Chromatography Forum

Some time ago we switched from time based (annual) to usage based PM. We are currently investigating some issues with instruments and are wondering if more regular PM schedule could prevent them especially on instruments which have lower usage. Does anybody else have simmilar experience?

On our non-cGMP instruments, we rarely did preventative maintenance, waited until there was a symptom, then I fixed. cGMP got yearly maintenance and certificate from legitimate service engineer. We had Agilent stuff.

On my vehicles - I DO practice regular preventative maintenance.

Back at Merck's QC lab, we had much HPLC usage, PMs were done quarterly on every instrument. At most other posts I've held, PMs have been bi-annually, by this I mean every six months, regardless of usage.

I always suggest annual PM, unless the instrument service records show a pattern of failures that would suggest doing it more frequently (e.g., one situation where seal failures were occurring every few months; those instruments went on a quarterly PM schedule, which eliminated the problem).

That said, you might want to take a "risk-based" approach. How bad were the "issues"? Compare how much they cost to the cost of doing something like annual PM. And, of course, it may be cheaper to just do the annual PM than it is to spend the time doing the assessment!

most people do 1 PM a year. Keep track of the repair costs involved and determine if its worth paying the extra money for additional PM.

if you have a reliable LC and know how to take care of it, good users can go years without a PM (saving money for the inevitable repair)
Ive done a thousand PMs and the most important parts to change are
pump seals, check valves, needle, needle seat and rotor seal.
Agilent has videos on how to perform all of these and are pretty simple to do yourself.
http://www.chem.agilent.com/cag/cabu/lcvideoindex.asp