So glad i ditched my Epson Ecotank..anyone else had these issues IF you rarely use it

[mark25810]

Hey there, i bought a sublimation bundle here in the UK which came with a epson ecotank as i thought it would be more handy having the tanks full of ink like that. i do this as a new hobby so it can be a week or more between me doing anything as it depends on my mood.

Well the first issue i had was about a week after using it the ink was not printing right after doing nozzle checks so had to do multiple cleans to get it right, this happened about everytime i went to use it though sometimes it was a couple of days after i had used it, sometimes a week.

Then i had the pinwheel indentations issue that i have found alot of epson printers have mostly with ecotanks it seems for some reason, where when printing the round wheels with points on which feed the paper out leave small pin prick indentations in the paper...i never took notice of this till i headpressed some coasters! and when heatpressed those indentations turned into black dots lol.

I saw on youtube a fix apparently this sometimes happens when the printer ink over sprays and clogs 1 or more of these feeding wheels which i think then puts more pressure on the paper and causing the indentations, i kinda fixed the issue as i popped the wheel that was doing it out and used cotton buds and some solution i got off ebay to clean it and where it went in the printer.

And then disaster when going to use the printer again no amount of cleans and deep cleans made the printer print properly and well...the ink pads overflowed and went all over my desk, i took them out and cleaned them and used the software to reset the counter, but the printer never printed proper again after that.

Anyone else who does not sublimate often have this issue with ecotank printers?

I ended up getting a normal epson printer and i got those refillable cartridges which i know for someone who does loads of sublimation can be a pain but for me they are perfect and i can and have left the printer unused for 3 weeks and it has had zero issues, 1 time i did 1 clean as the blue had 2 bits missing and that is it. i read somewhere that permanent printheads are a big cause of this blocking issue in ecotank printers if they are not used often

[Justin]

With any printer it's always advisable to print ideally every day. Most Epsons are OK for a few days and I have had them off for weeks without any major issues. You can alwayas leave them on and have an auto clean daily setup.

Pin wheels are an issue, usually with thicker media or if you're laying down a good amount of ink. Only solution is eitehr change media and settings or remove pin wheels if possible.

Using refill carts will make no difference at all. You'll still need to use/clean the machine regularly. The ecotanks are simply there to avoid the hassle of refilling every time and allowing the chance for air to come into the system.

[mark25810]

With any printer it's always advisable to print ideally every day. Most Epsons are OK for a few days and I have had them off for weeks without any major issues. You can alwayas leave them on and have an auto clean daily setup.

Pin wheels are an issue, usually with thicker media or if you're laying down a good amount of ink. Only solution is eitehr change media and settings or remove pin wheels if possible.

Using refill carts will make no difference at all. You'll still need to use/clean the machine regularly. The ecotanks are simply there to avoid the hassle of refilling every time and allowing the chance for air to come into the system.

i was told by epson themselves this is a severe issue mainly because the ecotank printers have a permanent print head. nearly 3 week ive not used mine till yesturday and 1 clean and it was all ok, was only the blue that had 2 bits missing. not had it with any printers tbh other than the ecotank

see the pinwheel issue was on the sub paper which is pretty thin and it was not on full page prints etc just on 9cm square at a time but it was full length of the sheet starting from where there was no ink at all but i sorted that by cleaning the over spray it was just the rest with the ink drying in the pint head etc.

[Mike-E]

I have a Epson Ecotank with low use, but have an automatic print done three times per week. Seems to be ok, but only had it for nearly a year. Previous Sawgrass one used up all the ink over time with automatic cleaning, and also had many printing problems with blocked nozzles.

[mark25810]

I have a Epson Ecotank with low use, but have an automatic print done three times per week. Seems to be ok, but only had it for nearly a year. Previous Sawgrass one used up all the ink over time with automatic cleaning, and also had many printing problems with blocked nozzles.

It must just depend on each circumstance, though I'm happy with what I have now finally, I never have any issues at all even though there has been 2 to 3 weeks gap where I have not used it.

I guess it was also remembering to do the test pages out when I had a ecotank because I do not leave the printer set up I only take it out of the box when I need it and put it back as I have no space to leave it set up all the time. I'm glad with what I have plus the refillable cartridges last me a decent amount of time before I need to refill them since I am not a high volume maker or pro

[Daninho]

I had the ET-2720 and now i have the ET-14000, i was aware of those problems before i bought my printers and thats why i print a nozzle check every third day because i also print very rarely. With this method my printer still works after two years now with perfect nozzle image. I forgot to do it 2-3 times and i had to do the self clean function that solved the problem and once in two years i had to use the deep clean "flush" function because the normal clean funtion couldnt solve the problem but after that deep clean function everything was ok. I replaced all of the ink in the tanks 3 months ago just in case because it was 1,5 years old. I used a syringe, no problems. Thats why i would recommend the ET-14000 because in the newer ET models you can not go in with a syringe.

I thought all Epson printers have permanently build in print heads, only HP uses print heads in their cartridges! Are you really sure the Epson guy said that to you?