The Error
The most common error message that customers receive is “Parts” or “Waste pads” “inside the printer have reached the end of their Service Life“. You are then directed to read your manual which, unfortunately, doesn’t tell you anything. Worse still, Epson first line support are renowned for recommending disposal of printers with this error and the purchase of a new one. This lack of real information is probably the reason you are reading this in the first place.
The Cause
Your printer contains the equivalent of a nappy or diaper pad which is used to soak up any ink waste. This waste is generated during the various maintenance routines your printer requires to keep it functioning. As you’d expect, the pads can only absorb so much ink before they reach saturation point. The printer does not sense the level of ink but instead keeps track using an internal counter. This counter is sometimes known as the “protection” or “waste ink” counter and is controlled by a relatively complex equation in the printer firmware. Once the equation reaches its limit it triggers the error and needs to be reset.
The Solution
Despite what Epson support repeatedly say the issue is easily resolved with a compatible waste ink counter reset tool (WICReset), the relevant credit/key and some way of replacing the waste pads or redirecting the waste ink flow. And it’s here that Printer Potty steps in.