5
Routine and Preventive Maintenance
Maintaining the Source Block Assembly
Thermo Scientific
Surveyor MSQ Plus Hardware Manual
87
2. Carefully slide the RF/dc prefilter in a 500 mL graduated glass cylinder containing
100% methanol or a mixture of methanol and water. See
.
Figure 69.
Cleaning the RF/dc prefilter
3. Sonicate the cylinder for 15 minutes.
4. Carefully remove the RF/dc prefilter from the graduated cylinder. Then dry the prefilter
with a gentle stream of nitrogen gas.
5. Reassemble the source block assembly and reinstall it into the MS detector.
6. Pump down the system and determine if the RF/dc prefilter is still dirty.
7. If the RF/dc prefilter is still dirty, perform a deep cleaning as described in the following
procedure.
Y
To perform a deep cleaning of the RF/dc prefilter
1. Immerse the RF/dc prefilter in a graduated cylinder containing 100% distilled water.
Sonicate for 15 min.
2. Decant the water and fill the graduated cylinder with 100% methanol. Sonicate for
15 min.
3. Decant the methanol and fill the graduated cylinder with 100% acetone. Sonicate for
15 min.
4. Carefully remove the RF/dc prefilter from the cylinder. Rinse the RF/dc prefilter with
methanol.
5. Dry the prefilter with a gentle stream of nitrogen gas.
Note
Typically, sonicating the RF/dc prefilter in methanol is adequate to remove
contamination. However, contamination from some compounds and some sample
matrices can be more difficult to remove. If your RF/dc prefilter is still dirty after
sonicating it in methanol, deep clean it as described in step 5 of this procedure.