5 Tips for Making Your HP Ink Last Longer

Worried about running out of ink for your HP printer? Replacement ink cartridges are expensive, so it is always useful to make sure your ink is lasting as long as possible. While you may not be able to control how often you need to print, there are still many factors that are easy to change in order to make your cartridge last longer. Read on for some suggestions that will squeeze extra life out of your HP ink.

1. Care For Your Printer

Your HP printer will work best when you treat it right. Never stop a print job in the middle since this may force the printer head to leak slightly where it pauses. Also, try to keep your printer turned on until you have completed everything you might have to print. Every time you turn on your HP printer, it uses a little bit of ink while starting.

2. Lower Settings Whenever Possible

It pays to be familiar with the quality of your HP printer's output. Most printers come with a draft setting, a standard setting, and a high quality setting. For documents that you are printing for your own purposes it pays to use the draft setting on your printer. This option will lower ink use significantly. For documents that you share with others, the standard setting is capable of printing clear and sharp text that will look just fine. Save high quality printing for things like photos and image heavy documents that need to be presented professionally.

3. Climate Control Protects Ink Cartridges

Your HP cartridges are extremely sensitive to temperature variations, so try to make sure that the room that holds your printer has a constant and relatively normal temperature. When it gets extremely hot or cold, the cartridges will start to dry out and rob you of ink.

This advice applies to extra cartridges you may be storing as well. If possible, try to store you extra ink cartridges in the same place you print your documents. This will help ensure that when you need to change a cartridge there is no sudden temperature change that might harm your ink before it even gets into the printer.

4. Avoid Color And Images

Your printer has a black and white setting that can help make sure that color ink is not used unnecessarily. Color ink will run out much faster than black and white, and it is more expensive to replace. Replace color printing with black and white everywhere the color is unnecessary to save quite a bit of money on color ink.

Images in general consume a larger quantity of ink than text, so if a document has images that aren't necessary you will save money by leaving them out. Try to avoid printing images for personal use, and when you need to print images for others it pays to use black and white if it will work.

5. Use The Preview Button

Many people waste the first printing of a document by failing to use the preview button. Make sure that the document, image, or website you plan on printing is actually going to print the way you want it before you start. If something is spilling out onto the next page by a tiny bit, a small change in font size or layout might be enough to help.

This is a guest post by Tom Walker who writes about design and technology for a supplier of HP 21 inks and toners.

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