Chromatography Forum

I am seeking advice/input on the possibility of resurrecting a Varian 3600 GC. As far as I know, the instrument was totally functional when it was put into storage over 10 years ago. It has a split/splitless injector and a flame ionization detector. The Star software and computer that controlled the GC may or may not be lost so I plan to use an integrator at first. I know that consumable items like septa, liners, etc. are still available but I have been told that Varian will no longer provide service support for this instrument. With that in mind....

Are there any third-party vendors or companies that can provide such things as circuit boards, flow controllers, integrator cables, etc. in case these go bad?

I have 30 years of GC experience and I feel confident that I can handle the setup of the instrument but will I be wasting my time on an instrument this old?

As usual. I reserve the right to reject any and all advice but all input is appreciated.

There are parts around and there are units around. If you cruise LabX or e-bay you will see the old monsters pop up once in a while. The problem is shipping them...

If you do not have another GC on hand, I certainly would go for it. I have two of them but neither is running at the moment because I am using newer used GC's.

Best regards.

Little to be lost by giving it a try ? Probably not worth paying to have it fixed if it is non functioning, plenty of cheap GCs available you could replace it with for less than the cost of new parts.

Well, we have two V3600's that are in daily use. As long as the boards haven't failed, they're workhorses. I find the SSL column flow/split flow adjustment to be very quirky. If we take our time with these adjustments, it's not too bad.