Deep clean

When to deep clean

If your BactoBox® setup contains hard-lived contaminants such as limescale or biofilm.

Limescale as known from your tea kettle.

Biofilm

Follow our guidelines (see Clean the setup) 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.

Seeing clogging-related errors?

Try to replace the external filter first or running a flush program using a deep clean vial. These actions take minutes whereas a deep clean takes 11 hours!

What does a deep clean do

The Deep clean programs 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 a 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.

Get things ready

You need these items:

• 1 × clean BactoBox® setup (see Clean the setup)

• 1 × deep clean vial

The Deep clean program runs for 11 hours! Make sure that you set aside plenty of time beforehand. Usually, it's most convenient to let the Deep clean program run overnight.

The deep clean vial contains potent chemicals

Note that HCl and pepsin must be treated with safety in mind! Consult the safety data sheet (SDS) for information on this.

Clean the BactoBox® setup first

Make sure that you use a clean BactoBox® setup. See Clean the setup.

Step-by-step

1

Switch to the deep clean vial

Transfer tubing kit to the deep clean vial.

2

Start the Deep clean program

Press and hold the Stop button for 2 seconds to enter the menu. Use the navigation buttons (OK ← ∨ ∧) to enter the Programs menu. From there, select the Deep clean program. Press OK to start the Deep clean program.

3

That's it!

The deep clean runs. This is a thorough program so it takes a long time before it is done.

Discard the deep clean vial. It is for single use only.

Qualify your BactoBox® setup after the Deep clean program is done

The Deep clean program dislodges particles and other contaminants in your BactoBox® setup. Therefore, we recommend that you both:

1. Clean your BactoBox® setup to remove dislodged particles.

2. Qualify your BactoBox® setup to ensure that it is operational.