Re: DiVa nozzle salt volcano

Hi Frank,

We also saw this on our FACSVantageDiva a couple of years ago - also  
on the 70 micron nozzle at 30psi. It disappeared after a couple of  
weeks and has not reoccurred.

Conjecture at the time was that there were some "issues" with the in- 
house PBS but we were not able to get any further than that. Another  
possibility was the nozzle attachment - we replaced several o-rings  
around that time because of seepage. The visible seepage didn't  
correlate with the salt build so it wasn't an obvious cause but I  
guess there might have been low level seepage that could have been  
contributing.

Let us know if you work it out.

Regards,

Adrian Smith
Centenary Institute, Sydney, Australia



On 24/06/2008, at 10:52 PM, Glenn Paradis wrote:

> Hi Frank,
>
> We saw the exact same phenomenon way back in the 1980's with our  
> FACStar Plus (10 PSI)  and then later with our FACS Vantage with  
> Turbo Sort Option (30 PSI).  A quick nozzle flush fixed the salt  
> buildup.  Switching nozzles did not solve the problem.  Our solution	
> was to move away from BD FACS Flow sheath fluid and go to NERL  
> Diluent 2.  When we switched, we never had the salt buildup again.
>
> Good luck.
>
> Glenn Paradis
> MIT Flow Cytometry Core Facility
> gap@mit.edu
>
>
>
> On Jun 22, 2008, at 11:00 PM, WEHICytometry wrote:
>
>> In 31 years of flow cytometry I hadn't seen this before (although I	
>> don't get out much).  Lately we experience this phenomenon on our  
>> FACSVantageSEDiVa where, in the course of a few hours, the nozzle  
>> grows a salt volcano around the stream (I've attached a picture).   
>> This does not affect the breakoff nor the sort streams nor even the	
>> acquired data until the volcano grows high enough to impinge on the	
>> first laser.  It can also be removed easily by a wipe with a wet  
>> swab (although that's really inconvenient if the need arises during	
>> a sort).  Note: we are talking about a 70 micron nozzle running PBS	
>> as sheath at 30 psi - nothing fancy.
>>
>> The question is: what causes it?  We *see* no leaks outside the  
>> nozzle tip but I'm wondering if the orifice has eroded and that's  
>> causing seepage.  Is there anyone who has seen this and/or has an  
>> idea of the cause?
>>
>> Frank Battye.
>>
>>     |    |  << The Cytometry Laboratory
>>	\__/ <<<< The Walter & Eliza Hall Institute
>> ------!!<<<<<< 1G Royal Parade, Parkville
>>	/!!\ <<<< Victoria 3050, Australia
>>     o !! \  << ph: +61_3_9345 2540, fax: +61_3_9347 0852
>>
>>
>> <DiVaNozzleVolcano.jpg>
>