VIAL RINSING GADGET---SPEEDS UP TESTING

[Rick Mathew]

I actually enjoy testing my tank water as well as doing a lot of experimentation to better understand and improve my measurement results as well as provide new insights to share with the Reefing community. However the one thing I do not enjoy is the rinsing and cleaning of the vials I use in the process. Early on I did some experimentation to determine the minimum numbers of times I needed to rinse the vials to reduce the potential of contamination from measurement to measurement…The result was 3 times (See my article on testing…Here )…That is a lot of rinsing when you have 10-20 vials in use. Also I am always looking to improve on the effectiveness of my testing by reducing the amount of time required and getting equal or better results.

This led me to this project. I got the idea from watching a video on an automated bottle washer and thought…That would be perfect, but alas there were no commercial units, at least I could find, that would work for my task! So I decided to “Rube Goldberg” one…I am not including all of the details of the construction in this post, but have attached a PDF (Below) with most of the details you would need to construct a similar one. If you have any questions you can PM me. Below is my specification list and for the most part all were accomplished…Cut my vial cleaning time about in half with no loss in efficiency (clean). You can see the GADGET in action in the video below…enjoy!!

My specifications: (Must have List)

• Must be small
• Must rinse multiple vials at a time (I picked 4)…Will most likely go to 6
• Must rinse the vials as well as or better that I do by hand (Validate via Test)
• Must be able to rinse vials faster than 30 seconds/vial
• Must be able to be constructed from readily available parts.
• Must be simple to operate and require little set up and maintenance.

Below

 

[blaxsun]

Interesting, thanks!

 

[Rick Mathew]

Interesting, thanks!

Any time

 

[arking_mark]

Awesome!

 

[Rick Mathew]

Awesome!

Thank you...It was a fun build

 

[clifg]

So is the water the rinses vials recirculating?

 

[Rick Mathew]

So is the water the rinses vials recirculating?

No it is draining out the bottom of the vial...like a spray rinse

 

[clifg]

No it is draining out the bottom of the vial...like a spray rinse

Hm. I meant more, where does the dirty water from rinsing the vials go? Is this closed loop or does the dirty water go into wastewater and clean water is pumped through to the vials?

 

[Rick Mathew]

Hm. I meant more, where does the dirty water from rinsing the vials go? Is this closed loop or does the dirty water go into wastewater and clean water is pumped through to the vials?

The dirty water is contained in the top container and drained out...only clean RODI water is pumped into the vials...It is not a closed loop...Fresh water in---dirty water out

 

[clifg]

The dirty water is contained in the top container and drained out...only clean RODI water is pumped into the vials...It is not a closed loop...Fresh water in---dirty water out

That's really awesome. Well done with this whole thing! Any idea on your total cost?

 

[Rick Mathew]

That's really awesome. Well done with this whole thing! Any idea on your total cost?

I have an approximate cost of $80-$100 There are links in the instruction sheet for some of the components but a lot of the stuff I had on hand just laying around...Took me about 10 hours to construct and paint it

Hope this helps

Rick

 

[taricha]

This makes me jealous as I look at my test tube rack of "dirty dishes".

 

[Rick Mathew]

This makes me jealous as I look at my test tube rack of "dirty dishes".

It does work great for test tubes...

 

[Sshannon]

For the tube that outputs the rinsate water, you may get better rinsing coverage inside the vials if you put both horizontal and vertical angles to the tube; I've attached an image of an offset hook to help explain it better.

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

I’ve been thinking about making something similar. You may have gotten me motivated. Don’t ever throw your API Test Tubes, in a mild acid solution and leave them. I did my test, before going out of town, and did that. When I came back the lines were missing off the test tubes; LOL.

 

[Rick Mathew]

For the tube that outputs the rinsate water, you may get better rinsing coverage inside the vials if you put both horizontal and vertical angles to the tube; I've attached an image of an offset hook to help explain it better.

Good Idea...will give it a try

 

[Rick Mathew]

I’ve been thinking about making something similar. You may have gotten me motivated. Don’t ever throw your API Test Tubes, in a mild acid solution and leave them. I did my test, before going out of town, and did that. When I came back the lines were missing off the test tubes; LOL.

Good info to have