure it will get into the mid 140's or so at the highest... it would be like the machine pressuring the ink to force it thru the nozzles...meaning it will want to ooze out all over the place.

Plus, if it DOES dry up and clog up, you'll spend ALOT of time trying to get it to work again with the possibility that you will never get it to work and you will have wasted all of that time, AND still have to buy a new one.

The hassle factor is too high for me.
I'd rather just sell it and get another new one once you get out there and settled.

[dkressler]

thanks everyone for your thoughts. my gut is telling me not to risk it. Anyone in the NYC area want to buy a 3880 for a very good price? hmm, what's a good price? $600?

[Steve House]

My 0.02 worth, I moved to a new home 2 years ago.  Due to problems undiscovered by the home inspector (long story) it's taken till now to get my work area set up and my 3880 sat idle in a room that got quite hot during the summer months.  When I finally got cabinetry in place last month and the printer set in its permanent home, I replaced the ink cartridges with brand new ones and ran a nozzle check.  Lot's of skipping so I ran a power cleaning cycle followed by another nozzle check.  This time no skipping so it has apparently survived the nearly 2 years idle time unscathed.

[AFairley]

I recently drove to Mexico with my 3880.  The first 8 hour day it was in the trunk of my black car with outside temps above 100.  That evening I took it out of the car, and ran a nozzle check.  One skip in one color on the first check, second check was fine (I did not run a cleaning).  For the rest of the trip I switched a suitcase on the back seat for the printer (the car was really really full) so it would be in the AC'd cabin and not get as hot (in safe areas I did leave the printer in the car overnight so it did get hot but nothing like it would have been in the trunk during the day).  Perfect nozzle check when I arrived.  But all I can really say is that one day hotter than shit is not a problem.