Does printer ink vanish with time?

[G73S]

I have an HP Photosmart B010 Printer.

I install 4 new ink cartridges, barely print 4 or 6 documents and leave it aside for when I need it. After about 2 months or so, I try to print another document and the document comes out almost white or pale in color.

I check the ink and it only has 10%

This is the 3rd time this has happened so what I want to know, are all printers like this or do I have a bad printer?

I bought it cheap for $100 USD about 2 years ago.

If I invest in a laser printer, do they also have this problem where if you don't use it much the ink dries? or can I set it and forget it?

 

[BrightCandle]

The ink dries out, so what you will find is that the printer is either having its ink dry or its using it up in a self clean/test process. Not all printers consume ink this fast but all ink jets do slowly decrease the amount of ink in the cartridge month to month to maintain it in working order.

 

[G73S]

The ink dries out, so what you will find is that the printer is either having its ink dry or its using it up in a self clean/test process. Not all printers consume ink this fast but all ink jets do slowly decrease the amount of ink in the cartridge month to month to maintain it in working order.

hmm, maybe coz it was a cheap 100 USD one, never had this issue in the past with more expensive inkjets.

Also, could it be that the fact that I format and reinstall Windows a lot, which when I install the drive, the printer initializes itself and I hear it doing some stuff, could that be slowly depleting the ink?

 

[bononos]

hmm, maybe coz it was a cheap 100 USD one, never had this issue in the past with more expensive inkjets.

Also, could it be that the fact that I format and reinstall Windows a lot, which when I install the drive, the printer initializes itself and I hear it doing some stuff, could that be slowly depleting the ink?

Reinstalling has nothing to do with the printer ink depleting.
2 months sounds premature for cartridges to be drying out even for cheap inkjets. Maybe you could try printing several pages for one day in a week to see if it helps, maybe its something clogging up.

 

[Blain]

Does printer ink vanish with time?

no

 

[Stuka85]

go with a laser printer and you will never had this issue again, i got tired of the ink printers because of this, the spending on new cartridges every 2 or 3 months was drying my wallet.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

no

Yeah, it doesn't disappear, it just evaporates.

YOU'RE BREATHING IT RIGHT NOW.

Buy a laser.

 

[PliotronX]

Consumption is what ink is all about. To keep the heads flowing, they are flushed automatically after it sits for so long which chews up the ink. If you periodically print, go laser.