Exploding printer !

[juliaatpcgp]

My boss has had a Deskjet 960C for many years, working perfectly.

Yesterday she had to move the printer on her desk and found a large pool of ink underneath.

I mopped it up but more appeared, so I decided to remove the cartridges to stop it leaking more, but I had to plug the power in to get the cartridge to the correct position.

On removing the black ink cartridge there was a loud bang, I saw a tiny bit of smoke and smelt a disgusting smell.

Obviously, I then removed the colour one and immediately disposed of the printer.

I was, and still am, shocked by what happened and wonder why ....

Can you shed any light on this.

Regards,
Jay

 

[Rick998]

Unlike laserjet printers (where the toner is an inert powder), the ink in the cartridges of deskjet/inkjet/bubblejet printers (no matter what manufacturer) is water-based.

It sounds like, when the printer was powered on, the leaking ink was responsible for an electrical short-circuit - hence the bang, smoke and smell.

Hope ths helps...

 

[Rick998]

Unlike laserjet printers (where the toner is an inert powder), the ink in the cartridges of deskjet/inkjet/bubblejet printers (no matter what manufacturer) is water-based.

It sounds like when the printer was powered on, the leaking ink was responsible for an electrical short-circuit... hence the bang, smoke and smell.

Hope this helps...

 

[Rick998]

Apologies for the (almost) duplicate post...

 

[juliaatpcgp]

Did I cause the short circuit by turning the printer upside down to check for the leak case AND/OR supplying power to the unit afterwards ? (With hindsight I wish I had left the cartridges in place, but I had no idea of the risk I was taking).

OR could if have happened even if the leak remained undetected and powered on over the weekend / overnight (she usually turns it off but may sometimes forget) ?

If the latter, was there any danger of the unit actually exploding or catching fire ? (I hope not, but I need to know!)

Regards,
Jay

 

[hpwizzard]

So... There was a loud bang and disgusting smell ?
Reminds me of my first lessons in electronics.
When an electrolytic capacitor (used to smoothen the DC voltage in power supplies) is being short circuit or exposed to wrong polarity it will eventually explode loudly and release an awful smell. Also transistors can explode and make a loud bang but they do not smell that bad. Those components are both found in your printer and could cause
the issue you describe.

Too bad if you already disposed off the printer because...
I know that HP has a a sort of warranty service on laser toners that would cover the cleanup and eventual repair costs caused by an original HP toner that has malfunctioned.
The costs covered are determined by the given situation, so if a toner has only a minor leak that can be cleaned up by the customer themselves (not using a toner-vacuum cleaner or toner cloths) no service will be launched by HP.
Try and give the HP phone support a call and ask them for their opinion and if there is any similar warranty on your ink cartridges.

If you use non HP ink or refilled ink cartridges I have only one thing to say - Shame on you !

 

[Rick998]

juliaatpcgp,

Excess ink drips into a shallow reservoir underneath the cartridge's parked position. Over a period of time the ink in this area usually dries up and isn't a problem.

Inkjet printers work by 'firing' tiny blobs of ink onto the paper. The 'firing' mechanism is electrically-powered. If a fault develops with the electrical 'firing' mechanism then you can have a situation where the 'firing' mechanism doesn't start, i.e. no ink is fired at all.

What I think most likely happened in your case is the opposite... the 'firing' mechanism didn't stop firing, so all the ink in the cartridge was pumped out, thus overwhelming the shallow reservoir.

It sounds like the ink overflowing from the reservoir avoided any electrics until you moved it/turned it upside down but - having said that - I think it's most likely the electrics were already damaged beyond repair.

Hope this helps...