Davis Brown
It is important to get rid of our printer infested with ants. Ants getting inside your printer can create serious issues, and nobody wants to deal with that kind of a mess. So, it becomes essential to keep your printer safe from ants because they can damage wires and hardware and leave printers unfunctional.
Best 7 Chemical free Ways to Remove Ants That Infest Printers:
Many people opt for bug spray or chemicals to get rid of ants. In this process, you may get away with ants, but such chemicals prove to be hazardous the other way. However, our approach is a little different. We opt for a better solution that does not involve any harmful chemicals. So, let us discuss the seven DIY steps to get rid of ant infestation from inkjet/sublimation/photo printers without using harmful spray and chemicals.
1. Use Vacuum Cleaner:
The first method to get rid of ants is to vacuum them. You may open the lid of your printer and find an ant farm under the scanner. Under the glass, countless tiny black workers scurrying every way, and others tending hundreds of creamy-white eggs laid on the black plastic floor of the machine. You may also find ants coming from the USB ports or even by the ink cartridge channels.
You can easily vacuum such parts using your house vacuum cleaner through small holes and entry points under the scanner where ants come to make colonies. The moment you see ants coming outside from a hole or cavity, you can vacuum that end.
Most importantly, please do not set the vacuum cleaner with full power mode; otherwise, it can lead to damaged wires and fragile hardware. Just set it to moderate power and vacuum all the suspected places and circuit passages.
However, vacuum cleaning may work with huge ant colonies, but it doesn’t guarantee a complete ant-free printer. If such happens with you, try the second method below.
2. Regularly cleaning is Preventing:
Accidentally or carelessly, you may spill coke, juice, or food items on your printer and don’t clean it up immediately. Most of the time, food pieces may fall onto the printer, attracting ants and bacteria, and infestation begins.
The second way is a simple preventive measure to keep your printer clean against any infestations, maybe bacteria or ants. Remove all the spillover items, rub or clean them properly and that will get the job done.
3. Shake your Printer:
The third way is to shake your printer while plugging off and removing all connections. This step may be challenging if your printer is too heavy. In fact, we recommend this step to be performed for a small printer which can be lifted easily.
Shaking the printer can also work well in getting rid of ants because it is a simple step that drives away ants that dwell inside the printer. Most importantly, do not shake the printer near your resting area or print accessories like ink, emulsion, or transfers as it can create a mess. Better perform this step in an open place, garage, or garden.
Also read: Epson wf-7710 Sublimation Printer – 10 Most Important FAQs
4. Relocate your Printer:
If you see any ant infestation close to your printing area, there are chances that the infestation can increase further and spoil your printing machine.
Thus, simply by relocating your t-shirt pinter from one table to another or from one place to another. It stops the infestation further.
However, you may not get rid of ant infestation near your printing area provided you apply ant chalk or spray.
5. Homemade Ant Bait:
The fifth way is to use bait to get rid of ants. A simple bait can be a sugary product like peanut butter, or a flurry product does the job very well.
Just keep the bait close to your printer, and that will just the ants out. The moment you divert the ants’ trail, you can easily remove them.
Keep the bait in a bowl where the ants can come in and consume it. Keeping the bait in a bowl provides a couple of different options to trap and kill ants accurately. You can directly throw water over it or throw the bait along with all the ants. Or you can use a chemical spray to get rid of them.
6. Dismantle your Printer and Clean:
This is a little technical step and requires the skill to dismantle your printer and clean the core and inaccessible parts for superficial cleaning.
Take a dry cloth and remove all the ants from the core places. Wear gloves that cover up to your elbows if necessary.
7. Take your Printer to a Support Centre:
Step 6 is not recommended for newbies. If you are doing it for the first time, it may lead to some printing issues further. All parts and components within the printer are important. If any of them get misplaced or damaged can cause serious issues in the future.
Be careful while performing this step. Else, consult a printer mechanic or the support center. Further, it is a good option as they will completely clean your printer without any damage to fragile parts. Also, if ants cause any technical issues within your printer, the support center can repair/replace those parts.
Although that will cost you money but save your printer.
Why do ants get inside the printer?
Ants get inside the printer because certain kinds of ants don’t have big colonies. They want to make colonies inside electronic devices like a printer. Further, ants love the warmth and the electromagnetic field generated from electronic devices. It attracts them inside the printer.
What are the signs of ant infestations in the printer?
There are two signs of ant infestation in printers. They are:
- Some of the obvious signs are glitches like sudden ON or OFF or malfunctioning. You will see the printer is running, and then all of a sudden, it glitches and turns off and then start running again. If that happens with your printer, it indicates some hardware issues, most probably due to ants. Further, it is subject to checking the real issue.
- Secondly, you may find ants coming out of your printer if you see at least a few ants coming out of your device; that is assured that some infestation is already inside your printer.
- You may find smoke or get a burning smell. The printer can get short-circuit due to ants. A large ant colony inside the printer can harm hardware, circuit, and fragile parts. Therefore, if you get a smoke or burning smell, immediately turn off your printer and take it to the support center.
Conclusion:
We discussed seven ways to get rid of ants from your printer without using any harmful spray, gel, or chemicals at home. I hope that works for you.
