Dealing with Clogged Printheads with Your Canon Ink Cartridges

Printhead clogging is a very usual problem that most printer users might experience when it comes to maintaining such devices. There are a few solutions that are generally suggested but not all of these may work fine with every brand and make. Hence it is best to find what exactly may fit for your printer model specifically, instead of trying a lot and wasting your time and effort.

Image Source: WikiHow

One more thing to mention is that you shouldn’t blame the use of compatible replacements for such problem. Take note that either you use an original (OEM) or not, printhead clogging might still occur. Solving this dilemma is neither easy nor too tough you just need to have the right approach. Now, just follow the steps provided below and soon your printer will work again just fine.

A user should not only knowledgeable of using a printer, but also with maintaining it properly. Remember this, it’s easier to make the machine dirty than to clean it, likewise with damaging and repairing a unit.

If the printhead is clogged you just simply unclog it, but how is it properly done? 

Perhaps you are familiar opening your machine’s property window. If not well then just run the driver and find the properties tab from the top menu. From the maintenance tab, locate the printhead cleaning then perform or run it not more than three times. If you are not satisfied with the result, there’s another option which is referred to as Deep Cleaning. You may also run it but take note that it will consume much ink each time you perform this maintenance.

Another option you may consider is practical yet a kind of messy but works most of the time. What you need to do is remove the clogged ink cartridge from the printer and clean it manually. We've tried this once and it did work with a photo printer which uses Canon CLI-251XL ink. Since the unit was not used for quite a long time, the printhead became clogged and running the cleaning test can’t fix it. What we did was place the cartridge with the printhead facing down on a shallow plate with lukewarm water. Just for a short while until the ink comes out like its melting or somewhat blending with the water. Then wiped it with a clean cloth, place it back inside the printer and voila it worked.

Use a Printhead Cleaner

Additionally, there’s a specific cleaner which you can find from some printer retail shops. But since it’s not always available, the use of warm water will do in replace of it. As a final note, don’t forget to use your printer like for once a week or two to avoid getting clogged printheads.