Recording paper, think twice

There are many after market suppliers of recording paper that claim to save you “big dollars” on your consumables purchases. These may be short -term savings but in the long run can cost you a lot of money.

We often receive calls from customers who are experiencing a problem associated with the printing function on their ECG machine. They tell us, “The machine will not print an ECG” or “Every time I press the print button the machine feeds extra sheets of paper after the ECG has been printed”

Both of these problems are consistently related to the use of cheap recording paper that is badly manufactured. Usually the paper registration mark is in the wrong place or commonly is too small. The black registration mark is very important because it is used to correctly position each sheet of paper so that the next ECG printed is in the correct position. The registration mark is recognized by a sensor that is positioned close to the print head. If it is too small or in the wrong position is will either be missed completely or will incorrectly position the recording paper.

We make dozens of service calls each month to fix print problems that are related to the use of cheap recording paper. As this is not covered under the machine’s warranty the customer always ends up with a service charge that far exceeds any savings they have made. So think twice when someone offers you a cheap price. In the long run it can actually cost you a lot of money.