What is the most effective way to clean the print heads of my EPSON Stylus printer?

Effective head cleaning will help resolve most poor print quality issues you are experiencing. Read the below instructions before proceeding:

There are 2 ways to clean the heads on your EPSON Stylus printer. You can use the Head Cleaning utility in the driver or you can simply hold down the ink button for around 5 seconds. Explained below are the different conditions in which these methods should be used.

Epson Ink Jet printers have three levels of cleaning cycles:
• Level 1 Cleaning - Minor Cleaning
• Level 2 Cleaning - Moderate Cleaning
• Level 3 Cleaning - Heavy Cleaning

When running cleaning cycles from the front control panel of the printer, only a level 1 cleaning (minor cleaning) will be performed. Even if you do the cleaning cycle multiple times from the control panel the printer will not go to the next cleaning level. Therefore if you believe that the printer head needs to have a thorough cleaning please follow the below instructions:

The printer drivers are designed to make it easy to advance through the three levels of cleaning cycles. When running cleaning cycles from the printer driver the cleanings are done in the following manner:

• Perform the first cleaning cycle (level 1) from the driver. You will be asked to print a Nozzle Check pattern.
• When the Nozzle Check pattern is completed you can either select Finished or Clean. If any nozzles are missing from the pattern we recommend that you select Clean.
• When you select Clean, a Level 2 cleaning cycle will be performed. You will be again asked to print a Nozzle Check pattern.
• When the second Nozzle Check pattern is completed you can either select Finished or Clean. If any nozzles are still missing from the pattern we recommend that you select clean again.
• When you select Clean, a Level 3 cleaning cycle will be performed. You can then print a third Nozzle Check pattern and the procedure will loop back to Step 1.

For instructions on how to use the Head Cleaning utility in the driver please click the relevant link:

How do I use the head cleaning utility using Windows 2000 or XP?

Or

How do I use the head cleaning utility using Windows 98 or ME?

Article: KB020094 Language: English Product Range: Ink Jet

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