From: Stephen Stepenuck <sstepenuck**At_Symbol_Here**ne.rr.com>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Long-term Instrument Downtime ?
Date: Tue, 17 Mar 2020 23:11:27 -0400
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Message-ID: DA9702CE.5101F%sstepenuck**At_Symbol_Here**ne.rr.com
In-Reply-To


I tried the total shutdown once, and decided to not do that again. My
recollection is that some instruments [or their electronics] didn1t like
it, and gave me fits on startup afterwards. Just keeping them above usual
room temp seemed to help a lot, e.g. the lowest temp at which a GC would
3coast,2 maybe 50C. A minimal flow of carrier gas might be best, but I
think just leaving some small heater on kept things 3baked out2 enough to
help a great deal. I would expect some startup problems, but hope that
baking out for a few days with carrier gas flowing should settle baselines
down. pH meter electrodes don1t like it, but can be stored with
protective caps, or if dried out can be brought back by rehydrating,
soaking in acid, then base, etc. I am not an electronics geek, but
preventing moisture from condensing on circuit boards I think would be a
good idea.
Good luck.

Steve Stepenuck
Keene State College, ret.
Keene NH 03435

You wrote:

>Anyone have best practices/protocols established for being away from
>instruments long-term?
>
>With Univs closing nationwide, I am considering shutting down my
>analytical lab (chromatography and spectroscopy instrumentation as
>well as balances, centrifuges, pH meters, etc) with the exception of
>the NMR, glovebox, and cryofreezers. We do not have the monitoring
>abilities for our labs such as Johnson Controls that a lot of our
>other places have. Plus, Mother Nature is already very upset with us
>and I see no point in continuing to burn energy when no one will be
>around to use these things. I have never done this in the 18 years I
>have been here, but had it in my Business Continuity Plan anyway. So
>far, I am thinking of proper shutdown, unplugging, and covering in
>visqueen (leaks from the Water Crisis are still a thing). I could add
>dessicant to the FT-IRs???
>
>Anything else we should be thinking about here or with modern
>instrumentation is this for some reason just a bad idea?
>
>Thank you,
>
> Monique
>
>_________________________________________________________
>
>Monique Wilhelm, M.S., NRCC Certified CHO
>
>ACS CHAS Secretary|2017 CERM E. Ann Nalley Award Recipient
>
>Laboratory Manager|Adjunct Lecturer|Chemistry Club Advisor
>
>Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry|University of Michigan-Flint
>
>Emaill: mwilhelm**At_Symbol_Here**umich.edu
>
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