Chromatography Forum

I am looking for some ideas on building a hplc column heater. I am about to start analysis on benzalkonium chloride and all of the methods I have found talk about heating the column to 40-50 deg. We don't have a lot of money for equipment, so purchasing one is mostly out of the question. I can't imagine they would be too hard to put together...a switch, a rheostat and some sort of heating element. Just wondering if anyone else has done something similar. Thanks!

If you have a heated waterbath, put the column into that.

Peter

We don't have a lot of money for equipment, so purchasing one is mostly out of the question.

Algae - are you in USA? I have a brand-new, never used Alltech Model 630 column heater that I can offer for a ridiculously low price. It's 120 VAC, may have multiple electrical input capability, still has packing material inside the chamber. If interested, provide E-mail address and I'll contact you.

This heater was purchased in 2005, was actually less expensive to get the Alltech conductivity detector plus the Alltech 630 column heater heater than to purchase the conductivity detector separately (I can't tell tell them how to do business, they are now part of Grace discovery).

I see Cole-Parmer lists new column heater for $900, Ebay has older model Alltech #530 heater for $350 http://www.ebay.com/itm/Alltech-530-lab ... 4897.l4275, we'd beat that.

If you are handy, you can construct a water jacket for the column using a large plexiglass tube, two rubber stoppers, a couple of Swagelock tees, and some tubing. You use a water bath to circulate water through the jacket containing the column. These column water jackets are also commercially available. Here is just one example.

https://www.google.com/search?q=hplc+co ... B469%3B127

Check with your chromatography supplier.

Peter, thanks for the idea! It hadn't occurred to me to just use a water bath. I needed to change the plumbing a bit on the system, but that worked great!

KM, Thanks for the offer but buying one is certainly out of the question. When the folks above complain about the cost of standards, new equipment is not an option.

Skunked, I like that idea. If I have a little extra time, I might try building the water jacket you suggest. Looks pretty easy to put together and might mitigate possible issues with having a water bath on top of my detector.

I'm glad it worked, thanks for the feedback.

Peter