Cleaning ink cartridge?

Is it possible to choose what black ink cartridge you want to print from?

• I have a canon mp620 printer that has two black ink cartridges. One is bigger that is used all the time and one is smaller and is used when the big one runs out of ink. The problem I have is that the big black ink cartridge is clogged while all other color and the other black one works fine. All ink cartridges are full. The printer wont print black ink. Is it possible to choose to print from the smaller black ink cartridge or no? I tried removing the big black ink cartridge but it wont let me print. Cleaning was done numerous times even under water. PLEASE HELP!!!

• Answer:

  1) They are two different types of ink. One is for text and the other is for photos. In an emergency the printer may switch to the other but you dont want to override the built-in process. 2) An inkjet must use all the colors even if you are only printing in black. This is to prevent head burnout. Read this article. It talks about epson but the same applies to all inkjets where the heads are in the printer and not the cartridge. This is the case for your model. http://ccs-digital.com/caring-for-epson-printers.asp Since your cartridge was clogged and you continued using the printer, you may have already permanently burned out that black print head. 3) The built-in head cleaning floods the heads with ink in the hope of washing out a clog but ink will not dissolve ink. You need special cleaning fluid. I'm not sure what you cleaned under water. I hope not the printer or you need a new one. If it was the cartridge, you wasted your time because it is the printer head which is clogged. I have used this $7 kit on epson, canon and brother to solve stubborn clogs. http://ccs-digital.com/epson-head-cleaner.asp If you ever do get it working, brand new cartridges for your printer are $3 and then you can get $2 back for the empties, making your final cost $1. Was it worth all that effort of washing a cartridge under water to save $1 at the risk of destroying your printer? http://ccs-digital.com/showink.asp?manufact=Canon&showprinter=MP620