Deep clean explained

How to deep clean

See our deep clean tutorial.

When to deep clean

Deep clean your BactoBox® in these cases:

• At least once a week. Use the 15-minute option.

• To recover a flow cell that failed the QC test. Try with the 15-minute option first. If the issue persists, try the 10-hour option.

See Maintenance for more information.

Why deep clean is important

Your BactoBox® setup might contain hard-lived contaminants such as limescale or biofilm.

Limescale as known from your tea kettle.

Biofilm

Follow our guidelines (see Maintenance) to avoid build-up of hard-lived contaminants such as limescale and biofilm.

Especially the microfluidic flow paths inside the flow cell are sensitive to contaminants. The smallest cross-sectional area is 10×25 µm, which is approximately one-tenth the width of a human hair. Even relatively light contamination may influence the performance of the flow cell.

What deep clean does

The Deep clean program scrubs your BactoBox® setup with our deep clean vial. The deep clean vial contains a pepsin/HCl solution. In other industries, this solution is used to remove protein and limescale deposits from pH-electrodes made of glass. This solution also effectively cleans the flow cell in your BactoBox® setup.

The Deep clean program soaks the flow cell in the solution. It runs the pump intermittently to refresh the liquid in contact with the flow cell.