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ECD weldment question

Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 2:12 pm
by chemwipe
This just happened while troubleshooting some other issues.

Image


Does this have to be sent out to be reattached? I was wondering if it can be spot-welded with regular tools.

NOTE: AICMM: This is a result of trying to troubleshoot that lumpogram!

John

Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 6:02 pm
by aldehyde
What vendor ECD is that? Is it the make up gas adapter?

Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 6:07 pm
by Jumpshooter
That is a tight fit to get the pipe connected; one problem is an occlusion formed at the bend. Take a metal small pick and re-straighten the bent occlusive tear in the metal prior to spot welding or arc welding. Are you--or you in-house maintenance staff--expereinced with spot welding? Give it a try because at this stage you cannot really do more damage that is already extant. Happy Trails!

Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2010 11:00 am
by gcguy
I would be tempted to get a new one. The join at the other end of the line looks like it is about to go as well. I would avoid trying to weld this back together. Welding is a very high temperature activity, especially as these parts are stainless steel which it very difficult to weld, there is a danger of liberating some of the radioactive source!

There are dire warnings in the Agilent handbook about messing about with the ECD so it may not be repairable.

GCguy

Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2010 11:07 am
by Peter Apps
There is no way that this can be spot welded. If you really want to fix it, with all the radioactivity issues that might be involved, you need to drill out the stub of the pipe, cut a clean end onto the pipe and then silver solder it into the newly-drilled socket. It will be very difficult to avoid overheating the radioactive foil, which will mess it up quite seriously.

Peter

Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2010 1:54 pm
by chemwipe
Thanks for the quick replies, everyone! Luckily I had a spare ECD to replace this broken one.

Sounds like I shouldn't mess with it as far as welding.
What vendor ECD is that? Is it the make up gas adapter?
It's an HP ECD.

John

Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2010 2:28 pm
by JTM
You'll need a professional to do it. If you have some machine shop folks, they can probably handle it, but it's definitely not a "do it yourself" kind of a job.

Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2010 3:02 pm
by AICMM
chemwipe,

I heartily agree that you should not try to weld (silver solder really) this fitting due to the foil inside. I would recommend you contact CJ Bruyn and see if they can do this repair (and clean the detector while they are at it.) It appears to me that your exhaust tube was also broken at some point in it's history which could be part of your lumpogram.

Search the GC forum for ECD cleaning and you will get contact info for CJ if I am not mistaken.

Best regards.

Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2010 3:48 pm
by chemwipe
I would recommend you contact CJ Bruyn and see if they can do this repair (and clean the detector while they are at it.) It appears to me that your exhaust tube was also broken at some point in it's history which could be part of your lumpogram.

Search the GC forum for ECD cleaning and you will get contact info for CJ if I am not mistaken.

Best regards.
AICMM: I contacted them already and got a quote.

As far as the lumpogram goes...I've actually found some other things while troubleshooting that have probably been contributing to the problems of this 5890 Series II Plus. I haven't posted any of these things yet, but I will soon. I will also post a pic of the 10 ppb standard as requested.

Thanks, guys!


John