Flushing Pump Seals Is Not Good Practice

Flushing is a Dangerous and Costly Option

Traditional methods of extending the life of the seal, like flushing behind the seal of the piston pump, are more costly and introduce significant risks to the instrument.  They also introduce the potential for sample and reagent contamination, as well as safety hazards associated with exothermic reactions.

Tests have proven that fluid will transfer across the primary seal of a flushed seal pump, at rates dependent on the application’s differential pressures, and the end user will not likely notice this phenomenon.  Since piston pumps are not equipped with internal conductivity sensors and there is no change in the dispensed volume of fluid, there is no direct means of determining if this is occurring.  The following chart shows the risk of contamination when the seal of a flushed pump leaks.

Undetected contamination of sample is more damaging than allowing a pump to fail.  Read our white paper Removing the Risk of Concentrated Salt Solutions to Precision Dispense Pumps for more information about the risks of flushing.

Maestro ULTRA is the safest way to dispense concentrated salt solutions.