Chromatography Forum

I wanted to get some lubricant for the pump heads, and I found this Agilent catalogue listing:

http://www.chem.agilent.com/en-US/Store ... 9846-65501

List price is about $225 (in Canadian dollars).

So...does anyone know what kind of grease this is, and what a more reasonably priced substitute might be? What might be the effect of, say, putting a little Crisco in there?

If you are referring to the white grease used on the top of the ball plungers (behind the pump head) and also on the pump head screws to reduce galling, then in most cases this is simply lithium grease. It is available at any auto parts or general supply house.

Thanks. It's definitely not lithium grease in there now, it's greenish-brown and slightly transparent...looks more like chain grease for a bicycle. I have some lithium grease around, does anyone advise me against using it?

The grease Agilent supplies is very light in texture and is actually white when new. We have never purchased it as it come as part of the shipping kit for HPLCs and the small containers last for years.
I suspect that simple petroleum jelly would do the same job.

GCguy

If you're not going to use the Agilent stuff, or not certain what it is, be certain to remove as much of the old grease as possible before putting new stuff in there. Mixing greases can go very bad...

Actually, lithium grease (lithium salt of fatty acid) can either be white or transparent brownish in color. I'd go for the white type, at auto parts store. The transparent lithium greases are commonly used for wheel bearings and for grease fittings (from tubes of it loaded into grease guns).