Buying a "new" used HPLC

[jelwell]

I am in the process of collecting quotes to purchase a "new" HPLC Refurb for our lab. We are looking into getting a Waters 2695 system to replace our ancient Waters 600.

I am fairly inexperienced in the world of HPLC and am hoping to get some insight on questions I should be asking when I talk to the companies providing the quotes. Also, any input on IET, HPLCworks, or Harlow Scientific? I'm also speaking with Waters about getting a demo model.

I do pretty basic separations, mostly identifying the amount of our materials present in the formulations in question. I currently run GPC and Reversed Phase.

I apologize if I am not offering up info that would be helpful, please ask and I will get it on here.

Thanks!

[tsoukalas1]

Hello,

I know a good company who refurbished HPLC in France
If you want more information, you can send me a private message because i am not sure that i can say the company name in this forum.

best regards

[Vlad Orlovsky]

Go on Ebay and buy your self a full Agilent 1100 system for less than 22K. We bought 4 units from ebay and they work like a clock. They are usually taken from pharma labs and don't need anything

[juddc]

Ebay? Perhaps, though I'd trust the sellers on Ebay as far as I can toss a 2695 (not very). Most don't understand LC instrumentation at all. If you purchase such a unit from there, know how to work on it yourself because there wlil be no recourse.

A demo or refurb unit from the manufacturer is not a bad way to go and may be your best bet if you don't turn your own wrenches, but is still costly.

You can purchase directly from the pharma companies that bought them new using industral auction sites. I've used the one linked below with some success in the past, but do know that once bought, the instrument is yours. I'd be somewhat careful of any instrument that has a third party PM sticker prominently displayed. I've heard some horror stories about such machines and personally would prefer to put a higher bid on one with evidence of having been PM'd by the manufacturer.

http://www.go-dove.com/en/search/advanc ... SearchTerm

I've also dealt with Patrick McCavery at 2H2 Inc and found him to be knowledgeable, forthright, and willing to both divulge his parts sources (which are good) and warrantee his work.

http://www.hplcsystem.com/2695.html

Hope this helps!

CJ

[Vlad Orlovsky]

we bought MS from one of this official "auctioneers". When we came to pick up our MS from big pharma location it was only a shell of the MS-all insides were taken out
Also they charge extra 18%, which on the 25K system is additional 4.5K. Since we know how to fix HPLC and have access to parts, it is not a problem for us to buy from ebay.
If you are not familiar with the maintenance or don't have access to inexpensive maintenance it is better to buy something newer with warranty. I personally would never buy Waters new one or used one, but this is my personal preference.

[juddc]

Regarding your MS - Yikes! That sounds lees than fun...

I don't think that's entirely the auctioneer's fault, however. Items listed for auction are typically available for inspection in-person and frankly, if I was going to pop large money for an MS, I'd get over and have a look at it prior to bidding. If it's too far away to do that, then it's too expensive a risk.

I've purchased a number of smaller pieces of LC equipment and all have been in fine working condiiton at prices significantly lower than retail. The last was a nice little 4-channeel degasser from Bristol Meyers-Squibb which works perfectly for a $363 (including the 18%). Do a quick search on Ebay and you'll find that's less expensive than just about all there.

I've seen many items sell on the industrial auctioneer's site land on Ebay a few days later at significantly higher prices with the very same photos used by the auctioneer.

I have no doubt that Vlad's 1100's are fantastic machines, but our opinions differ on Waters hardware. I've found them to be quite robust when given proper care. I have a thirty year old 590 from Waters that I just refurbished and it runs flawlessly (1.00 mL/min set yields 0.99 mL/min actual flow at 1200 psi). In addition, I've been responsible for 4 2695's over the pat 10 years and all have proven to be robust machines that are pretty striaghtforward to service.

Waters does charge an awful lot for parts, however, and can be rough to deal with.

[Consumer Products Guy]

We've dealt with Agilent partners, such as Quantum Analytics. Stuff was same as brand-new in quality (returned from lease), even had all the little stuff, even if Quantum had to get brand-new. And same warranty as brand-new, and Quantum does PM and PV.

[nitrendipin]

I think if you make sure that there is some kind of warranty on the devices you are purchasing you should be on the save side. We also had a bad experience with used lab equipment bought over ebay. The add said that the instrument is passing all tests during startup. Which it actually did but the proportioning valves and the pressure sensor were broken and needed to be replaced. Unfortunately that offer was without warranty.

[lmh]

Don't forget software either. Particularly when you're buying an old instrument, the last thing you want is for it to turn up with no software, no way to control it beyond rudimentary button-pushing on the front panel, and no way to analyse the data (cutting out peaks and weighing them, anyone??). Millenium and Empower (so far as I know) come with key-diskettes, which naturally everybody loses, and which in any case won't help you out when the hard disk dies (because they're deactivated on installation*). In my limited experience Waters are as hard as nails on software issues, and won't help you out without injection of frightening amounts of cash.

(* if you do make a valid install using key diskettes, I'd recommend you ghost the PC, uninstall (to activate the key-diskette) and then un-ghost to get back to a valid software install. Then you have key-diskettes and potentially the ghost image ready to rescue you when the hard disk dies, which sooner or later it will. Frankly inflicting on a customer a situation where they have to buy new key-diskettes (and we're not talking £10 here...) or even new software because their hard disk died is unethical, and very bad marketing).