Hot Water will Damage Waters HPLC?

[Terry]

Dear all,

The senior technician in my lab suggest us to prime/purge the HPLC system with about 50 mL of hot water (70 degree C), to remove any possible salt precipitate in the tubing, prior to the start of analysis. We have followed this recommendation for about 6 months, our HPLC are working fine.

Last month, when the engineer from Waters visited our lab, they said the hot water might damage the HPLC system, without letting us know the exact reason.

I do not think it make sense, since the tubing, pump head, seal are quite durable material, they are supposed to withstand the hot water.

What is your opinion?

Regards,

Terry

[bunnahabhain]

<evil mode on>
Cleaning the instrument with hot water makes necessary repairs less frequent, therefore it is not wanted by the manufacturer...
<evil mode off>

I don't know any reason why hot water should damage your system. However, it should be necessary only if unused for some time and when you forgot to flush the system with salt-free solvents.

Jörg

[Terry]

Dera Jörg,

Thanks for your reply.

We have specified in our SOP to perform the hot water cleaning every time before use, as insisted by the 20-year experience technician. So we will stick to it, unless it is demonstrated that frequent hot water cleaning is not appropriate.

Regards,

Terry

[Bull76]

Hi,

Hot water won't damage the system. It should be recommended any time to wash the system of salts. Good to hear you have a diligent seniot Technician.
I think the service Engineer may have thought you wash the system with Water and then leave it. But you do this before each use some no chance of any bacterial growth in the system.

Regards,
Bull76.

[remesquaddie]

Your senior tech is correct. I have used hot water for many years, just remove the column first.
Then run dummy injections, which would clean out the low pressure paths too. Go back to your HPLC grade water , run the same method then go back to your initial conditions solvents, run that, then when the baseline looks stable, connect your column.
Good luck, and pass this on to others,

[Terry]

Dear all,

Thanks for your clarification.

Regards,

Terry