Reusable pipet cleaning - What works best? (Apr/26/2005 )
We are using 1 ml and 5 ml reusable pipets in the lab. We are having a really hard time keeping them clean, even with a Nalgene pipet washer. We use them for microbiology, so they have to be sterile. We are autoclaving them, but I'm still worried about contamination. Does anyone know of a good cleaning solution that clears out oily solutions from pipets?
Hi
If you are using quite oily soultions, then X4 fraction petrolium distillate works quite well, otherwise acetone will work OK. This may mean that you have to wash them in acetone or X4 by hand and allow to dry before putting in the pipette washer. I guess the only other solution is to use a very strong detergent, which can be hard to remove from glass surfaces.
Alternatively you could try disposable pipettes, especially for the 1 mL range, there are any number of hand-held manual pipettors for 1 mL that take disposable filtered tips.
Bob
If you are using quite oily soultions, then X4 fraction petrolium distillate works quite well, otherwise acetone will work OK. This may mean that you have to wash them in acetone or X4 by hand and allow to dry before putting in the pipette washer. I guess the only other solution is to use a very strong detergent, which can be hard to remove from glass surfaces.
Alternatively you could try disposable pipettes, especially for the 1 mL range, there are any number of hand-held manual pipettors for 1 mL that take disposable filtered tips.
Bob
Thanks tons, that will help us immensely!!