Chapter 12
ECD Troubleshooting
Maintaining an Electron Capture Detector
Maintenance and Troubleshooting Manual
237
Troubleshooting the ECD
Table 12-3.
ECD Troubleshooting Table
Symptom
Diagnosis
Remedy
High base frequency
Impure gas supply.
Use high purity grade gases and
filters to trap moisture and oxygen.
No (or insufficient) flow of
make-up gas.
Increase make-up gas flow rate.
Excess column bleeding.
Column conditioning is needed.
Leaks on carrier and/or make-up
gas lines.
Run a leak test.
Refer to the
Operating Sequence on page 181.
for instructions.
Contaminated collecting electrode
Clean the collecting electrode, as
described in the
Operating
Sequence on page 226, or replace it.
Chemically contaminated
radioactive source.
Refer to the notes reported in the
paragraph on
page 222.
Contact your customer support
organization. Appendix B,
, contains
contact information for Thermo
Fisher Scientific offices and
affiliates worldwide.
Pulse width not correctly set.
Set
Pulse width
to 1.0
s for
Nitrogen and 0.1
s for Ar/CH
4
.