Humidity can cause printing issues due to its effects on two different physical elements: paper and ink or toner. Extremely high and low humidity levels can both cause problems. In most cases, maintaining a comfortable level of humidity in your office or company facility will solve or mitigate such problems. Controlling the temperature, using air conditioning, or using equipment such as a humidifier or dehumidifier can all be part of this.
Measurement
Humidity can be measured in a variety of ways. The most common is relative humidity, which compares the amount of water vapour in the air to the total amount of water vapour that air can hold. This metric takes into account the fact that different temperatures cause air to hold different amounts of water. As a result, adjusting temperature to avoid extremes may aid in the management of humidity-related printer issues.
A hygrometer, which is available in both mechanical and electronic models, can be used to measure relative humidity. If you do not have a hygrometer, printing consultant Howard Fenton recommends operating printers only in areas where it is comfortable to work and the air does not feel excessively damp or dry.
Effects
The effects of high humidity depend on the type of printer. Problems with laser printers include pages sticking together in the printer (especially when printing double-sided sheets), colour sections becoming saturated, and toner peeling from the page, leaving blank spaces. Because inkjet printers use liquid ink, there is a greater possibility of ink spreading, showing through the paper, or smudging before it dries.
Low Humidity
Printing can also be a problem in low-humidity environments. Ink that appears light or faded because it dried out too quickly, pages that stick together due to static electricity, and text and images that appear to spread out or even repeat because the paper shrinks during the printing process are all issues.
Paper
Xerox, a manufacturer of copiers and printers, warns that humidity can cause problems with both paper and equipment. It recommends storing paper in environments with relative humidity levels ranging from 15 to 85 percent, and claims that air conditioning will keep most environments within this range. High humidity can cause paper to wave, whereas low humidity can tighten the paper, potentially causing jams. Xerox also recommends keeping paper reams sealed until they are loaded into a printer and any spare sheets in a resealable plastic bag.
