The printer and a suction device are designed to enable the printer to be restored to operation following a period in which the jets have dried without problems arising from an ink container not being mounted on the printer. A suction device sucks ink from the recording head (RH) jets. An ink container is detachably mountable in a holder and its presence is detected by a device which prevents the suction device from being operated when the container is not mounted.The suction arrangement contains a jet sealing cap, a negative pressure source (6) and an actuator which starts the generation of vacuum when the jet has been sealed by the cap (5). Ink cannot be sucked from the head jets when the container is not installed. This prevents contamination of the surroundings
