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What is everyone’s average ambient temperature on their Orbitrap? We’ve been having electrical issues that we think are temperature-related and are sitting at around 28-30 C on average.
By ambient temperature, do you mean the ambient temperature of the lab? This is something that we struggle with as well, especially in the summer when the AC cannot keep up with the heat produced by all the turbo pumps in our instrument lab. We start to be extra cautious about running instruments – including our orbitraps – when the lab approaches 80 F (26.7 C), and don’t run above 84 F (28.9 C). We turn the electronics off on the orbitraps (maintains vacuum) when temperatures are high for days on end. If the lab reaches 90 F (32.2 C) we completely shut down (vent the MSs). Cooler temperatures and tighter temperature limits would be better, but not achievable for us several months per year. The preventative maintenance techs have let us know our lab conditions are not ideal! We definitely see more electrical problems in hotter temperatures (e.g., communication cut off between the orbitrap and/or LC and computer), and burn through turbo pumps and fans more than we should. We have had instruments (though not orbitraps) completely break down when run in the heat too much. That being said, our 2016 Q-Exactive is still hanging in there and our 2011 Exactive still works in positive mode most of the time after a lifetime of running very dirty samples in a hot lab.
That’s really helpful to know. We typically track the ambient temp measured by the Orbitrap itself (see screen grab below) and are trying to make some building modifications to get this temp below 25-27 C (as consistently as possible). Our all time low is 27.2 with 3 high powered fans and a split AC unit directing airflow- and that’s a recent improvement from where it was sitting at a cozy 30 C. Knowing this now, we’ll continue working on those building mods! Thanks for sharing!
Looks like we have about a 3 C difference between the benchtop thermometer we use and that measurement (orbitrap is hotter). Needing to make building mods is the worst! Fans and mini splits have not been very successful for us…. Open windows at night sometimes help.
We ultimately had to make facility modifications for our instrument (Fusion) as well. Currently the benchtop sits around 24C and 40% relative humidity. The analyzer proper sits at 30C, but if the AC goes out in the summer we have to shut it down since the firmware starts to yell when it heats up.
More than a high operating temp, we found the biggest issue was with our power-saver setup in the lab. The facility would turn off climate control when the building was “empty” and permitting up to 5C swings between day and overnight was causing us all sorts of communication issues and calibrations were going out after a day. We did a continuous monitor for 36 hours and tracked the analyzer temp vs. mass accuracy to get an exemption to have our climate control always fixed.
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