Chromatography Forum

Hello

Has anyone encountered a smoking Agilent 1311a pump?
When running today, it started emitting white smoke. It's a thin smoke (not a ton of it), and seems to be coming from under the pump head somewhere.

Thanks!

Now thats new, are you sure its smoke and coming from under the pump head?

It could be the active inlet valve, this has a small washer / seal between the liquid end and the main solenoid body. This seal does fail which lets liquid into the solendoid ( usually see a pile of rust underneath ), never seem them smoke before though.

It could also be the leak sensor, these get very hot. But by design they should fail if they breakdown.

It could also be further inside the system and the fan is pushing the smoke out, usually by the time you see smoke the fuses takes the system down. Does it smell phenolic, this is usually the precursor to some serious fault.

Best to turn it off and get a engineer in.

Here is our theory about this pump (which is disconnected now)...the analyst was running a MP with 0.2%PCA.
Mobile phase A 90:10 water:Acn with 0.2% PCA
Mobile phase B 10: 90 water:Acn with 0.2% PCA

A leak developed this morning (I think it's in the AIV, it is looking rusty and I know it wasn't rusty two weeks ago) which she cleaned up and tightened fittings. After that it started smoking. We think some MP got into the pump compartment (above the leak sensor maybe) and the MP dried out, causing the PCA to precipitate, get hot, and start to smoke.
What do you think? I was thinking about opening the case and seeing what it looks like inside. We do most of our own repair here, but will send out equipment if needed.

Lisa

Always fix FIRST what you KNOW is bad.

Always fix FIRST what you KNOW is bad.

As quote from consumer, the AIV is bad, tightening will not fix it. Once you see rust, it is dead.
I am not sure what PCA is so cannot comment iam afraid.

Yep, I removed the offending AIV, and also just switched pumps completely in order to get the stack back in service.
So, can I replace the AIV and keep the housing (after cleaning it up)? I'm not sure what the housing is called.

Pca is Perchloric Acid. It can be explosive when allowed to dry out and crystals form. I hate it when my colleagues use it in a mobile phase unless it is completely and utterly necessary.

Lisa

Hi

Not sure what the housing is either! The AIV is part number ( top of my head ) G1312-60025, this is the part that rusts when it gets mobile phase inside it, this needs to be replaced. You can also change the cartridge ( this part number eludes me ) at the same time.
You should be able to clean the rest up, dont take any risks with the possible dry PCA though.

Carryout a leak test ( it in the manual ) once the AIV is back on to confirm the pump is working correctly.