Having issues with wet load on one unit in a facility. All solenoids rebuilt, traps and strainers clear. Heat exchanger is new as well as venturi. At a loss. I have over 15 years experience and have always solved leak test, BD etc issues without fail. Vacuum is low and cannot run leak test due to this. However, unit has always had poor vacuum due to low water pressure. Any feedback would be great - thxs
Thu Apr 21 2016
wet load
Thu Apr 21 2016Reply from Dean
I have seen this several times. In instances that the steam seemed to be okay but the water pressure was just too low, we installed a booster pump that ran to increase the water pressure while on any evac cycle to increase the vacuum.
In other cases where we had seriously wet (not saturated, but wet) steam, we had to have a steam filter/trap installed ahead of the sterilizer's supply.
In both scenarios, we were able to take care of the wet pack issue.
Dean Stephens EET, CBET, CRES
Senior Biomedical Equipment Tech
Intermediate Imaging Equipment Tech
(Not my first rodeo...)
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Thu Apr 21 2016Reply from ExSteris
Fri Apr 22 2016Reply from Cbet_Matt
If the related check valves have been replaced on the heat exchanger and the water pressure is good. You might want the evaluate the flow through the heat exchanger. I had a unit with low vacuum and I replaced all the other check valves and the heat exchanger and the vacuum increased dramatically. The heat exchanger comes fully ready to install into a Chimeron or 400 series. My email cbet_us@yahoo.com
Matt
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Fri Apr 22 2016Reply from Steri-Tech
Thanks for all the responses. All valves, seats, traps, check valves, venturi and heat exchanger have been rebuilt or replaced. Vacuum has always been an issue at this facility. However, wet trays have never been an issue. The unit will not pull sufficient vacuum to perform leak rate test, however, in service mode I can perform my own and it holds a vacuum quite well. No leaks of air or steam in. Unit passes DART. So vacuum is where it usually is (low) but now it is having trays come out wet. I believe the packs are good which was confirmed yesterday. Just metal trays. When I speak of "low vacuum" I mean 17inhg.
Thanks everyone. I have never posted on a blog and asked for input. Been doing this for a long time and usually figure everything out quickly. This one has me stumped.
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Fri Apr 22 2016Reply from Kara Crissman
Dear Steri-Tech,
We came across your post about the Century V120 Sterilizer. We have a dedicated Service Support team who can help. Please provide us with your preferred method of contact or call 1-800-333-8828 for assistance.
Sincerely,
Kara Daugherty
Online Marketing Coordinator
STERIS Corporation
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Sat May 07 2016Reply from Mike Brockhaus
17 in hg is awfully low; as you know vacuum should be above 20 in hg. Is there a back flow preventor on the water line at the sterilizer? Also does the facility have filters on the main water line? For a quick check bypass the back flow preventor. Typically I have seen a 10 psi drop across these things. You can also do a bypass on the filters. Good luck. I too hate wet pack problems.
Another thought that was taught me. If these are large metal trays, have 2 dry cycles. I.E. if dry time is 35 minutes, put dry cycle 1 at 18 minutes and a 2nd dry cycle at 17 minutes. This helped especially with low water pressure issues.
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