I get many emails from people with refilling problems and one of the biggest is cartridges that just won't print after refilling them. There are many reasons for this but one problem in particular has been popping up with frequency lately. People are sealing cartridges that must not be sealed in order for them to work properly, or at all for that matter.

If you are ever in question as to weather to seal the refilling holes on your cartridge here are some tips. If the refilling hole is on the bottom of the cartridge you better seal it because if you don't it will obviously leak inside your printer. In these cases the breather holes on the top of the cartridge have not been disturbed so it should work properly if no other problems exist.

If the cartridge is a Canon BCI-3e or BCI-6 you better seal it and seal it good! For some reason these cartridges must have an air tight seal over any refilling hole or the ink will completely drain out of the ink port that feeds the ink into your printer which causes quite a mess. These seem to defy physics. A dab of hot glue works well for these cartridges and the "dimple" of glue comes off easily with your fingernail when you want to refill again.

Cartridges that should NOT be sealed are all HP color cartridges. In particular is the C6578. This cartridge is deceptive because when you refill you are instructed to punch the little plugs in that are on the top of the cartridge. While these plugs may look to be completely sealed they are not. A close inspection will reveal that these plugs are actually vented. So people looking to restore the cartridge to its original condition will seal these holes. Bad move, the result is vapor lock and no print.

If you have just refilled a cartridge and are having problems getting it to print properly check to make sure that you didn't cause a vapor lock problem by sealing the breather holes or refilling holes. Exception, of course, to the cartridges profiled above.

Epson cartridges generally work well with the refill holes uncovered if it was refilled from the top. The new design of Epson cartridges is very confusing. These are the new skinny ones like the T04xx and T08xx series of cartridges. The OEM cartridges are comprised of a series of chambers. They are harder to refill than their generic counterparts and some instructions will tell you to drill the top and others will tell you to drill in the bottom. Sealing the top hole is not mandatory while sealing the bottom is a must. Some generic versions of these cartridges are sponge filled and are far simpler to refill. You can drill on the top without complication and you don't have to reseal.

So the bottom line is if you are having printing problems after you refill be sure you have not caused the problem by sealing the cartridge and creating a vapor lock.