Usage and Maintenance of Lab Incubator

An incubator is one of the most important and commonly found equipment you will find in a lab. They are costly but play an important role in the labs which is why they are found commonly. One of the most important reasons that you would not want your laboratory incubator like G100-01N Incubator Analyzer to be replaced frequently is that they are too pricey and replacing it frequently would add to the overall cost of the lab. Doing proper maintenance and following best practices for your incubator is the best way to enhance its life and durability. There are few key points to remember about maintaining your incubators so that you can make the most of them

1. Location of the unit

The first and the most important thing you must remember about your laboratory incubators is its positioning and location. It must be finalised before you even bring the incubator to your lab as the proper location would definitely enhance the incubator’s life. They must not be kept near air vents or near doors and windows as they might attract dust and other contaminated air particles which might promote fungal growth and damage the machine. Also, keeping them under direct sunlight might cause major fluctuations.

2. Temperature monitoring

For the best results, incubators are often kept at 37 degree C so that the optimum growth of cell cultures can happen and any major or minor deviation in temperature could cause the complete destruction of cell cultures which nobody would want. This is the reason frequent and scheduled monitoring of temperature becomes very important for the incubators. Although temperature sensors are already equipped in the unit, in order to be double sure, it is always advisable to use a secondary thermometer. This can be attached to the glass door of your incubator so that it is always easy for you to check and monitor the temperatur

3. CO2 and humidity level monitoring

Apart from temperature, the level of CO2 and humidity too plays a vital role in the growth of cell culture which is the reason their levels are required to be strictly monitored from time to time. The ideal humidity level which must be maintained is 95% and to ensure this, you must always make sure that the water tray used never goes dry. When it comes to CO2 incubators, the CO2 level is maintained and kept at 5% so that a constant pH can be maintained for the optimum growth of the cell culture.

4. Scheduled cleaning

Just like any other machine or equipment, the scheduled cleaning of your lab incubators is extremely important too as the contaminated incubators could affect your results majorly. You must take good Care of incubator by cleaning it regularly with all the best practices. While cleaning, each and every component, both inside and outside of the incubator unit must be checked and cleaned thoroughly. This includes fans, filters, door handles, humidity pan, shelves and wheels. It is also important to wear gloves while cleaning to avoid injury to hands and fingers.

5. Temperature calibration

Just like maintaining the adequate temperature, it is very important to calibrate the temperature of your lab incubator for its proper functioning and best results. Both primary and secondary thermometers in the unit must be validated and calibrated every month. This calibration must be done at the usual operating temperature for best results. The thermometers can also be recalibrated before a month if there is a need like power outage etc. To ensure the best calibration, you can hire specialised agencies to perform this task for you