Thanks Rachel. We have made it a rule that ask users should do three sets of cleaning prior to and after use. Each set consist of 2 tubes of D water, 2 tubes of clenz followed by 2 tubes 3% bleach followed by 2 tubes water. And one should introduce a set of cleaning every 15th acquired.
There are two users who filter their samples before acquisition is made and seem not to have a much different frequency in clogging.
I guess i am doing a comparison between frequency of clogging in Cyan and also FC500 which we also have. We used to get frequent clogging in FC500 we gradually increase set of cleaning. at the moment we do 5 set and we have had 3 good years without any clogging with the FC500.
We have also introduced an internal measure to check if a user may experience a clog and when to do vigorous cleaning.
May i should also make it a rule to be filtering samples before acquiring and gradually increase the sets of cleaning to see if we can reduce clogging to a near zero.
Dear Oscar,
There are two important requirements to reduce blockages.
1: Sample treated with EDTA (or the anti-coag of your choice).
2: Filtering with a 30-35um mesh. That's NOT too small to let a macrophage through. 70um mesh only removes visible clumps!
My CyAn has been running for 7 years without major issues. Yes we do get blockages, but rarely.
One important thing about the CyAn. It uses a pinch valve on the sample line, it is worthwhile changing the position of the sample tube (where it runs through the valve) as the tubing can lose its "memory" of its round shape and remain partially constricted which will lead to blockage like symptoms.
If you think the CyAn is bad for blockages I can introduce you to some other market leaders that are worse!
Regards
Rob
- Badges
- Science method