Expiration dates are put in place for many reasons, first and foremost, to protect the consumer and ward off false expectations of the product. It's not just food items; many other products have expiration dates as well.
Medicine, sunscreen, and even makeup lose their potency after some time and will not work as intended if used past their expiration date. Your ink cartridges are no different and have a shelf life that you should be aware of since most do not contain a labeled expiration date. Generally, there is a consensus that printer ink lasts around one to two years before it expires. Shelf life can be either shortened or extended by taking proper care of your ink and toner cartridge.
Many factors go into assessing the shelf life of your ink cartridge and its print quality. Exposure to air is the most critical factor when it comes to degrading the ink inside of your cartridge. Printer ink is intentionally designed to evaporate rapidly. This rapid drying is what allows your ink to stay on the page and remain smudge-free. The inevitable truth is that printer ink doesn't last forever and will eventually dry up slowly no matter how airtight the seal is.
Air can seep into the cartridge and degrade the ink's composition over time. Even if sealed in airtight plastic, nothing you do will prevent the oxidation process from ruining your ink over time. Ink can also evaporate through other external means, such as the environment it is stored in. If left in sunlight, the heat could speed up the process and leave you with a dried cartridge before you get a chance to open the seal. Leave the printer cartridge in its original packaging.
That airtight packaging is for a reason; it prevents unnecessary air from getting in your cartridge and drying it up. Extending the shelf life and print quality of your discount ink also comes down to storing it in the right environment. Expired inks can clog or corrode the printhead and other ink delivery systems within your printer. In other words, expired ink cartridges can potentially damage your printer. Expiry date is generally found on the side of an ink cartridge.
In some cases, it is published on the side of the cartridge box. Different manufactures indicate this information in different ways. However, the company recommends that you replace cartridges within six months, regardless of whether they are empty or not, for optimal print quality.
Some ink cartridges are stamped with both an expiration date and a warranty date. Some third-party manufactures of compatible and refurbished cartridges generally mention a warranty date only. Like expiration dates, warranty dates vary by manufacturer.
Typically, the warranty date is one year from the date of purchase. The cartridge may, however, work fine beyond the warranty date. What if you need to print something urgently? Can a non-operational printer lead to business interruption? It is due to such concerns that most people prefer to stock up on printer cartridges. Yes, you can avail of discounts by purchasing cartridges in bulk.
But, you should buy only as many cartridges as you can use within one or two years. It pays to know how to care for ink cartridges , whether they are in storage or have been installed on your printer. Ink cartridges, should, for instance, be stored in a cool and dry environment. The ink can begin to separate and turn to sludge. After two years, even ink cartridges that are stored properly can get dicey. That being said, manufacturers like Canon claim that as long as the airtight seals are not damaged, their ink cartridges are safe to use even after several years in storage.
Making shelf life of ink cartridges longer is simple. If your cartridges are unopened, store them properly to get the longest life out of your ink:. If your cartridges are already installed in your printer, the best way to prevent your ink from drying out is to use your printer.
Print a page in color once a week to prevent installed ink from drying up and clogging your printheads. All this will help to make printer ink last longer maybe even beyond the ink expiration date if any. Refilling can be difficult to do correctly, and is often messy.
Plus, in order to get the longest life from your refilled cartridge, you need to use it right away. New OEM ink cartridges are vacuum-sealed in airtight packaging to prevent them from drying out.
Refilled cartridges have no such protection. Your best bet is storing your refilled cartridges, nozzle side up, in airtight sandwich bags. In theory, a refilled ink cartridge should last six months before it dries up, since the ink is fresh.
But in practice, refilled ink cartridges tend to dry up much faster than that , often in a matter of weeks, since they lack protective packaging. Buying remanufactured ink cartridges adds to the confusion of cartridge expiration dates. A third-party — or sometimes the original manufacturer — will clean, recondition, and refill these cartridges for resale. Remanufactured cartridges DO come in protective airtight packaging and have a shelf life of two years.
However, the original expiration date remains on remanufactured printer cartridges, which creates confusion. Since it takes a while for ink cartridges to be used and recycled, it is not uncommon to find remanufactured ink cartridges with expiration dates that are several years old.
It does not apply to the fresh ink inside your remanufactured ink cartridge. Remanufactured ink cartridges should be good for two years from the time of purchase. Keep your sales receipt! Pages will come out faded, blotchy, or completely blank. Is there a way to tell if your ink cartridge expired just by looking at it? No, you need to install it in the printer to see if it works. If gunky old ink clogs your print heads, read about printer maintenance here.
What happens with expired ink cartridges after they expire? They violently explode, leaving terrible, burning wreckage throughout your office space! The truth is nothing happens when your printer cartridges reach their expiration date. Nothing at all. The ink inside is still good, and probably will be for a while. Manufacturers put an expiration date on products to ensure integrity and quality. However, these items may continue to perform quite well for months beyond dates displayed on the package.
Problems occur when expired ink separates inside the cartridge this can lead to clogged print heads. If this has not yet happened you should be able to continue using your cartridge even after it is expired. Everybody likes a bargain, especially on pricey ink cartridges.
Smart shoppers can find great deals on brand name ink and toner if they poke around the Internet. Use your head — math is your friend! The hardest part is getting the numbers right. Most printers have counters that tell the number of pages printed over a period of time. For example, our Canon MX cranked out 94 pages this month! Similarly, printer cartridges have anticipated page yields.
Ink technology and formulas are always changing. However, some high-traffic offices print hundreds if not thousands of pages per month.
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