General Information
- Do you take your pipettes for granted?
- When were your pipettes last serviced?
- Have your pipettes ever been serviced?
- Is the quality of your research at risk?
As the most extensively used piece of equipment in the laboratory, pipettes take a lot of wear and tear.
A pipette is comprised of a variety of mechanical parts, moving against each other, that are often exposed to corrosive or hazardous chemicals. Like all things mechanical, nothing lasts forever and deterioration of pipette parts will seriously affect performance. For example, piston surfaces can become eroded or pitted over time, leading to premature sealing failure and pipette inaccuracy. Seals can leak after being exposed to damaging piston surfaces or sample contamination. Tip holders can be worn overtime, especially when high force or "banging" is applied when mounting tips. Inefficient sealing can lead to leakage and incorrect sample volumes. Often, this leakage is gradual and may not be discovered until it is too late, adversely affecting the integrity of your science.
As a population, pipettes checked annually without any preventative maintenance or regular servicing procedures in place, will have a 20% or more failure rate. Over 95% of pipette failures are attributable to sealing system defects. This is predictable but preventable. Scheduled preventative maintenance reduces failures and costs.
Under normal use and based on Gilson & RAININ’s recommendations plus Anachem’s own extensive experience, seals should be replaced at least once per year, while tip holders and pistons should be replaced every three to five years. Anachem can offer the most comprehensive and flexible range of service and preventative maintenance plans, designed to prevent "as found" failures between calibration intervals.
Anachem also offers pipette service pre-validation for laboratories operating under compliant requirements.
