Canon 9500 MK II

[The Hat]

The only sure way to know is to power the printer on and lift the top lid as soon as it starts and check the ink levels in all the carts, if unsure replace the doggy ones, then run an Ink Quality Maintenance routine followed by a normal head clean and finally a nozzle print.

This will give you the real state of play, but you may also have to resort to soaking the print head in a couple of drops of Dreft and warm water for an hour or two to get better results, good luck with your find...

 

[stratman]

How long can you let a print head just sit there with the cartridges installed and still have a reasonable expectation on saving it through various cleaning techniques?

I would go directly to flushing the print head first, and consider a good soak in Fairy or Dawn for a day as well. Why rush things.

 

[stratman]

couple of drops of Dreft

First you use garbage bags on your printers and now only a couple drops of Dreft? You need to ask Mrs. The Hat for an increase in your weekly allowance.

Kidding aside... why Dreft and not Fairy/Dawn?

 

[The Hat]

I would go directly to flushing the print head first, and consider a good soak in Fairy or Dawn for a day as well. Why rush things.

This being a pigment and not a dye printer, may respond better to in-house cleaning of the print head rather than an external one...

First you use garbage bags on your printers and now only a couple drops of Dreft?

Firstly, a true DIY’er would use what was readily to hand, rather then going to the Mall to get something specific, and secondly from @William Seaward signature location (Romeoville IL.) I reckoned on Dreft rather than Fairy.

Kidding aside... why Dreft and not Fairy/Dawn?

Anyway I couldn’t see @stratman going into a shop and asking for something called FAIRY.

 

[William Seaward]

I think that I would go for "Dawn" first...

 

[stratman]

This being a pigment and not a dye printer, may respond better to in-house cleaning of the print head rather than an external one...

The extreme length of time of no use leads me to think there may be significant dried pigment ink that a peristaltic pump may not be able to move it, hence my recommendation to go straight to flushing and soaking.

 

[stratman]

I think that I would go for "Dawn" first...

I've always been partial to Dawn as well.

 

[William Seaward]

The extreme length of time of no use leads me to think there may be significant dried pigment ink that a peristaltic pump may not be able to move it, hence my recommendation to go straight to flushing and soaking.

My thoughts exactly... I just need to work on the guy to try to get the printer cheaper as he wants way too much right now.

 

[palombian]

The extreme length of time of no use leads me to think there may be significant dried pigment ink that a peristaltic pump may not be able to move it, hence my recommendation to go straight to flushing and soaking.

I dismantled one a year ago (following @The Hat 's excellent instructions) to add a potty.
It is not difficult to reach the purge pump and tubes.

 

[rodbam]

The newer pro9500 inks from Precision Colors are much better for minimal gloss differences so I don't bother using the glop anymore.