Frequently Asked Questions
55,000 pages from one drum — what does that look like in real time?
On a departmental copier it usually means the drum stops being a monthly concern and becomes an annual one. At 3,000 pages a month, a 55,000-page rating lasts roughly a year and a half. At 5,000 pages a month — a genuinely busy shared machine — it is about eleven months. Only a very heavy site, running well past that, should expect to change this drum more than once a year. The 55,000-page figure assumes standard 5% coverage, so dark, dense copy work shortens it somewhat.
There is a mark repeating down every page in the same rhythm — is that the drum?
Very likely, yes. The tell is repetition: a spot, line or smudge that comes back at the same interval on page after page points to the drum surface, because the drum is the part that rotates the image onto every sheet. Toner problems behave differently — they fade gradually or vary from page to page. A defect with a metronome is a drum defect, and on the imageRUNNER 2200, 2800 and 3300 that means this GPR-6 drum unit, part number 6648A004AA.
At $37.32, what does this drum cost per printed page?
About 0.07 cents per page — $37.32 spread across 55,000 rated pages. Put plainly, the drum is close to the cheapest line in these copiers' running costs: the toner you will feed the machine across one drum's life costs many times more than the drum itself. That is exactly why a worn drum is worth replacing rather than tolerating: for a few cents a day, print quality goes back to what the machine was built to produce.
Is the drum unit the same thing as the GPR-6 toner cartridge?
No, and the part numbers keep them apart. The GPR-6 toner cartridge (6647A003AA) holds the toner powder and is rated around 15,000 pages. This drum unit (6648A004AA) is the imaging surface the toner works with, rated at 55,000 pages — so one drum typically serves through three or more toner cartridges. If your prints are fading evenly, think toner. If the same defect repeats in the same place, think drum.
Which copiers does this drum fit?
This GPR-6 drum unit is made for Canon's imageRUNNER 2200, imageRUNNER 2800 and imageRUNNER 3300 departmental copiers. Those three machines share the GPR-6 platform, toner and drum alike. Other imageRUNNER models — even ones with similar numbers — take different drum units, so the model on your machine's front panel is the deciding check.
What cover do we have if this drum turns out to be faulty?
The same cover as everything we sell: a 1-year warranty against defects and 1-year free returns if the unit does not perform as it should. The full terms are on our shipping and returns page, and if you want to talk the symptoms through before ordering, our support team is available Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM CST. You are not gambling on a compatible part — if it is wrong, it goes back.
About This Drum Unit
This is a single compatible Canon GPR-6 drum unit, part number 6648A004AA, rated for up to 55,000 pages and built for the imageRUNNER 2200, 2800 and 3300 departmental copiers. It ships from one of our four US warehouses in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Georgia or California, so a machine down with a worn drum is not waiting on an overseas shipment. Every unit is covered by our 1-year warranty and 1-year free returns. The rest of our compatible range for this platform is on the Canon toner page.
See Compatible Printers
Read more about our ink!
