How to Perform a Brother Drum Unit Replacement
April 14, 2026
Ink cartridges are one of the most frequent ongoing costs for any home or office printer. The good news is that with a few simple habits, you can significantly extend the life of each cartridge and reduce your cost per page. Here are our top tips.
Most printers offer a “Draft” or “Economy” print mode that uses considerably less ink than standard or high-quality settings. For internal documents, notes, or anything that doesn’t need to look perfect, switching to draft mode can reduce ink consumption by up to 50%. Reserve high-quality mode for client-facing documents and photos.
It sounds simple, but checking print preview before hitting print can save a surprising amount of ink. Catching a formatting error or an unwanted blank page before it prints means you’re not wasting ink on mistakes. Most applications have a print preview option — make it a habit.
Some fonts use significantly more ink than others due to their thickness and style. Fonts like Garamond, Century Gothic, and Times New Roman are known to be ink-efficient compared to heavier options like Arial or Impact. Switching your default document font can make a noticeable difference over time.
Before printing a webpage or document, consider whether you need the entire thing. Many websites have a “print-friendly” version, or you can use your browser’s print settings to select specific pages. Printing page 1 of 12 instead of all 12 adds up to significant savings over time.
This one surprises many people. When a printer powers up from being completely switched off, it often runs an automatic cleaning cycle that uses ink. Leaving your printer in standby mode (rather than switching it off at the plug) avoids these unnecessary cleaning cycles and preserves your cartridge levels.
If you buy cartridges in advance, store them upright in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight. Extreme temperatures and light exposure can degrade the ink before you even install the cartridge. Always keep them in their original sealed packaging until you’re ready to use them.
Printers often display low ink warnings when there is still a usable amount of ink remaining. You don’t need to replace a cartridge the moment the warning appears. However, don’t leave it too long — printing with a nearly empty cartridge can cause the printhead to run dry, which may damage it. Replace cartridges promptly once print quality starts to visibly decline.
Most printers have a built-in printhead cleaning utility. While useful for fixing streaky or faded prints, each cleaning cycle uses a significant amount of ink. Only run a cleaning cycle when you notice a genuine print quality issue — not as a routine maintenance task.
Genuine cartridges from brands like Canon, Epson, HP, and Samsung are engineered to work precisely with your printer model. They deliver the correct ink viscosity and droplet size, which means less waste and more consistent output. Compatible or refilled cartridges may seem cheaper upfront but can lead to clogged printheads, poor print quality, and ultimately more frequent replacements.
If you leave a printer unused for weeks at a time, the ink in the printhead can dry out and clog the nozzles. Printing at least one page per week — even just a test page — keeps the ink flowing and prevents costly blockages that waste ink to clear.
Making your ink cartridges last longer is mostly about building smarter printing habits. Small changes like using draft mode, printing only what you need, and storing cartridges correctly can add up to meaningful savings over the course of a year. And when it is time to replace your cartridge, Printer Supplies stocks a wide range of genuine ink and toner cartridges for all major printer brands, delivered fast across the UK.
