VJ-1614 Dumped it's ink!

[Graphics2u]

Came in to the shop today and ink on the floor and on the side of the printer stand, machine beeping at me. Says ink waste tank full, that was an understatement! So I still have no idea what happened here. Obviously the sensor was working on the waste tank because it was beeping with the error message. When that happens it stops anything else from happening with the machine, So apparently some how either it syphoned the ink out or pumped it out. All cartridges except yellow say "no ink". I honestly don't know how much ink was left in all the cartridges but all 3 of them going empty all at once would be very strange.

Anyone had similar problem? Or have any ideas? I kinda hate to put new cartridges in and have it happen again! Capping station is not very old and it looks good, the pad is not swollen to make contact with the head. I know that can cause syphoning. But I'm not even sure that's possible with these capping stations with the wire over the pad. Help!

Thanks for any ideas!

 

[Solventinkjet]

Your reasoning is spot on. A siphon definitely occurred here, but finding out why it occurred can be difficult. I would flush every tube running through the waste station including the larger ones. Get as much of the dry/gel like ink out as possible. Take the air release tube off the station and flush that as well and reinstall. If any of the tubes were clogged enough to keep ink from flowing properly, that can cause a siphon to start. Clean the bottom of your head extremely well to make sure there aren't any fibers or build up that could wick the ink in any way. Double check that there aren't any tubes submerging in the waste ink as well. if your dampers are over a year old, I would replace them as well as it is about time to change them anyway and even if one fails on one channel, it can lose pressure and drop ink through the head which can cause this issue as well.

 

[Umca]

I know this problem very well.
It happened because tube in the pump not so clean. So, few drops of ink on tube output and comes to waste tank.
These drops made a some minimum vacuum in capping and inks from head goes to waste tank too.
This process can continue untill you have the ink in cartridges, but is printer was powered ON.
If printer powered OFF, valves are closed and ink from cartridges can't go to waste.