So your printer ink has run out. You're faced with the prospect of having to spend some big bucks on a new set of cartridges. The problem is though, these new cartridges are really expensive! Sometimes they cost more than what you paid for your printer! So you have an easy solution right? Buy an inkjet ink refill kit! Not so fast!

Make sure you count the cost...

It may seem like a good idea to buy an ink refill kit but it may end up costing you more than you bargained for. First off, refilling your own ink cartridges is often messy. Be prepared for the possibility that your hands, desk, kids, get ink all over them. Secondly, even if you follow all of the instructions exactly,this is no guarantee that the ink cartridge will work properly once you place it back in the printer.

Ink Refill problems include...

The ink cartridge may decide to leak into the bottom of your printer or worse, right through the printer and onto your desk. While many times this is an annoyance at best and will not damage your printer... this is no guarantee. If you are one of those people who experience a regular dose of bad luck, the leaking ink may short something in your printer forcing you to go out and buy a new one.

Another concern is that your ink cartridge print heads may be clogged with dry ink. On most inkjet printer cartridges, this is pretty close to impossible to fix. In fact, for most inkjet ink cartridges where the print head is attached to the cartridge, you usually have a limited amount of time that your ink cartridge will continue to be functional. Most printer manufacturers will tell you to expect 6 months of life from your ink cartridge.

Is an Ink Refill always a bad idea?

The short answer is no. If you have an inexpensive printer and you will most likely trash the printer if you have to pay full price for the cartridges, you will lose alot less money buying a refill kit than testing out the printer with brand new ink cartridges only to find out that the printer is defective.

For many printers, having a professional that fills ink cartridges regularly do it for you is still cheaper than buying a new cartridge. Just keep in mind that they too cannot guarantee that the ink refill will work satisfactorily.

When you are thinking about an ink refill, being aware of the potential pitfalls will also help you avoid common frustrations and headaches.

Lucila Duchesne is the webmaster of printerinfosite.com which specializes in offering its visitors an inkjet printer information directory along with links to other printer related info on the internet. Reprint freely as long as you point the live links in this resource box to my website.