Printer+Left+Off

=How long can the printer be left off without causing clogging problems?=

There are many reports on the Wiki of the printer being left off for several weeks to many months (5 months is the maximum reported) without problems. When the printer was turned on, in all cases it worked perfectly, although often after running a lengthy cleaning cycle. While this worked well, it may use less ink to turn the printer on regularly (even daily) to keep the printer from running a strong cleaning cycle after a long time of being turned off. See the FAQ on ink used for cleaning, in which 0.35-0.81 ml per day was used for cleaning. The former figure was with the printer mostly kept on, the latter figure was when the printer was left off for months at a time, then turned on once every couple of months. Furthermore, a recent test of an iPF6100 with firmware 1.38 found just 0.1 ml of ink used per day when the printer was turned on once per day then turned off. This was repeated daily for a period of two weeks.

On the other hand, if you will be gone for several months and your only two choices are to leave the printer on the whole time or turn it off, it is probably better to turn it off, since worst case cleaning after that is probably using about 70 ml ink. Left on the whole time, it might use considerably more, although amount is unknown.

For example, ldkronos writes:

"My photography work is all done in the spring/summer. After finishing the season in September, I spent a few months working on new material. Then in early December it tried to do a cleaning and complained about 3 cartridges being out of ink. I figured I was pretty much wrapped up for the season, and I didn't want to bother replacing them then, so I just shut down and unplugged my ipf5000.

Last week I ordered all of my replacement cartridges, and they arrived today. I powered it up and replaced the cartridges it said were empty. It spent a bit more than 5 minutes cleaning, but when it was done I printed a nozzle check and everything was perfect."