Cleaning the printhead of your printer is extremely important if you are going through issues like:
- Printer printing blank pages
- Printer printing blurry
- Printer printing lines
- Printer not printing black
- Printer printing pink
- Printer printing faded texts
- 5200 error on Canon printer
- and so on……….
There are so many such issues that can be fixed simply by cleaning the printhead.
With that said, let me show you the automatic and manual method to clean the printhead of any printer.
Automatic Method to Clean Printhead
Cleaning your printer’s printhead is really an easy job if you have installed the printer driver.
And I believe you already have it on your computer.
Let me show you how I clean the printhead on one of my Canon printer.
Steps are similar for almost every printer so you should not have problem following my steps.
- First, open Windows Settings.
- Then, go to Bluetooth & device settings and open Printers & scanner settings.
- Once you are there, choose your printer.
- From the next window, open Printing Preferences.
- In general, the printhead cleaning option is available under the Maintenance tab. Go there.
- As you can see, the printhead cleaning function is termed as Cleaning and Deep Cleaning on my Canon printer.
- I need to run these functions and follow the on-screen instructions to clean the printhead.
- Do note that the term for printhead cleaning differs depending upon your printer manufacturer.
- For example, this is in my Brother printer.
- And, this is in my Epson printer.
- For HP printers, you should use the HP Smart app or HP Printer Assistant Tool though.
- If cleaning the printhead for one time does not seem to fix your issue, run it two or three times.
But remember, your printer should have enough ink before you can run the printhead cleaning cycle.
By enough, I mean about 5 ml for one cleaning cycle.
However, also note that this number can get higher in case you have high-end printers.
If you are unsure, here’s my article to help you check ink levels on your printer.
Manual Method to Clean Printhead
To be honest, I don’t recommend cleaning the printhead manually.
In fact, manufacturers don’t recommend it either.
It is because the automatic printhead cleaning fixes the printer issues most of the time without any hassle.
And, trying to manually clean the printhead only poses risk of damages to your printer.
It further voids its warranty.
To tell the truth, the cleaning itself isn’t difficult.
Some distilled water, a lint-free cloth, a Q-tip, and a few paper towels are all you need.
However, accessing the ink cartridges, removing them, and detaching the printhead can be quite overwhelming.
While I’m used to it and don’t find it difficult, for beginners, the manual cleaning process can feel like a big deal.
In case the automatic head cleaning does not fix the issue, I recommend consulting a professional to do the manual cleaning.
Nonetheless, if you choose to do it yourself, this video from HP can help you.
Well, that’s all about cleaning the printhead. Please comment down below if you need any kind of assistance. I will get back to you as soon as possible.
