Diagnosable remotely - YES
Fixable remotely - NO
As with any leak reported from a Microfluidiser, the first thing to ascertain is where the leak is from.
There are up to 3 weep holes on the pump head which product can leak out from:
- The highest one is relevant to the check valve.
- The lowest/joint-lowest one is relevant to the connection between the pump head and process piping.
- Some LM20, M110P and M110EH models have a third weep hole relevant to the prime valve.
It's fairly unlikely that a customer will be able to resolve this issue themselves, with the exception of if some basic tightening of connections is all that is needed. This can certainly be checked first, but if this does not help, an engineer visit will be needed.
Solutions:
- Ask the customer to check that the connection relevant to the weep hole where the leak is has been suitably tightened. Eg, if it is the check valve weep hole, ensure the check valve gland is "hammer and spanner" tight. If the leak is the bottom process-piping weep hole, the high pressure line can be reversed to check whether the leak moves with the connection. If it does, the HP line is the problem. If it does not, the pump head is defective.
- If this is not the problem, it is unlikely the customer can resolve the problem from here.
A judgement call should really be made from here in consultation with the customer as to the best way to move forward from here. There are some scernarios where an engineer site visit could be worthwhile (eg, if the leak is from the process piping weep hole on a pneumatic instrument) but most of the time, if the instrument was running perfectly well for an extended period, then a leak suddenly appears, the most likely scenario is a pump head failure, fixable only by a replacement.
If we do suspect a pump head failure, the customer could remove the pump head and send it to Analytik for inspection. This could be worthwhile as a pump head is an expensive part and we should be sure this is the issue before the customer orders a new one.
A site visit is the best way to make a complete diagnosis, but a decision on this should be made balancing the risk of a call out that can do nothing but confirm a parts failure, against being able to fix the problem on site (eg, by cleaning the sealing surfaces with Scotchbrite, checking the collars are set correctly, etc) and avoiding an unneccessary expensive part order.
If a new pump head (40.11265) does need to be ordered, we would always order a new check valve body (12.6315) too which is comparatively inexpensive, if the machine is hydraulic.