Canon i450 - can I turn off color?

[Peabody]

My 3-color cartridge has run out, and I don't want to replace it
right now. I understand that operating the heads without ink will
burn them out, so I would like to set the printer to use only black
ink for everything. Can I do that? Canon says "even use of
grayscale will consume some color ink."

Is there a way to do this? I just don't want the color heads to
operate at all.

If not, would it hurt anything to refill the color containers with
black ink? I'm pretty sure the BCI-24 black ink is pigmented, but I
don't know about the colors. If they are pigmented too, then they
shouldn't notice that the ink is black.

 

[Tony]

My 3-color cartridge has run out, and I don't want to replace it
right now. I understand that operating the heads without ink will
burn them out, so I would like to set the printer to use only black
ink for everything. Can I do that? Canon says "even use of
grayscale will consume some color ink."

Is there a way to do this? I just don't want the color heads to
operate at all.

If not, would it hurt anything to refill the color containers with
black ink? I'm pretty sure the BCI-24 black ink is pigmented, but I
don't know about the colors. If they are pigmented too, then they
shouldn't notice that the ink is black.

If they are pigmented it will do no harm at all, the important thing is that
liquid flows through the head to provide a degree of cooling. You could use a
cleaning cartridge if they are available for this model.
Tony

 

[Gary Tait]

If they are pigmented it will do no harm at all, the important thing
is that liquid flows through the head to provide a degree of cooling.
You could use a cleaning cartridge if they are available for this
model. Tony

AFAIK, they are dye. You can get a cheap aftermarket cart, and clean
afterwards with a good cart.