How "stable" are Epson Inks

[Moses on the Street]

I bought an Epson 3800 Stylus Pro a couple of years ago, printed about 30 prints, then boxed it up when I moved. It has stayed boxed up until this morning, when I got it out and am going to try printing. My question is: how stable is the Epson ink in those cartridges? Can I expect the printing to be just as it was two years ago?


I tried printing a couple of test prints just now and they look a little red to me. I can't tell if I am seeing things, if it's my settings somewhere, or if perhaps the ink itself has gone bad.

If it makes a difference, the printer has been stored in a cool, dry place this whole time.

[rbalcom]

The inks do have a shelf life and include a "sell by" date. While I don't think the shift would be noticeable a little after the date, something must change and the longer they sit the more it would degrade the quality of the print.

[Moses on the Street]

Originally Posted by rbalcom

The inks do have a shelf life and include a "sell by" date. While I don't think the shift would be noticeable a little after the date, something must change and the longer they sit the more it would degrade the quality of the print.

Is that REALLY the case, or does Epson just want you to buy more ink?

[toverman]

There's only one way to find out, I guess!

The biggest issue I had with my consumer-grade Epson printers not being used for a period of time was the print heads getting crusted and not letting the ink out. If you give it a go and have issues, you might look into that before buying more ink right away. But then I'm sure the Pro models have fancier print heads!

[Moses on the Street]

Just read that Epson officially says that the ink cartridges have a shelf life of two years in the bag, six months after they've been opened.

I kind of wonder ... with the bags that the cartridges come in being vacuum sealed, why are they only good for two years?

[jeffkohn]

6-months after opening is BS IMHO. The inks can settle a bit though, if they've been sitting long enough. Remove each cartridge and give it a gentle shake and you should be good to go. Also run a nozzle-check test pattern to make sure you don't have any clogs.

[dartlrt]

Do the nozzle the check and clean you heads. I'm guessing your heads are just a little clogged.

[rbalcom]

Originally Posted by Moses on the Street

Is that REALLY the case, or does Epson just want you to buy more ink?

Actually, I have never seen an ink cartridge that does not have a sell by date on it. I've never thought that it was something to get me to buy more ink, but rather that the manufacture wanted to make sure their printer produced the best prints possible.

I have never removed a cartridge that was not out of ink and I print well beyond the low ink warning provided by the drivers/printer monitor software. If my prints were not the quality I was used to and my cartridges were out of date, that is the first thing I would suspect after I ran the nozzle check to make sure they were not plugged.

[billbunton]

When I sold my 4000 it had some long-expired inks. The guy who bought it is still using them. As Jeff said, just remove them and shake them up some and chances are they'll be fine.