Anyone use expired ink? How old is too old?

[DDTJRAC]

I got some ink that was in storage. It was expired in 2017. Do you think it would work?

Usually it is not a big deal to buy new ink, but ink for the printer was discontinued. Printer still prints OK, so I didn't want to throw out the printer.

Thanks!

 

[MattKing]

Which printer? There are a lot of third party ink suppliers.

 

[koraks]

Hard to tell. The obvious risk with old ink, especially if it has literally sat still for 7 years, is that the pigments have started to clump a little. This will cause nozzle clogs.
This is of course only a concern with pigment inks; dyes are soluble. Although in a dye ink, there's also the possibility of certain adjuvants somehow coagulating, sliming up etc.

Having said that, I've fed my pigment printer even older ink on occasion, and apart from an innocuous hiccup or burp (not necessarily related to the ink's age), it ate it up just fine.

 

[Sirius Glass]

The only way to really know it to install the ink and try it.

 

[nmp]

I have used very old carts on my now dead HP B9180 (their first pigment printer using Vivera inks) - some even 10 years past expiration that I kept finding on ebay for a fraction of the price as the printer was long past discontinued together with the cartridges. Never had any issues of clogs or anything else. Ultimately the printer stopped working because of some mechanical failure. Great printer.

:Niranjan,