Office Paper Jams: Causes and Time Loss

We all know how frustrating it can be to be hurrying in order to meet a deadline when seemingly out of the blue a paper jam happens. Nothing can stop your progress dead in its tracks like that. Fortunately, once you understand the most important paper jam causes it will be quicker next time to clear the jam and get back to work. In what follows, we will look at the most common paper jam causes, how to fix paper jams, and how to avoid paper jam issues in the future.

Are you aware that the vast majority of paper jams are completely preventable? With a couple of simple steps, including preventative maintenance, one can eliminate paper jams nearly completely and keep your printing devices working at full capacity.

The Most Common Paper Jam Causes

Below are some of the most frequent paper jam causes. This is also where you should start if you want to know how to avoid paper jam issues in the future.

The Paper You Are Using Is Incompatible With Your Printer

You should never use paper that is incompatible with your printer. While that might sound obvious, you will be surprised how many people make this mistake. Before inserting the tray and hitting the ‘print’ button, always double-check that you are using the right paper weight and size. Also, don’t forget that using low-quality paper can result in a paper jam in printer. The paper can shred or create flakes that leave behind “paper dust”. If this is allowed to accumulate it will cause problems over time.

The Printer’s Rollers Might Be Damaged

The job of the printer’s rollers is to pull the sheets into the input tray. As time passes, however, these rollers can become damaged, particularly if they are subject to heavy use. Once this happens, your best option is to call the printer repair company so they can install new ones. To prevent it from happening again next time (in the process of eliminating one of the biggest printer paper jam causes out there), make sure you do not print miles beyond your poor printer’s regular duty cycle.

Paper Inserted The Wrong Way

When it comes to paper jam causes, this is possibly the most common one. What can possibly go wrong while loading paper into a printer’s input tray? Quite a lot it seems. One example is that the sheets in the tray somehow get stuck together so multiple sheets get pulled in at the same time. This will cause a paper jam faster than you can say ‘jam!’. Frayed and folded papers will often cause a similar problem. And, believe it or not, overloading your paper input tray can also land you with a paper jam problem.

Using Inferior Cartridges

Another one of the most common paper jam causes is using inferior quality cartridges, for example, cheap imported cartridges or refills. We are not exaggerating if we say that these often leave behind stray toner or ink powder that will quickly start accumulating inside the printer. Once this happens it can cause damage to the unit and result in issues like low-quality output and, you guessed it, paper jams.

The Best Way To Fix Paper Jams

 Below are a couple of tips for quickly fixing a paper jam:

1. Switch off the printer and unplug it to prevent issues with electricity. If it’s a laser printer, allow enough time for the unit and the fusers to properly cool off.
2. Next, start looking for the root of the issue. Open the various panels that give access to the paper path so you can see where exactly the paper got stuck.
3. Slowly (and carefully) pull out the jammed paper in the direction it was originally supposed to go. It might occasionally be necessary to also remove the printer cartridge before you can remove the paper that got jammed.
4. Once you have removed the stuck paper from the printer, replace all the panels that you removed in Step 2 and switch the device on again. If you have followed the correct procedures, the printer should automatically reset and be able to do its job once again. If the device, however, still gives an error message to indicate that there is a paper jam, repeat Steps 1 to 4, this time checking for paper scraps you missed the first time. If the error message still returns, or the paper jam keeps happening, you will have to call the service provider.