5.3
Section 5
Maintenance
Pinnacle Operators Manual
Pickering Laboratories Inc.
PICKERING COLUMNS
Do not operate with a column pressure above 2800 psi (193 bars) for an extended period of time. Isolate the
source of the high pressure and replace those items.
Never disconnect any fittings between the pre-column check valve and the column until the post-column system
has been shut down and depressurized (loosen the detector inlet fitting first). If the column pressure drops
below the post-column pressure, it is possible for reagent to back-flow onto the column.
When removing the column, remove the outlet fitting first.
Never pump organic solvent through an ion-exchange column. This will swell the resin and over-pressure the column.
Never pump high pH buffers or hydroxide through a silica column. This can dissolve the silica and cause
extensive damage to the post-column system by permanently blocking tubing.
When switching a system between ion-exchange and reversed-phase applications, be sure to flush the HPLC and
injector with water before connecting the column. Eluants for one analysis may damage the column for the other.
ELUANTS AND REAGENTS
Thiofluor is extremely hygroscopic. Always keep it in a tightly closed container.
Sodium borate (any grades) contains excessive amounts of heavy metal contaminants and insoluble matter.
These impurities will eventually precipitate in the reactor and flowcell. The one year warranty does not
cover damage caused by these contaminants.
If you must prepare your own borate buffer for the OPA reagent, do not use sodium tetraborate as
suggested by the EPA methods. Instead, use molar equivalents of boric acid and sodium hydroxide, because
they are available in higher purity (ACS-grade or better) and have very little insoluble matter.
Use Pickering Laboratories reagents and eluants. The quality of the chemicals is guaranteed and the cost is low
relative to the worth of your analytical results. The one year warranty does not cover damage caused by
poor-quality reagents and eluants not purchased from Pickering Laboratories.
Do not touch the interior of the mobile phase reservoirs and the dip tubes with your fingers. Amino acids in
fingerprints will cause contamination. Gloves are suggested.
Do not leave caps and lines dangling without a reservoir. To fill reservoir, transfer caps and lines into a spare
bottle or an Erlenmeyer flask filled with deionized water.
Proper Shutdown Procedures
Upon completion of the analyses, use one of the following two procedures to shut down the Pinnacle PCX
system properly. These procedures can prevent potential column damage, reaction coil blockage, high
background fluorescence, reagent precipitation, or other problems.
The Pinnacle PCX must be flushed out at the end of a series of injections, and the reactors must be cooled
down. If the instrument is simply stopped, with reagent inside the reactor in a hot state, with no movement, then
the heated reactor will become blocked. It is very important for a long useful life that the reactors be flushed
out until the temperature is cool.
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