we have an acute unit in our hospital, where we use portable R/Os and H and K machines. We been having problems with the acid and bicarb springs breaking faster than we can put them in. we thought it would be a bad batch of springs but no. we use too many for that to be the problem. can someone help. thank you
Are your pressures for flow and deareation/loading within the specs? If the problem continues, may have to use the white check valve on the incoming side of the pumps to help regulate the pressure on the pumps..What is the pressure at the incoming water regulator? I would think there would be problems with Pressure Holding Test, temperature, conductivity. Seeing any of that?
I have seen nurses clear airlocks by putting tubing over the end of the acid or bicarb wands. They will then hook up a syringe with acid or bicarb and force it through the wand. You can break a spring if you use to much pressure.
mond weds and fri are the busy days up there.. so i cant work on the machines... i will give you guys an update with anything i find... those machines dont have check valves on the incoming lines bc its usually not recommend unless its central feed.. but i will put some on them just incase. We vinegar them at the end of the day, and bleach once a week. theres some corosion on the seals... something to look into.. maybe the nurses are not rinsing well.. thank you for your help everyone
If you are using jugs and not Central Feed, I would not put the check valves in, they really are not needed. I have also been seeing broken weak springs lately, some that were replaced during PM's that have lasted only a week or two. Leads me to believe that maybe they did get a bad batch.
Posts: 367 | Location: Cleveland.OH | Registered: 03 February 2006
I know that you do not have a central feed, but my thoughts behind the white check valve, was to stop staff from using to much pressure on the springs in the pumps, I bet you they are causing some of your problems.. this is most likely a staff member using force from a syringe to prime the acid and bicarb lines. I have 5 units to oversee, and in my PM's and troubleshooting, 11years and going, never seen a rare batch of weak springs out of the package causing a problem, watch the staff amario132, that is your problem..
In the last few weeks I have had two broken weak springs, one on the inlet side of an acid pump, and one on a UF pump. The other thing that has been happening lately is that the weak springs in Annual PM kits have had a bad fit for the seals. When you put the seal in the end of the spring, it will fall out because the diameter of the end of the spring seems to be too loose. This has happened to me and to several other techs from our company. It will not be every spring in the kit, just one or two. And at almost 18 bucks apiece for check valves from Fresenius, I still would not add those if you are not using central feed. And, yeah, I know there are other sources for check valves that are much cheaper, but our company won't use them. Also, those 6 pound check valves have had issues recently, too. We took some of them apart after changing them out and found the O rings had come off the poppet, so they were really not doing anything anyway, other than maybe providing a small amount of flow restriction.
Posts: 367 | Location: Cleveland.OH | Registered: 03 February 2006
just an update. checked all pressures and they are within limits. Im braking it down to 2 things. bleaching and not rising properly by not pushing the connector all the way, which is operator error. or bad batch of springs. thanks a lot to those that contributed to my question. hope everyone learned from this
