Spotty Instruments

[Jennifer]

Hello all!!

We have been having some problmes with spotty/ rusty looking inst. It appears as tho "something" is not being rinsed off properly. I was always taught that if you can take a pencil erasor to it and it comes off its residue.. if it stays on its true rust. Ours comes off quite easily. I've had my washer checked by bio-med, which they say all is fine. Checked with my DI water suppliers.. all fine there too!. Ive even went as far as to have PLOP check the steam quality. ( Fine ). Has anyone else ever had this problem? Any ideas on what I can check next or what to do to fix this? I definatley wouldn't want these inst used on me or my family.

[Uprooted Scrub]

Jennifer:

If its from your washer, it may be the lack of a (I'll probably spell this wrong) chealating agent in the detergent you use in your washer. I switched products about 5 months ago, and we had a BAD buildup of brown residue on the inside of the washer chamber. We switched products to a different brand, and the chamber cleaned up in a week or so.

Hope this is helpful info!

Blaine

[Harvey Johnson]

Hi Jennifer,
Sounds like a problem with your machine chemicals.
What type of products are you using in the washer?
Did your bio med people check the detergent, and/or if you use it, the acid rinse concentrations in the wash tank?
When I first arrived at this CSPD, I found a darkish residue build up on all of the instruments, to the point the doc's were asking if the instruments should be replaced. Bio Med said the machine checked out.
I traced it back to worn peristaltic pump tubing not pumping the chemicals into the wash.
Try marking the levels on your chemical drums to see if they drop over a few days.
If the level drops, call your detergent supplier and let them know your problem, you might need the products and/or the concentrations adjusted.
If your supplier won't respond, send me an email, I will refer you to a company that will.....

[jrc]

Try marking the levels on your chemical drums to see if they drop over a few days.
If the level drops, call your detergent supplier and let them know your problem, you might need the products and/or the concentrations adjusted.


If you are technically inclined, you can also try manually priming your washer to see if any chemicals come out. If the process is not in your technical manual, the manufacturer's tech support line can walk you through it.

[Harvey Johnson]

Yes, if you are able to manually activate the pumps, that will indicate chemicals are moving through the tubing, but not necessarily the amount required in Jennifer's situation to obtain optimum results.
I would advise involving your chemical company, ASAP.
The top companies train reps to evaluate your washer, test water, titrate concentrations and adjust for the best results as a service to you for purchasing their products.
They have an interest in your operation, after all if insufficient chemical amounts are entering the wash tank, not only do results suffer, it also means insufficient sales for them.

[sonny1388]

We had a kinda similar problem about a month ago, but it was with horrible scale buildup. Had the chemical guys come in, they checked out okay. Had the instrument wash guy come in, checked out okay. Had the DI filters changed out, and still had scale. Tried priming, and found that while I was getting some chemical, nowhere near enough was coming out. Washer tech came back and rebuilt pump, almost all the scale is gone! We were descaling every day, it was insane!