dry air is the enemy of all printers, not just Epsons. Even users of Canon printers can extend their head life considerably by keeping the printer in an environment of 45% humidity. Epsons clogs are in your face kind of things, with Canon your really don’t know when they clog because it consumes nozzles, but eventually the head dies. Humidity can extend the Canon’s head life substantially - not talking months but more like a year or more.
Even though clogs/missing nozzles were manageable in my case (9900), I bought an
Essick air humidifier and it runs 24/7. I have a small float device installed in it and it connects directly to the water line so I don’t have to worry about refilling it. I replace the pads about every 4 to 6 months, and dump a small amount of
Bacteriostatic treatment in it about once a week (when I remember). The room is about 16 by 16 with 9.5 foot ceilings and a 4 foot open hallway to the rest of the house. The unit has 4 settings on the fan, but I find I only need to keep it on the lowest setting which is pretty quiet. It runs more in the summer than the winter, partially because I have in floor heating so no forced air furnace, but I think air conditioning sucks water out of the air more heat.
I still get the occasional missing nozzle, mainly when the printer hasn’t been used for a few weeks, but rarely does it take more than a quick clean of a couple of channels. I think I’ve had to to this 3 or 4 times in the past year. I’ve had the printer 2 years now, and my maintenance tanks still show the same level as when I first setup the machine after the initial fill cycle.