After a long period of recovery such as the holidays or a vacation you will probably find it difficult to get back into a work rhythm.
Your HPLC instrument feels the same way after a complete shutdown. It is not like a simple light switch that you can just turn on. If you do it wrong, you will not like the results.
The Thermo Fisher Scientific HPLC Support Center provides guidelines for an HPLC or UHPLC instrument startup, e.g., after a system shutdown. In this context, you can also follow our guidelines for solvents and additives.
Most important points
- Start the detector module first, e.g., turn on lamp(s) or gas flow(s)
- Purge the pump (all channels, including those not used for the application)
- Flush the entire chromatography system with the starting solvent of your application
- Install the appropriate HPLC column for your application
- Wait until temperature-dependent and -controlled devices reach stabilized temperature
- Deuterium lamps, for example, may require a warmup period of up to 30 minutes
- Start the pump, observe the pressure increase, and wait until pump pressure is stable (drift and ripple within reasonable limits for the application)
- Monitor the detector signal and wait until the detector signal is stable (drift and noise within reasonable limits for the application)
- Perform an autozero of the detector baseline
- The system is ready for sample analysis if pump pressure and detector baseline are stable for a certain time frame
- It is best to run an HPLC column test to verify performance and suitability
If your software is Thermo Scientific Chromeleon CDS, the Smart Startup initializes and equilibrates your instrument with the correct chromatographic conditions before the first injection begins, for safe, automated and unattended system startup. It also checks if the instrument is properly equilibrated before automatically starting the run.
For step-by-step instructions, watch the GuruTube video.
Following our recommendations for rebooting your system will help you achieve the results you’ve come to expect.