By Anonymous on Tuesday, June 29, 2004 - 08:14 am:

I wonder if anyone would not mind explaining to me the phenomenon of Vapor Lock - in HPLC - and how it is corrected.

Thanks

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By Anonymous on Tuesday, June 29, 2004 - 01:43 pm:

Don't close the solventbottle too tightly or removal of mobile phase by the pump will create a vacuum. This prevents mobile phase from flowing the pump, creating a "vapor lock" within the pump.

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By Anonymous on Wednesday, June 30, 2004 - 04:39 am:

also if your solventfilter i blocked

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By Alexander on Thursday, July 1, 2004 - 07:38 pm:

Additional advise. Use only degassed aqueous buffers. Gas can be removed by short vacuuming/vacuum filtration of the buffer or better by Helium bubbling.

Small air bubbles in the buffer solutions act as a "seed" for further growth, and that is very bad especially inside the pump. Eventually your pump may get filled with air resulted in lower capacity of the pump or complete stop of the solvent flow.
Have a syringe handy to push the bubbles manually from the pump.

Alexander.