5 Maintaining the Split/Splitless Inlet
To Clean the Split/Splitless Inlet
Maintaining Your GC 69
To Clean the Split/Splitless Inlet
1 Gather the following:
• Replacement septum, see “Consumables and Parts for the Split/Splitless Inlet” on
page 50.
• Replacement liner
• Replacement O-ring
• Replacement gold seal
• Replacement washer
• Solvent that will clean the type of deposits in your inlet
• Compressed, filtered, dry air or nitrogen
• Beaker
• Cleaning brushes—The FID cleaning kit (part number 9301-0985) contains appropriate
brushes
• Lint-free gloves
2 Manually set the inlet and oven temperature to < 40 °C, and wait for the inlet, oven, and
other parts you might come into contact with inside the oven, to cool before continuing.
Alternately, place the GC in maintenance mode: Maintenance > Instrument > Perform
Maintenance > Maintenance Mode > Start Maintenance.
Be careful! The oven and/or inlet may be hot enough to cause burns. If the inlet is hot, wear
heat-resistant gloves to protect your hands.
3 Remove the inlet liner, O-ring, and septum. See “To Change the Liner and O-Ring on the
Split/Splitless Inlet” on page 62.
4 Disconnect the column from the inlet.
5 Remove the reducing nut, gold seal, and washer. See “To Replace the Gold Seal on the
Split/Splitless Inlet” on page 65.
6 Place a beaker in the oven under the inlet to catch the solvent.
Wear clean, lint-free gloves to prevent contamination of parts with dirt and skin oils.
7 Soak a cleaning brush in the solvent and scrub the inside of the insert assembly. Repeat
10 times.
8 Rinse the inlet with the solvent.
9 Blow the inside of the inlet dry with compressed air or nitrogen.
10 Install the gold seal, washer, and reducing nut.
11 Install the liner, O-ring, and septum.
12 Install the column. See “To Install a Capillary Column with the Split/Splitless Inlet” on
page 54.