Marv That "pump" is a compressor which provides the sheath fluid pressure. The original one used a compressor the motor for which had brushes. This compressor does have a fairly short mean time to failure as you have found out - although we have had them last over a year - that in my opinion is too short a time. At the time there was the equivalent pump which is brush-less but costs more. Dako (now B-C) chose to go with the cheaper motor with brushes unit. That was a decision (I'm sure they regret) that has probably cost them more money and aggravation than having gone to the more expensive one without brushes in the first place which has a mean time to failure of more than 5 times (I think that is the right number). I have 3 CyAns and in the 2-3 years I have had them I have gone through probably 6-7 compressors. The reason taking a hammer to it works - temporarily - is that once the motor ceases (brushes heat up and swell) you can jar it loose with a good whack. However, once you have to start doing this it is not long before it will cease irreversibly and has to be replaced. Dako switched about 6 months ago (or more) to the brush-less unit. I have all 3 CyAns switched at this point. Hopefully we will realize the longer life but only time will tell. Mine have all been replaced under the service contracts I carry. You apparently do not carry a service contract. I always have because my time is too valuable to waste getting parts myself even when I feel comfortable replacing them as I do the compressors. I am sure this will start the age old debate about whether service contracts are worth it but in my opinion they are because I just can't afford to be down long and don't wants to go through the kind of hassles you are experiencing. I know the potential cost savings are appealing but there are hidden costs. I can't tell you how many people I have had interactions with who are without service contracts and then complain that the machine is not running right after they service it themselves. There are tricks to servicing these instruments and not knowing these can make an apparently simple task of bolting on a new part become a headache. Also it appears to me that both B-D and B-C - aka Dako - are trying to make going it without a service contract more difficult these days - aggravating to get parts and increasingly expensive. That buttresses my thinking to have the service contract as I feel I will never quite be up on what the rules of the game are. I think the CyAn service contracts are fairly reasonable - admittedly I get a deal since I have 5 Dako/B-C instruments but this is not really special to me - just their standard "quantity:" discount. B-D does the same thing. I also feel that carrying service contracts gives me a louder voice when I complain to the company about issues or need help on other things. So I guess you will have to bite the bullet and put the new ones in knowing you should get a much longer life out of the new units. Did you have to tell the supplier you had a Dako machine or do they not just sell this part at all? I was pretty sure this was just a stock part from Dako's supplier but maybe I am wrong. The compressor replacement kit also includes some other mods that are needed to get the new compressors installed and integrated into the same space. Good luck - hope to see you in Budapest. Larry ----- Original Message ----- From: James Marvin <j-marvin@northwestern.edu> Date: Friday, February 8, 2008 4:43 pm Subject: Cyan fluidics cart To: Cytometry Mailing List <cytometry@flowcyt.cyto.purdue.edu> > Hello > > There is a pump inside the fluidics cart of the (Beckman > Coulter) > Cyan. This pump has a ridiculously short life span. Within > 6 months of > installing a new one we have to start pounding on the motor > because it > shuts off every now and then. I cant seem to buy the pump > from the company > that makes them because of some agreement they had with Dako. > (which ticks > me off already) But now, because that pump is so crappy they > went and > designed a new one. And the price for me has basically > tripled. Who out > there thinks that all of us who have suffered with, in my > opinion a > significant design flaw, should get these new pumps installed > for free. > Think about it. You buy a 100K dollar car, and it comes with > tires that > need to be replaced every 6 months. That kind of stuff > would be recalled > and replacement tires given out. > > Just a thought. > > j > > > James Marvin > Manager, RHLCCC Flow Cytometry Facility > http://www.basic.northwestern.edu/sharedresources/flowcytometry/flowcyometrysite.html > 312-503-0913 (office) > 312-908-1294 (lab) > > > "What must a man possess who possesses the Possessor of all things?" > Savanarola > > >Received on Mon Feb 11 18:18:00 2008
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