Printer care

Take care of your printers and they'll take care of your business

How do you ensure that your printer works to the best of its ability and doesn't breakdown just when you need it? The simple answer is 'look after your printer'. We want our health sector customers to derive maximum benefit from the tailored print solutions we provide, so the following tips are designed to help you give your printer a long and healthy life. 1) Your printer needs to be free from dust and kept on a sturdy, flat surface. Balancing it on top of a stack of files is not a good idea!     2) Ventilation is also key – ensure it has a good amount of breathing space around it, especially between the ventilation hole and the wall.     3) Don't let your printer get too hot or cold; extreme heat and humidity can have an adverse affect on its functioning capabilities. Fridges, water, heaters and windows are a no-no.     4) Clean the printer regularly, but make sure you turn it off when you do so, this also applies when you're replacing the toner or any other internal parts. A good time to clean the machine is when you replace the toner as this ensures a regular cleaning schedule.

5) There are countless economical and green benefits to turning off printers, but it can also help them to last longer; so set them to sleep or hibernation mode when they aren't being used.     6) Try to use printer manufactures consumables. While it might be tempting to cut costs, it will cost you more in the long run if the printer goes wrong – this even includes paper.   The main bonus for us has been the reliability of our printer, we’ve not had any issues since we got one earlier this year. It’s so easy to use, and when it does run out of things we get a message sent to our PC with info where to purchase replacements. Marion Clacken, practice manager, Cowdenbeath Medical Practice, Cowdenbeath