Humidity in the Printing Environment

Sometimes we take for granted modern inkjet printers because of their competence and reliability. Modern printers, though, are incredibly complex machines, particularly with respect to the printheads. Each printer and its printheads is designed for a particular range of environmental conditions, including temperature and humidity. For most home printing situations, humidity is most likely to be the issue as temperature ranges in most houses stay within a relatively tight range. Epson printers (which is what I use) have a recommended humidity range of 40% – 60% for optimal operation. (Canon and HP printers likely have a similar range of operation, but I can’t be sure since I don’t use their printers.).

So, does this really matter in the real world? Generally speaking, yes. My personal experience, and that of many others, is that operating one of these printers outside this range (particularly at lower humidity) can result in much more frequent clogs and, as a result, wastage of ink from nozzle cleanings and wastage of both ink and paper from ruined prints.

Low humidity is certainly an issue here in Maine and other northern climes in the winter as heating systems result in drastically lowered humidity within the house, often resulting in humidity levels of 10% or 20%. If your printer has lots of nozzle clogs in the winter, this may certainly be the culprit.

So what should you do? If you are a frequent printer, I recommend purchasing a hygrometer to measure the humidity in your house – I purchased the Caliber III as recommended here and here). For about $20 delivered, you too can have one from Amazon, which is surprisingly inexpensive for something useful in expensive hobbies such as cigars and photography.

Caliber III Hygrometer

Once you know what your humidity level is, you can decide what approach to take. My printing studio is in a basement and the humidity as I type this is about 41% and within specs, which is typical for the winter with my setup. In the summer, however, the humidity skyrockets (no AC) and I had to buy a dehumidifier to keep the humidity to acceptable levels. Many printers end up buying a humidifier to raise the humidity in their printing area, which I would recommend if your environment dictates this.

A hygrometer may seem like an odd purchase at first, but if you are having clogging issues at all it can pay for itself many times over in time and printing supplies saved.