Reservoir Vent Valve Cleaning for Parallel Capillary Electrophoresis Instruments

Answer

This Information Applies To: Fragment Analyzer, Femto Pulse, ZAG, and their respective controller software

Issue:

If there is dried gel in the reservoir vent valve of your Agilent Fragment Analyzer, Femto Pulse, or ZAG, cleaning is required. A clogged reservoir vent valve can impact the separation performance, for example leading to delayed migration. 

Recommended maintenance schedule:  Agilent recommends inspecting the vent valve for clogs as part of troubleshooting procedures and your monthly maintenance. Clean if necessary. For more information on maintenance, please see the preventative maintenance schedule in the respective user manual.

Steps to follow

1. From the Utilities menu in the controller software, select Clean Reservoir Vent Valve. The actual reservoir vent valve opens for cleaning and also the Clean Reservoir Vent Valve dialog box will be shown on screen (see Figure 1). 

   Figure 1. How to open the Clean Reservoir Vent Valve dialog box

2. Use the 10 mL Luer lock syringe to:
   1. either follow the onscreen instructions and clean the reservoir vent valve sequentially with 7 mL of DI water and 10 mL of air,
   2. or for a more thorough cleaning to remove severe clogs, clean it five times with 7 mL of 0.5 N NaOH, followed by 7 mL of DI water and then 10 mL air.
3. For the cleaning steps, attach the filled 10 mL syringe to the Luer lock fitting of the reservoir vent valve as shown in Figure 2 and press down the plunger.

Figure 2. Emptied syringe indicated with red box attached to the reservoir vent valve of a Fragment Analyzer

In case you need to re-order the 10 mL syringe, please use any 10 mL Luer Lock tip plastic syringe (not sold via Agilent Technologies). The Luer lock tip is compatible to the reservoir vent valve.

Learn how to effectively maintain your Agilent parallel capillary electrophoresis instruments: Fragment Analyzer system manual Femto Pulse system manual ZAG system manual

For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.

PR7000-8101