Agilent 1100 Degasser Troubleshooting

[sirdaniel]

Hi, I've got some Problems with our Vacuum Degasser. After a while it allays gives an error and shuts down the pump, but because it has no intelligent failure-message and and I either can't trouble shoot it over chemstations diagnostic mode, I really don't know what's wrong.

When I open the housing there was no leak etc. so I think that there must be a problem with the Vacuum.

Does anyone have some experience here about to troubleshoot the thing?


I thought about testing the pump first (if produce any vacuum at all) and then bypassing the capillary one by one.


Would appreciate any information!

Thanks,

sirdaniel

[tom jupille]

When was the last time you replaced the tubes? Go ahead and confirm that the vacuum pump is functional. If it is, just replace all the tubes (they should be replaced regularly as part of routine preventive maintenance).

[LCbob]

Hi

Check the vac tube that runs from one side of the vac pump to the other. The vac pump is just a typical dual diaphragm pump and the piece of tubing that runs from one diaphragm to the other tends to age and crack.

[sirdaniel]

thanks for the informations, but couldn't solve it till now..

Some more infos:


pump works

valve works

sensor seems to be fine

tubing seems also to be ok. the vacuum produced is engough to turn off the yellow light after a while. but then the valve switchs after 10 min again and the pump turns off. so vacuum is missing then and error....

could it be a problem with the board? or heatproblem of the valve? it seems to get really warm.

[LCbob]

The yellow light goes out when the system gets to about 190 Torr, but the degasser does not reach operational mode until 115 Torr. So you have some vacuum, but not enough.

What you can do with a bit of fiddling about is connect the vac pump tubing to the sensor tubing ( thus isolating the rest of the tubing and chamber ). Turn the degasser on and try now.

Chances are it is the vac pump, changing this tends to fix approx 90% of problems IMHO.

If you are in the UK or EU, you could send to me and I can fix.

[sirdaniel]

thanx again for the hepl but after tighting the tubing with parafilm the vacuum is still to low...

so woudl like to change the pump now.

The only thing is where to buy it! agilent spain don't sell any spare parts. Just exchanges the hole thing for 2600€.

Does anyone know where to buy the pump and also the tubing?

thanks again,

sirdaniel

[sirdaniel]

still hot....

[Mike H.]

Had a similar problem with one of our 1100s. Turns out that one of the flex tubes had a very small crack which caused a error condition when the system couldn't hold vacuum.

[achkata]

sirdaniel,
are you sure the problem is with the pump?
Parafilm can't tight enough these tubing...(i've alrady tried it)
I clogged tubing with small rubber tap.
As LCbob wrote, you have to isolate the rest tubing and chambers by connecting the pump directly to the sensor.

I had cracked vacuum chamber, although there was not solvent leak and the pump was running constantly.

try and write

greetings
Angelo

[sirdaniel]

thanks for the support, finally I could fix it...

After changing the tubing I figured out that it must be the pump.
Unfortunately it was a bit difficult to get a replacement parts for the pump or a hole replacement pump here in spain cause the local agilent support just wanted to sell this "replace repair" service for around 2000€!
After looking a bit aroudn and asking for the specific part number I got the pump from them for around 550€.

It seems really ridiculous to buy a new pump when it's most likely that its membrane is the problem. Which would cost some cents or euros, but you just can't get a replacement part...

especially because these seems to be a commune problem of this degasser...

[Multidimensional]

Replacing just the vacuum pump in the G1322A or G1379A is not a good idea. The tubing and perhaps other components may be damaged and replacing the pump alone may cause contamination or damage to it over time (resulting in a short life time). Often the vacuum valve is damaged too, since it is positioned in front of the vac pump and catches all of the debris and contamination inside the vacuum system. The Vac Tubing should be replaced every 5 years. BTW: "Parafilm" is not a solution, nor is cheap auto store vacuum tubing which is not chemically or vacuum rated for this application. The vac pumps are only designed to last ~ 5 or 6 years at best (these are normal maintenance items). Also, yes Agilent discontinued the original vac pump for this model, but has replaced it with a cheap quality vac pump that does not work as well. The original G1322-60000 pump is better (and you can still buy them, see link below). However, before replacing the pump, the real cause should be found, otherwise the usually contaminated system will contaminate and damage the replacement pump and you will be back where you started, but with less money.

For future reference, next time you have a problem with any HPLC degasser module, start at this link: http://www.chiralizer.com/hplc-degasser-repair.html
They have all of the correct factory parts to repair these systems with (at prices much lower than the factory charges) and perhaps more importantly, they can actually repair individual chambers, control modules, vacuum circuits and your whole degasser (any brand) for far less money than others.