How do I solve high oxygen and nitrogen levels after a gas cannister change?

After changing to a new gas cannister, I have been chasing high Oxygen and Nitrogen levels in my system. The gas filters for both instruments show they are still fresh (the right colour indicator), I've switched out for another new gas tank, purged the regulator, tightened fittings and wiped down the analyzer chamber seal. How can these levels still persist?

My triple quad and single quad systems are hooked up to the same He tank. The triple quad has O2 levels at around 7% and N2 levels at around 25%, the single quad has O2 levels at around 3% and N2 levels at around 15%. After each of the above troubleshooting attempts, the levels are the exact same, no real change. Since they are close to atmospheric levels, I thought maybe an air leak, however, the H2O levels are below 1%. 

Any help is appreciated. 

K

Parents
  • I did a soap and water test on the regulator connection to the tank, and it showed some leakage (disconnected from the instruments of course). I retightened the fitting with some plumbers tape and the leak is sealed. It appears to have fixed the N2:O2 levels in the single quad. 

    For the triple quad, I noticed the levels of N2:O2 would decrease if I increased inlet flow. I replaced the consumables around the inlet, and also double checked my glass connector between my column and my guard column. The appeared a little loose, and so I tightened that and my O2 levels are now below 1%. I wonder if it came loose during the gas purge, or when I was playing with the column connection. 

Reply
  • I did a soap and water test on the regulator connection to the tank, and it showed some leakage (disconnected from the instruments of course). I retightened the fitting with some plumbers tape and the leak is sealed. It appears to have fixed the N2:O2 levels in the single quad. 

    For the triple quad, I noticed the levels of N2:O2 would decrease if I increased inlet flow. I replaced the consumables around the inlet, and also double checked my glass connector between my column and my guard column. The appeared a little loose, and so I tightened that and my O2 levels are now below 1%. I wonder if it came loose during the gas purge, or when I was playing with the column connection. 

Children
  • Soap and water or Snoop type leak detection fluids are not recommended to be used on GC or GC/MS gas connections.  If gas is leaking out, gas is also leaking in - that's why a leak in the helium line will show as air in the background. That means that leak detection fluids get into the line at the leak and will contaminate the system. The recommended tool is an electronic leak detector like the Agilent G6699A: Electronic GC Leak Detector (Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Helium) | Agilent

    The regulator connection to the tank is not sealed at the threads. The seal is metal to metal at the tip so thread tape only helps smooth out tightening the large nut.  Sometimes just disconnecting and reconnecting the regulator at the tank fitting is sufficient. If the tip of the regulator gets mangled the only solution is a new regulator.

    Glad it's fixed.

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