When to Specify a Rinse Port Bottletop Burette
You’ll find a lot of info on our website dealing with cleaning and maintaining homogenizers, mixers, and stirrers. Here we share information on a special feature of our top-of-the-line motorized bottle top Contiburette® that streamlines cleaning procedures with its built-in rinse port.
But first a note on burettes in general. Many labs continue to use glass tube burets and pipettes even though cleaning procedures can require many steps, and as an added disadvantage can result in breakage and the cost of replacement. Bottle-top burettes on the other hand are comparatively easy to clean, as described in our post on cleaning and maintenance procedures.
The Advantage of a Rinse Port Bottletop Dispenser
As pointed out in our cleaning and maintenance post the equipment must be cleaned when changing reagents, when using certain reagents or when putting units into storage. Nevertheless, even when continuously dispensing the same reagent there may be indications that cleaning is required on a more regular basis.
An alternative to dismantling the equipment to follow standard bottle-top burette cleaning procedures is specifying a bottletop dispenser with an integral rinse port. This feature is built into CAT Scientific’s motorized digital bottletop burettes with 10µl and 20µl dispensing accuracy.
It is a simple but time-saving procedure.
A small glass reservoir is mounted to the dispensing mechanism and is filled with a rinsing solution such as water or alcohol. This is used to rinse the piston and other inner parts on an ongoing basis to avoid sticking problems and to flush away contaminants.
During delivery of the reagent or other liquid, the piston is rinsed as the independently powered pump circulates the cleaning solution through the reagent pumping mechanism. The container should be kept filled and, because the solution recirculates it should be replaced with fresh solution on a regular basis, preferably daily.
CAT Scientific’s rinse-port equipped bottletop burette does not eliminate the need for regular cleaning during operations or prior to putting the equipment into storage. What it does do is protect the unit’s precision pumping system from undue wear due to exposure to solutions that tend to crystallize, alkaline solutions, inorganic oxidizing solutions and organic solvents.
Contact us for further information on the motorized digital bottletop buret with the built in rinse port or for information on the entire family of CAT Scientific equipment for mixing, stirring, dispensing and homogenizing.