Error message "Parts inside the printer have reached the end of their service life"

Please explain the message I am getting in my printer driver that says 'parts inside the printer have reached the end of their service life'.

Like so many other products, Epson consumer Inkjet products have a finite life span due to component wear during normal use. At some point the product will reach a condition where either satisfactory print quality cannot be maintained or components have reached the end of their usable life.

This is normal operation for a sophisticated mechanical device.

• Which parts are we talking about?

  The message refers to the ink pads, which are porous pads inside the printer that collect, distribute, and contain the ink that is not used on the printed page. Ink is collected by these pads during the initial setup of the product, during cleaning cycles and when printing borderless photographs.

• Why does my printer stop functioning when I get this message?

  Epson has implemented this safety characteristic in their inkjet printers to stop operation at the point where continued use of the product would lead to ink leaking from the printer, which would either cause damage to the environment in which the printer is located or in the worst case cause an electrical fault within the printer which could lead to a fire and/or electrocution.

  Epson is committed to ensuring the proper operation of all our devices to minimise the risk of property damage or personal injury during the life of the product.

• What do the Ink pads look like?

  If you do choose to disassemble your product, the ink pads may appear completely saturated with ink or may still have some white areas that have not been completely saturated with ink, depending on usage patterns.

  A very high-volume user will saturate the pads more quickly because ink evaporation will not be as effective. For a low-volume user, longer evaporation periods may result in portions of the pads appearing unused. The ink pad life counters are designed to prevent risk in all cases.

• Is anything being done to change this situation?

  Epson continually strives to increase the durability and longevity of our products. This is done through ongoing improvements in design to reduce the amount of ink being deposited to the ink pads and optimisation of the sizes of the pads.

  The intent is to ensure the ink pads meet or exceed the expected life of the product. However, the end-of-service-life message will likely continue to appear because it is not possible to completely eliminate the risk of ink spills.

• Can I service my own printer?

  Epson does not consider our Inkjet printers to be user serviceable, due to the specific knowledge and training required to successfully disassemble, repair and reassemble the products.

• At what point should a user expect to get this message?

  We are unable to state a defined 'point in time' at which a product will reach the service request. This is because a number of variables affect this calculation such as frequency of use, number of head cleans, number of cartridges used, type of prints being printed (e.g. images, documents, with borders or borderless), number of times the product is switched on and off. Our products are designed to last a significant number of years through expected usage before this maintenance point is reached.

• Is there anything I can do to continue to use my printer?

  Please contact Epson for information about repair options.

Note:

We will not repair or replace products if, in our opinion, the problem is due to: Externally caused damage; Use outside specification (as defined by the product manufacturer, whose decision whether a product is used outside its specification or not is final); Accessories, parts or consumables which are not Epson branded or approved; or Modifications made to the product as originally supplied by Epson; For more information on Epson's commercial warranty click here.