A friend of mine has recently moved, and as part of this has had his Epson 2200 in storage for a long period of time. He has now tried to use it but is having problems:

I have finally removed the plastic from my Epson 2200, and having a problem that maybe you can help me with. The nozzles required a lot of cleaning, as they were unused for some time. After many repeated cleaning cycles, 5 of the 7 ink cartridges look good, but I don’t even get a test pattern for two of the ink colors. I put in a brand new cartridge in one of the missing colors (Cyan) and it had no effect. I have seen some cleaning solutions on the market, but don’t know if these are recommended. Do you have any suggestions? Is there a way I can clean these myself?

Does anyone have experience/suggestions concerning ways to revive a 2200?

Thanks in advance.

Scott

edited out

I have edited out my response because I remembered I did the windex on a sheet of paper trick with my 1270, not the 2200. Sorry.

Sharon

I used to have the Epson 2200 and it did clog frequently. I was always able to clear it with a few print head cleaning cycles.

If you have dried pigment based ink in one of the print hoses, it may be a dead issue. In the long run, purchasing a new printer may be a less expensive alternative.

I sold my 2200 after purchasing the Canon iPF5000. The Epson is a great printer, but the tiny ink cartridges made printing too expensive.

Mine very rarely clogs, which I think may be largely because my house has central air conditioning and humidification. We keep the humidity around 40-45% year round.

I did have a clog a few years ago after a six-week trip away. To the best of my recollection, I tried several cleaning cycles without success. Somewhere I heard about the "Windex on a sheet of paper" trick that Sharon mentions.

You might want to look at some of the suggestions at this link: http://(A forum thread)

Or, if that doesn't work, you could try spending $70 for a set of head cleaning cartridges from http://inkmizer.com.

I can't personally attest to either of these, but I did manage to unclog mine with
1. Some Windex on a paper towel sitting under the print heads for a while, followed by
2. About five head cleaning cycles, then leaving it overnight, and then
3. A couple more head cleaning cycles.

Mine has not clogged ever since, even with a couple of waits of four to six weeks between prints.

Good luck!

Thanks everyone. I've brought this thread to the attention of my friend, and I expect he'll give one or more of these suggestions a try.

I'm curious as to where in the world your friend lives? I have owned the 2200 since it came out and only suffer clogged heads after several months of the printer sitting idle. This was rectified with ONE head cleaning cycle. I live in the NE of the US, New York City.

If running three cleaning cycles in a row without a nozzle check fails
to clear the blockage, don't do any more cleanings without printing
something. Too many cleanings can permanently damage the head.
Buy the device linked below from InkRepublic or MIS or use a
needleless syringe filled with a quality pigment ink solvent.

There are some cleaning tools that can help you to get rid of blockages.

http://www.inkrepublic.com/iRemove.asp
http://www.inkrepublic.com/KnowledgeBase/iRemove.asp
http://inksupply.helpserve.com/index.php?_...cleid=9&nav=0,1

The InkRepublic i-Remove system may be safer than others and it's highly recommeded.

hope this helps.

My friend lives in the northeast, and the move was from NY to MA. However, I doubt humidity was the main issue, if that's what you are suggesting. Rather, I suspect that with all the turmoil of moving a family the printer had been idle for a very long time.

After leaving my 2200 unattended for three months, it has the exact same problem as you described. Arthur Entlich has a detailed doc on unclogging Epson printers. You can e-mail him for one at e-printerhelp@mvps.org. But I'm unable to unclog mine with his DIY methods. I have yet to try using special cartridges filled with cleaning fluid, one for each clogged cartridge. It can become relatively pricey if there are several clogged cartridges.

Since none of the black inks are clogged on mine, I'm considering using it for BO printing, something I have yet to try.

Here's a happy ending. I just received this message from my friend who was having problems with his 2200:

I used one of the links on the posting you made: http://www.inkrepublic.com/ They have a product called the UFO cleaning kit, and it restored my two missing colors.
Many, many thanks.

Good for you. Now I'm curious.

I can only find an i-Remove kit at Inkrepublic, but not UFO. A link please. Is it a syringe kind like i-Remove, or a cartridge kind? Thanks.

My friend says this:

I ordered the i-Remove kit at Inkrepublic. The package that arrived says “UFO Cleaning Kit”.

I hope it works for you.

Scott

Thanks for the clarification. I've tried another syringe type cleaner without success. I think one problem is that the syringe does not fit the cartridge head snuggly. The cleaning fluid would blood around the head, and whether it gets into the head is questionable.

Glad I can help!!! I think they have powerful cleaner!