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Maintenance of Water-Jacketed Incubators

Important Reminders

  • Do NOT use bleach or any disinfectant that has high chlorine content.

  • Use sterile, distilled, or demineralized water.

  • Avoid spraying cleaner on the CO2 sensor.

  • Do not use powdered gloves for tissue cultures.

Maintenance Tasks

Action Daily Weekly Monthly 6 Months Yearly 2 Years
Inspect door latch hinges and door gasket seal X
Check water level in humidity pan, ½" from top X
Verify and document CO2, humidity, temp calibration X
Perform complete decontamination procedure As Needed
Change HEPA and gas filters X
Replenish rust inhibitor in water jacket X

Filling humidity pan

  1. Use sterilized, distilled, demineralized or deionized water. Water must be safe with stainless steel (no high purity, ultra pure or milli-q water). The pan is autoclavable.

  2. Fill the pan to within ½ inch of the top with sterile, distilled water. The pan requires approximately 3 L of water to fill to within ½ inch of the top.

Calibration

See "Section 2: Calibration" in the manual.

Cleaning/decontamination

No bleach or any disinfectant with high chlorine content. See "Section 5: Routine Maintenance" in the manual for thorough cleaning instructions.

Changing HEPA and gas filters

See "Section 5-6" in the manual for instructions. An alarm can also be set to alert personnel when replacements need to occur (Section 5-6).

Rust inhibitor replenishment

  1. Mix 1 bag/bottle of rust inhibitor with a gallon of distilled, demineralized, or deionized water.

  2. Rust inhibitor (0.5 lb) bag (Part #: 1900100)

  3. Rust inhibitor (800 mL) bottle (Part#:1900101)

  4. Drain a gallon of water form the jacket and replace it with the rust inhibitor mixture.