If you work with incubator shakers, you know how important regular maintenance is to controlling lab conditions. The more stable your environment, the more likely you are to achieve accurate, repeatable results.
Understanding how and when to perform shaker maintenance is essential for keeping your lab running smoothly. This guide will help you establish a shaker-specific preventive maintenance routine that makes sense for your facility.
Why Does Shaker Maintenance Matter?
Incubator shakers handle various sensitive components, such as cell cultures and chemical reactions. That's why it's so important to ensure your shaker is providing:
- Consistent temperature control.
- Accurate shaker speed.
- Sustained performance.
Regular maintenance is critical for achieving consistent experimental results. Excessive wear on shaker parts can easily throw off an experiment's results.
The Benefits of Shaker Preventive Maintenance
Some of the most important benefits of regular maintenance include:
- Longer equipment life span: Replacing and repairing worn components early prevents excessive wear and tear, which enables you to use the same shaker for many years.
- Optimized performance: Frequently inspecting your shaker and making small adjustments as needed ensures your equipment is always operating at peak performance, which is critical for achieving accurate and precise results.
- Maximized uptime: Keeping up with preventive maintenance requirements lets you catch equipment issues before they can escalate into disruptive breakdowns and malfunctions.
- Reduced costs: Preventive maintenance helps you avoid more intensive, costly repairs and replacements, which can help you minimize your lab's standard operating costs.
Preventive Maintenance Tips and Tricks
Setting a preventive maintenance schedule and providing basic training can help ensure everyone in your lab knows how and when to check on their equipment. Since each type of equipment has different maintenance requirements, it's important to create a schedule specific to each item in your lab.
Here's a quick overview of the most effective maintenance tips for incubator shakers.
Maintenance Tips
Here are some important steps to take to keep your shaker operating in peak condition:
- Clean surfaces: Wipe the shaker platform and housing down at least once a week to prevent dust and debris buildup. Although a dampened lint-free cloth with 70% ethanol is usually sufficient, you can also use a variety of noncorrosive cleaning products.
- Manage and decontaminate spills: While a few spills here and there are difficult to avoid, it's critical to clean them up as soon as possible to prevent damage. To prevent further contamination, soak the affected areas with a diluted bleach solution before cleanup.
- Belt and fan inspection: If your shaker uses a belt system, you'll want to check it regularly for wear and tear. Regular inspections and replacements will keep your belt system in proper operating condition.
- Refrigeration inspection: If you have a refrigerated shaker model, it's important to check the condenser coil and air filter at least once every few months. Dust and debris can build up on these parts over time, which can reduce cooling efficiency.
- Speed checks: Testing speed accuracy and calibrating as needed annually helps ensure consistent performance and accurate testing results.
Operation Best Practices
To keep your shaker working at its best after performing maintenance, here are some tips for proper handling:
- Choose the right location: Make sure the shaker is on an even surface with sufficient space to vent excess heat. It's especially important to move your shaker out of direct sunlight, as it can interfere with temperature control.
- Slowly increase the speed: To keep samples safe and minimize mechanical wear, start your shaker on the slowest setting and gradually increase the speed until you reach the correct result.
- Load samples carefully: Avoid forcing samples into the shaker, as excessive force can prematurely wear out the clamps. Instead, gently load samples and ensure they are distributed evenly across the weight plate.
Replacement Parts and Upgrades
During preventive maintenance, you'll often encounter various parts that need replacement. You may be able to perform some of these repairs yourself, while others are better left to a licensed technician.
You could also add upgrades to an older orbital shaker to meet more specific application requirements and extend your shaker's life span. Some examples include:
- Platforms: Having multiple platforms enables you to adjust your shaker's capacity to meet specific testing requirements. Some come with pre-installed clamps, while others will require you to purchase additional clamps or use your shaker's original clamps.
- Platform mats: Adhesive and nonslip shaker mats can help control sample agitation by minimizing extra movement, which is essential for accurate testing results.
- Clamps: Investing in a range of different clamps can help you secure various types of containers to your shaker, expanding functionality and enabling you to perform a wider variety of tests.
Purchasing parts and machines secondhand can also help you save on repairs. At New Life Scientific, we understand how important your equipment is to your research. That's why we offer high-quality used lab equipment and accessories for 30% to 70% off retail prices.
Our in-house technical team performs extensive quality control procedures before we list any product for sale, so you can have peace of mind knowing your order is in excellent condition. Plus, we offer ongoing customer support to help you get the most out of your purchase.
Should You Hire Professional Repair Services?
Of course, it's important to realize that preventive maintenance often goes hand in hand with repairs. You may want to consider hiring a professional equipment technician to handle the more complicated procedures.
The advantages of working with a professional lab equipment repair company include:
- Cost savings: A professional repair technician can help you reduce equipment costs by using the most effective and efficient repair techniques available.
- Minimal downtime: A serious malfunction or breakdown can lead to hours or even days of unplanned downtime and lost productivity. Experienced technicians can make repairs more effectively, helping you get your research back up and running faster than you would have otherwise.
- Improved safety: Although you and any other researchers in the lab can safely perform basic maintenance and repairs, it's probably best to call on a professional to handle more extensive fixes.
Reduce Shaker Costs With Equipment From New Life Scientific
Maintaining your lab shaker is a key step in extending its useful life, maximizing equipment performance and avoiding costly repairs. However, there comes a point when you have to retire your aging lab equipment.
That's where we at New Life Scientific can help. We provide used lab equipment for various applications, including modern incubating shakers. We back our equipment with comprehensive warranty coverage — and if you need post-sale support after the warranty expires, we'll be there to help you out.
The New Life Scientific team will help you find the equipment you need at a reasonable price. Contact us today for more information about any of our used lab equipment.
