Can I Use An Out of Date Cartridge in My Printer?

I have lost count of the amount of times
I have discovered out of date ink cartridges loitering in and around my desk here at Refresh HQ and it seems I am not alone. I am regularly asked by customers if an ink cartridges can be used after the best before/expiry date listed on the packaging. In most cases I can confidently advise them to install the cartridge without fear and continue printing. There are however a few concerns that invariably come up at this point and I would like to address them at this point…

What if the ink has dried out?

Inkjet cartridges and toner cartridges should always be supplied in a sealed plastic bag and usually also have various plastic tabs and clips covering any orifices. As such there is nowhere for the ink to go inside a sealed packet. At the very worst the ink may have dried slightly inside the  printhead of the cartridge (if your cartridge has one),

Such a problem can normally solved by simply dampening a piece of tissue paper and holding the printhead of the cartridge on the damp patch for 30-60 seconds. This will hopefully break down any dried ink.

With this done I recommend performing a few head clean from your printer to pull fresh ink from the cartridge. There is of course a chance that this will not resolve the issue, but as the dried printhead poses no threat to your printer and the alternative is disposing of the cartridge, it is certainly worth a try.
If however the ink cartridge does not have a printhead and has been left without packaging for some time, this is one of the rare instances that I would recommend NOT using the cartridge. I say this as there is a chance that the ink has dried or congealed and if pulled into the printhead of your printer this can cause irreversible damage to the machine. I would advise playing it safe and simply throwing the cartridge away.

Does laser toner powder dry out?

Laser toner cartridges do not contain any ink but if left exposed to an office/home environment the toner powder can get slightly damp and start clumping. Clumped toner can get stuck in a drum unit causing streaking and a variety of other print quality issues.
If however your laser printer does not have a separate drum unit then there is no harm in trying the toner cartridge (much link an inkjet cartridge with a printhead). If additional toner should fall into your machine it can be easily removed with a brush or a hoover and any toner that affects print quality will work its way our in time.
Should you be uncertain if your printer has a separate drum unit or not then just take a look at the cartridge itself. A good indicator as to whether a drum unit is present is if the appearance of the roller found on the cartridge is shiny (usually green or blue). If however it has a matte finish and is heavily covered in tone the drum unit will be separate to the cartridge.

If no shiny roller is visible on your cartridge or you have ever installed a separate drum unit into your printer I would not recommend installing a severely out of date cartridge. Doing so could fill a fully functional drum unit with clumped or unusable toner requiring the drum to be replaced in addition to the cartridge.

Will my printer reject an out of date cartridge?

There are very few cartridges on the market that have a time stamp that expires. Certain Hewlett Packard cartridges are the main culprits, but you can still override any expiry messages on popular cartridges like the HP 38, HP 88 and HP 363 ranges by reading any messages given to you in full and following the instructions.
The only exceptions to this rule are the HP 10, HP 11, HP 12, HP 13 and HP 14 cartridges. Once these cartridges have reached their expiry date the message cannot be overwritten and the affected cartridge(s) must be replaced in order to continue printing.
All other ink cartridges by big manufacturers like Lexmark, Canon, Epson, Dell, Kodak, Lexmark, Oki and Konica Minolta can be used regardless of the date of manufacturer.

So can I use this cartridge or not Matt?

Sorry about that, I do have a tendency to get sidetracked. In short, almost certainly. As long as the cartridge has been responsibly stored (preferably in its original packaging) and it is now more than a couple of years out of date I am confident you will be able to get some use out of the cartridge. There are a few exceptions as detailed above, but other than this there is absolutely no reason not to give the cartridge a go.
If you have any further questions or have something to add please let us know in the comments below.