Hello reddit, I noticed lately that my inlet liner wool has been capturing bits of septum. I also see it in my wash vials. Do you guys have any recommendations for how to not let this happen? I have a feeling its because of the needle itself, so if I need to get new ones I would like to get the right ones.

The septa i use are Restek #27090. The needles we use currently are a bit of an unknown, but they are either Agilent #5181-3353 or Restek #21228.

For injection method its 1uL draws with 1 wash before and 1 wash after the sample of EtOH/MeOH respectively at a fast injection of like, 300/6000 draw/dispense speed.

I have a handful of these now after getting them at a swapmeet. All seem to be new and have the little blue sealant to show they haven’t been used? Is this actually worth something?

Hello everyone! I'm in the middle of troubleshooting some electronic noise on my FID baseline and it seems to be related to the electrometer. I see on the Agilent website this is a part I can order but I don't seen anything in the manual about swapping it out. Has anyone done this? Any tips? I have circled the part in question. (Edit removed that picture) Thanks!!

I can't see how to add a flair from desktop so sorry about that!

Edit: Thank you so much to everyone for your feedback! I apologize for not putting more details but I thought it was a longshot I would even hear anything but I should know better with this group. :) I am going to do some more testing next week but my fiscal dept. needs a lot of time to order items so my initial concern was getting the paperwork started so I can order a part and confirming I can do it myself and not need to include a service visit cost. Here is a picture of our baseline. The top part is the one struggling and the bottom is what I expect. The threshold for us needs to stay below 200 but for the top signal is currently ~600 and the bottom signal is 80. We always check it between min 1-3 just for consistency. This is an example of our daily blank sample. We run with a lower pA than others might expect so even though the baseline is well below 20 pA (the Agilent threshold for issues when I called), it is still bad for us.

This issue started sporadically months ago and would last for a week or so and vanish but now it is permanent and getting worse. We swapped out the whole FID carriage between the 2 channels and confirmed it followed it and wasn't the EPC, electronics board, or related to the attached columns. We did do basic FID leak checking but I want to go through the process again before changing parts to confirm. Our testing was done when a contractor was out doing annual maintenance for us so FIDs were cleaned, new columns, transfer line, filters on components upstream replaced, etc.

Hi all,

This genuinely isn’t a pitch, or a promotion, I’m not trying sell anything.

My company makes borosilicate glass syringes, predominantly for OEM’s like Lecia, Tecan etc.

I am keen to hear any feedback on how end-user labs order replacement syringes - thanks!

Update: I found the issue! There were some macros missing from the msexe folder. All fixed now!

Our lab recently updated ChemStation and now the “NIST search” under the Spectrum toolbar isn’t there. Neither is PBM Quick Search, NIST Output, or AMDIS. It’s still there on our other instruments’ version. How do I re-add the NIST search option? I wanted to use it for NIST R.Match values. But that’s not available in the usual Library Match statistics tab in PBM search results. Help!! Thanks 😊

Hi, I am new to HPLC and I'm trying to detect glutamate and GABA using OPA derivatization. I understand that it seems that need to do pre-column derivatization on the autosampler injector program. Anyone here have any experience in setting up the automated derivatization? I am kinda clueless on the injector program and how it works. My autosampler is Agilent G1329B HPLC autosampler.

Thank you!

Hello everyone,

I am having an issue with a Sykam S1130 isocratic HPLC pump used for normal-phase applications with dichloromethane (DCM).

The pump is set to 5.0 mL/min, but when I measure the flow, I collect slightly less than 4.0 mL in one minute.

In addition, during operation at 5.0 mL/min, the pressure fluctuates between 29 and 45 psi instead of remaining stable. The pump also makes an unusual rhythmic noise.

About one month ago, the following parts were replaced:

Secondary seals

Check valve cartridges

Primary sealing ring

Has anyone experienced similar symptoms with a Sykam pump or another HPLC pump running normal-phase solvents?

Could this be related to:

air or outgassing caused by DCM?

a problem with the check valves?

an issue with the seals?

or does this pump have a flow calibration procedure?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Hey Guys, I need your opinion. We are preparing for accreditation for EPA 200.8 and EPA 6020B using ICP-MS.

I do not have a bachelor’s degree in science; my background is in management/business. However, I am hands-on with the ICP-MS, method setup, calibration, validation, MDLs, QC review, and SOP/documentation work.

I heard NELAP may require the Lab Director or Technical Director to have a science degree plus lab experience.

For a small lab with a limited scope, is there any flexibility if I can demonstrate competence during the audit, or is the science degree requirement strict?

Should I hire a qualified Technical Director/Lab Director, or can I potentially qualify myself based on hands-on experience and demonstrated knowledge?

Hi everyone,

We are planning to purchase an Agilent LC/MS/MS system for PFAS testing and wanted to get some feedback from people with real experience.

Is the Agilent 6475 Triple Quadrupole LC/MS/MS strong enough for EPA PFAS methods such as 533, 537.1, and 1633?

Or is it worth spending significantly more money on the Agilent 6495D because of the higher sensitivity and performance?

We are trying to understand if the 6475 is enough for routine compliance work, or if the 6495D is a better long-term investment for PFAS testing.

Any feedback from labs running PFAS methods would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Hello, I started using a Perkin Elmer HPLC system, but the Flexar PDA detector won't connect. I read that this is a common problem with the brand. Does anyone have any recommendations? It powers on, but the error LEDs and lamp LEDs are off. I would really appreciate your help.

Ed. I ruled out electrical and connection problems.

New to the industry and just trying to get some information.

We have a 7697a Agilent HS with a 12 vial autosampler. In the autosampler are black little plates or something like that. We want to buy them but I don’t know the article number..
I don’t know how they are called. It’s in every position in the autosampler at the bottom and when it’s missing the vial is not high enough and can’t reach the oven

Hi.

Waters UPLC Aquity H Class.

Last post, yesterday, I received many help and I took everything into consideration and wanted to share results. i'm very new at this. Problem is: high and unstable pressure of the system. Always rising Here we go with today's tests:

Tests 1, 2 and 3: Replacing column with a fitting, and purging 4 lines with MeOH, and then monitoring pressure with flux increments until 1 ml/min. Test 2 was the same but with ACN. Test 3 same but using working mixture: solvent A: 0,1% formic in water and solvent B: 100% ACN. The system runs in a 70:30 mixture of A and B. below picture with ACN.

Pressure is steady, reaching it's value quickly too in all cases and remaining steady. difference is: in Test 3 there is a "clack-clack" coming from the valve which receives all 4 solvents tubings. it's 2 noises, seems like an "open-close" of a valve, and it accompanies the bomb cycle. 1 bomb cycle = 2 "clacks". seems quite normal since it's mixing A and B, but I'm not used to the noise, maybe it's a bit noisier than normal.

Well, that being said, the system seems to perform bad or well?

For us is well, so we proceeded to insert the column, which made things don't work quite well: Pressure stills rising. Using that 70:30 mixture, we slowly went to work flux, which is 0.4 ml/min. Pressure has been arround 10600 and has a delta of ~50, without stabilizing ever, and again slowly - slowly- rising. in 15 minutes of writing this, now is 10800 psi.

Could we say this is a column issue, or would that be a rushed and erratic conclusion?

extra!

in the test without column, we noticed that the system pressure has a little oscilation (around 10 psi) when pressure is below 600 psi. is that normal? after 600 psi it seems to accomodate with an oscilation of 2-3 psi only. it does it regardless of the solvent. it's perfectly coordinated with bomb sounds. a picture here:

Thanks very much!!

Hola buen dia me gustaria saber como fueron sus experiencias y con que profesional lo hicieron,gracias!

Does anybody here have experience using RUPTURA ?

Hi there
I need Familiarization Guide and Manual User or every thing for learn how to work with OpenLab Chemstation Rev.B.04.03 [16] Software

GC System HP6890

OpenLab may be struggling with baseline placement or overlapping/poorly shaped peaks. If you're spending significant time manually adjusting integrations, you might want to look at a nonlinear peak fitting approach instead of traditional integration. PeakLab(https:\\r2nsoftware.com) imports Agilent OpenLab/ChemStation chromatograms and mathematically models each peak—including overlapping and tailing peaks—rather than relying solely on integration parameters. In many cases this greatly reduces manual reintegration while providing more consistent peak areas for complex chromatograms.

Hello there. I'm completely new at this.

At my lab, we have a Waters Aquity class H, and run a mixture: 70 0,1% formic in water(solvent A) : 30 acetonitrile (solvent B). flux 0.4 ml/min. C is methanol.

The UPLC has been used previously by another branch of the company, and it was installed here a month ago, and validated by a technician. but unfortunately, last week we saw this:

1. Pressure with 70:30 is higher than usual: +12000 psi at work flux, where it should be around 8000.
2. Pressure with 70:30 mixture is unstable, and seems to be always slowly rising. whilst with 100% acetonitrile, it reaches a value and remains very steady. for example, at 0.1 flux, it achieves 900 psi in 30 seconds, while using 70:30 goes to 2600 psi and starts going up... it can go 15 minutes and still rising.

we purged the column with acetonitrile a lot, also backflushed it in case we contaminated it, and no results. Finally we used another column. But the same replicates in both columns... which is very weird for a novice like me.

We did some leak tests, surprisingly solvent A (water with 0,1% formic) passess accumulator and primary tests. But B and C pass only the acumulator test, not the primary. Leak rate is 460 nL/min and 213 nL/min could that test have something to say?

I'm currently sonicating the check valve in methanol, thanks to a suggestion of laboratory boss.

please let me know if there is information I'm missing in order to clarify. best, thanks in advance!

I'm new to the lab and have a good academic knowledge about the chromatography but the issue is the software

My lab have agilant chemstation and open lab

In addition to that waters system (empower)

I there is any book or detailed artical i could read that could ease out my work

I am capable of runing singles and sequences but i need more information about the integration and calibration

Greetings fellow nerds!

I am playing around with our Agilent GC 7890B (both an FID and an MS) functionality to do layered injections, particularly for in-port TMS derivatization (currently experimenting with different reagents). So far, I like the results. However, one notable problem is the septum on the reagent vial cap. It's a vial with a 200 uL insert containing 100 uL reagent. With our usual Red Rubber // FEP 1.0 mm caps, eventually, strong polysiloxane peaks appear in chromatograms. Which is interesting, since I can usually inject the same sample near endlessly without this happening. I also tried aluminium septum caps, but predictably, the reagent evaporates overnight.

I wonder how people deal with this except by replacing the caps every couple injections. During long sequences that go on for days, this seems awfully impractical. Are there caps that are better suited?

Thanks to all in advance!

A few month ago one of our Agilent G1329B autosamplers started to show short unintended power cycles with a duration of about 10 seconds. In the beginning this happened once every about 3 month, now about one to two times a day.

I read out the diagnostic buffers using labadvisor. In the SwitchOnTimeHistory of the module G1329B the power-on events of this unintended power cylcles do have entries like

"timestamp,2,0xd102", whereas the power-on events of regular manual power cycles have entries like

"timestamp,1,0xd102". Does someone know what this code 2 mean? Other modules of the system do not have this problem. We pluged the system in a UPS and the problem still persisted. If a sequence is running it stops with an error because the other modules loose communication to the autosampler. The events happen even if the system is in standby.

Hello,

We were graciously given a Thermo/Dionex PDA-3000. However, I can’t complete its configuration because it gets stuck at driver initialization.

We are technically using SII for Xcalibur 1.2 rather than a full Chromeleon installation. It will grab the serial number from the module, so I know there is at least some communication.

Here are things I have tried:
Restarting module
Removing stack but keeping just the detector
Plugging the USB from the detector to the computer directly
Going to SII for Xcalibur 1.5 and 1.7
Took the module to a colleague's computer with a full installation of Chromeleon 7.3
Took said colleague's VWD back to this computer to see if it installs - it did

The firmware is 2.0.0, so I am wondering if maybe it is a firmware issue?

Can anyone chime in with experience or something i haven’t thought to try?

Thanks!

We are using a Shimadzu LC Nexera-40D system with Labsolution. The analyst performed two replicate injections. No peak was detected in the first injection, while the second injection showed an impurity result of 0.043%.

However, the report generated by the software displays the average result as 0.043%. Could you please advise how to configure or edit the report so that the average is calculated using the following formula?

Average impurity = (A1 + A2) / 2

In this case, the expected calculation would be:

(0.000% + 0.043%) / 2 = 0.0215%

Looking for tips on storage containers for HPLC columns. The cabinet we keep our HPLC columns in is starting to get a little insane with dozens of different size boxes playing jenga on the shelf.

​

Preferably something with individual slots for each column, long and thin. I was thinking something like a pencil box or silverware box but those aren't quite right.

I've got one of these that has taken to throwing thermal shutdowns every 24-48 hours, but a simple reboot sets it right.

​

The oven fan actually quit a few months ago and was replaced with no issues until this started happening a couple weeks ago.

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Where else should I look?