How to Fill HP Ink Cartridges

After printing dozens of color photographs or even just text documents the cartridges in your printer will run out of ink. Rather than purchase a whole new ink cartridge, which can get expensive quickly if you print regularly, you can manually refill the cartridges. HP printers use both a black ink cartridge and a tri-color ink cartridge, so you need a refill kit for each.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Paper towel
• Hewlett Packard black inkjet refill kit
• Hewlett Packard color inkjet refill kit

1. Pull open the top of your HP printer and wait for the ink carriage to automatically move into view. Push up on the plastic cover over the ink cartridge and then pull the cartridge out.

2. Wipe off the bottom and sides of the ink cartridge with a piece of paper towel to remove any ink that has leaked out. Set the ink cartridge down on a flat surface with the white sticker facing toward you. Check the original packaging for the cartridge or navigate your web browser to HP's official website to find out the maximum capacity of the cartridge in mililiters. Most HP ink cartridges hold 10 ML of ink.

3. Pull off the top half of the sticker to reveal the air holes that lead to the ink storage chambers inside the cartridge. Fill the ink syringe from the refill kit with the proper color for the cartridge. (Check the color around the air hole if it is a tri-color tank.)

4. Place the tip of the syringe inside the hole and deposit the amount of ink that the cartridge can hold inside. Repeat the process for the other holes if it is a tri-color cartridge. Stop filling the cartridge immediately if any ink begins to seep out of the top as that will indicate you have filled it past it's maximum capacity.

5. Put the sticker back into place and then put the ink cartridge back into the printer. Snap the plastic cover down and then push back down the top of the printer to finish the refill procedure.

Tips & Warnings

• Thoroughly wipe off the syringe tip before filling it again to ensure that the wrong colors do not mix together in the cartridge.

Resources

• HP Information About Refilling Ink Cartridges
• HP Inkjet Refills
• Common Mistakes When Refilling Ink Cartridges
• HP Refill Kits