Chromatography Forum

I was wondering if anybody has experienced this before. We have an agilent 1200 HPLC attached to our MS. The active inlet assembly on the A channel of the binary pump has rusted and shorted out twice within the span of about 45 days. The active inlet assembly on the B channel is fine and has never had to be replaced. We only use typical reverse phase MS solvent/buffers (ACN, water, and MeOH/acetate & formate). The solvent appears to be leaking out below the threading that the assembly screws into the pumphead with, it then makes it way into the screws that hold the assembly together causing it to rust and eventually short out. Has anybody seen this before and come up with a way to fix it? Thanks for your time.

The seal is made with the gold seal (not with the threads), are you using a brand-new seal?

If the new active inlet is leaking elsewhere within that short of time, should be under warranty. So I'd contact Agilent directly.

No, we've never encountered such leaking within the first few years of having a new active inlet valve.