Liners getting stuck!! Please help!

[3llisstone]

Hi all,

I've search far an wide for an answer to this problem but to no avail.

Currently running an Agilent 6890 with an ALEX/MPS2 system for automated liner exchange between samples. The issue we are repeatedly having is that the liners seem to be getting stuck in the inlet, and so upon attempting to change the liner, the cap slips off while the glass portion remains in the inlet. The sampler then proceeds to put the next liner in, only to collide with the liner that is already in the inlet, causing the one stuck in the inlet to break. The collision means the sequence is halted and thus the instrument has to be manually reset.

Whilst this is a small annoyance, the bigger annoyance comes from the fact that our lab depends on samples running overnight, but each night it crashes and nobody is able to reset it again until the morning.

We have tried cleaning the inlet, bought new liners, and replaced the o-rings in the caps, but still no success. Could there be an issue with the inlet that is causing it to become tighter around the liner somehow?

Please help if you can,

Many thanks!

[James_Ball]

I haven't used one of these systems but saw one at Pittcon. Have you checked the alignment of the autosampler with the injection port? If it is slightly out of alignment it could be the liners are binding when it is lifting them out and causing it to drop the liner. If the dropped one is not stuck so tight you can't remove it by hand then I would check that first.